Sat morning trip to Fulton Market and Sun night dinner

Based upon several recommendations here and elsewhere I decided it was time for me to move outside of my normal Jewel/Whole Foods/Trader Joe’s/Caputo’s rotation and check out the Fulton market area. So bright and early Saturday morning (OK it was like 7:15 AM but I have a day job) I hit DD for a large coffee and head out.

First stop, Isaacson and Stein, 8:00 AM sharp.
Wow, just…
WOW
Picked up ½ dozen oysters at 50 cent apiece, some HUGE shrimp and a 4 beautiful squid - under $20!
The shrimp were quite big

The oysters


Next stop, Northwestern Cutlery.
Got a 12” slicer for $10. Best $10 I ever spent.
Had them sharpen 3 of my knives. I thought I could get me knives sharp. I know my knives were WAY sharper than anyone else I know just from cooking in my friends kitchens. But this is a new level. I always wondered how TV chefs carved through food with such ease, now I know and I’ll never go back.

On to Olympia Meat Packers.
Not what I expected. A very small shop when you walk in but the guys are real nice. Wasn’t sure what I wanted and was just looking to be honest but the guys were willing to talk and after a while I decided on a nice thick slice of choice rib eye - $7.00/Lb.


I was getting a little hungry at this point so I jumped into J P Graziano Grocery for a sandwich (I did a LOT of Google work before this trip).
The Italian is a very good sandwich. Not the best I’ve had but completely respectable for the $5 or so.

Next up was N & G Produce.
4 ears of corn, a head of garlic, bunch of (7) bananas, a bunch of parsley for $5. Can’t complain at all.

Last stop was Peoria Packing.
Lots of stuff looked good but by this time it was about 10:15 and the place was PACKED. I honestly couldn’t get to anything. Now that I know how crazy it gets and that they open before everyplace else I’ll bring a cooler and make this the first stop.

Saturday was then overtaken by raking, mowing the lawn, ordering pizza and watching the Chicago Blackhawks game (WTF was THAT?!)

Sunday Dinner…

I asked here and the consensus was that sous-vide was probably a good way to do the shrimp so they didn’t get tough on the grill, so I started with those. They were pretty muddy when split


but they cleaned up nice


And soaked for 2 hours at around 115F with a little salt


Some garlic and parsley


compound butter


OK - FINALLY time to actually cook something. First the meat since it can benefit from a good rest while everything else is on the grill. This is the ribeye and a small fillet mingion roast I had left over


then the asparagus (this actually is better after it cools)


the oysters go on just enough to open and then get a dollop of the butter


and finally the shrimp (oh yeah, that’s the corn wrapped in foil in the back)




All in all a very satisfying first trip to the Fulton market area and a GREAT Sunday dinner

All of that looks wonderful!

We (four of us) were also at Isaacson's on Saturday morning. I got a walleye, some red snapper and grouper. cooked the walleye last night and it was superb. Isaacson's is definitely on the rounds now when we hit that area. We made our usual stop at Graziano's and got some phenomenal new cheeses. I always buy 50 lbs. of flour there also and he had a new whole wheat pasta (Racconto) that I'm anxious to try. Olive oil, dried beans, canned tuna also. Jim is just a great guy and I look forward to seeing him. After that, we went to the produce place across the street. Also a great stop with fresh herbs that last much longer than the stuff I get at the grocery store. Nice, freindly people. Then we headed over to Taylor Street and had an Al's beef and an Italian ice at Mario's. I had the lime and I have to say, it's the first one I've had that I didn't particularly like. The lemon and raspberry were excellent. After that, we all headed back to Naperville and cooked, ate and drank together. My favorite kind of day.

Almost all the same stops that I like to do on a Saturday morning. Bari, a little further north, is interchangable for a good sub, and as a bonus you can pick up an excellent cannoli next door at D'Amato's.

However for produce, I would recommend continuing a little further north to Stanley's at North/Elston. Excellent selection/value combo.

I love this type of post!

This is exactly how I love to spend my (exceedingly rare) plan-free Saturdays.

Coming from a guy that's made a few posts revolving around steaks, asparagus and oysters - congrats on great shopping and an excellent meal. And thanks for taking the time to post!

A beautiful post (and you can't ask for better than the Bridgestone Seal of Approval, ).

With the shrimp, you mention sous vide, but you didn't vac-seal, did you? Seems like what you used is more like a very warm brine, right (which may count as sous vide, but I thought some kind of plastic sealing was part of that deal).

Hi,

You took walk on the wild side and had a great time!

Peoria Packing House around major holidays is a madhouse. IT is also quite crowded around the first of the month when LINK cards are reloaded with credits.

Thanks for detailing your activities.

Regards,

Thanks for all the feedback!

David Hammond you're correct, I should have clarified it was actually just a real warm brine to slowly & gently cook (poach?) them before getting a little char on the grill.

Cathy2 I just realized you're right it was the first of the month!

Thanks again to everyone for the feedback.
Hopefully I'll get a little better with this camera and the next set of pics will turn out clearer.