ordered a cake for my 15 year-old's party and noticed that the cake choices had diminished....
lucky for us, she wanted a choc /choc cake

Has anyone else been blown away by the great fresh strawberry taste of Kirkland Organic Strawberry Spread? They were sampling this at the Niles Costco the other day and I immediately bought a jar (a giant 42 oz affair that will take me at least a year to use up). It claims to use 40% more strawberries than traditional jam and it tastes like it. It has a short, good looking ingredient list consisting of organic strawberries, organic sugar, pectin and citric acid. Nothing else.

mhill95149 wrote:ordered a cake for my 15 year-old's party and noticed that the cake choices had diminished....
lucky for us, she wanted a choc /choc cake

I hope you commented your disappointment to the bakery manager, general manager and left a note in their suggestion box.

I noticed last year their hand dipped ice cream bar rolled in almonds vanished and returned. They can be persuaded to change if customers offer their thoughts.

Regards,

Prisitne, clear-eyed vermillion (I think) snapper from Panama in the fish section at Costco today. About $6/lb IIRC, from one-plate critters (1.25 lbs) up to big guys to feed a few ($4lb+). I couldn't use any due to travel schedules. Please, someone pick one up and report for future reference. Best looking fish I've seen here in a while.

Cathy2 wrote:

mhill95149 wrote:ordered a cake for my 15 year-old's party and noticed that the cake choices had diminished....
lucky for us, she wanted a choc /choc cake

I hope you commented your disappointment to the bakery manager, general manager and left a note in their suggestion box.

I noticed last year their hand dipped ice cream bar rolled in almonds vanished and returned. They can be persuaded to change if customers offer their thoughts.

Regards,

Really not a big deal for us, we like choc/choc cakes

Just picked up a jar of The Pickle Guy's spicy olive muffaletta mix at the Clybourn Costco. They had a tasting tray set up and I was amazed at how good it was. I could eat this with a spoon.

Trident Fish Sticks at the Costco on Clybourn today for $12.99

Costco got Chanterelles in this week!

I must be getting jaded by all the fresh wild mushrooms I have been given as gifts and.or received this year. I went to the Glenview Costco after work last night to check out the chanterelles and ended up not buying any. They just didn't look that good. Brown and wilted edges, dirtier than I remember them in years past as well. I might swing by the Touhy location and see if they got a better batch - chanterelles are about my favorite mushroom.

As for cooking them, my #1 preparation is in an omelet, followed by sauteed with shallots, cream and thyme over the grilled meat of your choice.

yep, these were not in the best shape. I brushed these carefully but they were a touch gritty. The balance of the package got rinsed a few times and spun in my salad spinner and made into soup.

Octarine wrote:I must be getting jaded by all the fresh wild mushrooms I have been given as gifts and.or received this year....

I wish I had friends like that.

Jen

Picked up the 4 pack of Kirkland brand frozen cheese pizzas for $9.95. Well worth it and actually pretty darn good. I think the product has only been around a few weeks. I'm pretty picky when it comes to frozen pizza and I'll be keeping a few of these in the freezer from now on.

Costco Clybourn has 15 inch wide, 205 ft rolls of parchment paper (brand is Paper Chef) for $8.99 a package. It's at the end cap near produce on the paper goods/food storage aisle.

Costco Clybourn underwent a minor makeover in the refrigerated section over by the meat/seafood department and they seem to have added more products. They've brought in larger refrigerator cases and have more convenience type items then before, like the Amylu Carmelized Onion/Chicken burgers. I also noticed that the quart packages (by the case) of Kirkland organic chicken and beef stock are back. In the bakery department, they had a large selection of holiday cakes/tortes that seemed to be quite popular. I'm sure I missed a lot as Costco late on a Friday afternoon is rather Thunderdomey, but quite a few changes and new products at this location in the few days since I was last here.

BTW, had to return the Cuisinart Convection/Toaster oven I just purchased here 4 days ago (already zonked on me) and the return process was hassle free.

I was very surprised to find fresh, line-caught Hawaiian Opah at Costco Lake Zurich yesterday.



I'd never eaten Opah. The fillets appeared very firm and fresh, so I decided to give it a try. The price was $10.99/lb. Checking on the 'net, Opah is quite high in fat and lends itself well to many cooking techniques. To best sample the fish I went minimalist, slicing medallions about 1/2" thick and lightly salting before a BRIEF sauté in a small amount of olive oil/butter mix.

Cooked, the fish color changes to white and has a very nice, firm texture. The flavor is delicate, rich and creamy. Quite excellent.

I did check the Environmental Defense Fund site for their comment on sustainability, and they label it 'ECO-OK'. They suggest limiting eating Opah to once per month due to elevated mercury concentrations, which I believe is true for most, if not all, large free swimming oceanic fish.

DRC1379 wrote:

Lucky duck, I would have eaten that as sashimi and/or nigiri. I've recently had it raw on two occasions at a local Japanese restaurant - very buttery.

Ursiform wrote:Costco Clybourn has 15 inch wide, 205 ft rolls of parchment paper (brand is Paper Chef) for $8.99 a package. It's at the end cap near produce on the paper goods/food storage aisle.

I bought it for $6.99 at Schaumburg this weekend. There is an instant mfr coupon til 11/21 or 11/24.

Pucca wrote:

Ursiform wrote:Costco Clybourn has 15 inch wide, 205 ft rolls of parchment paper (brand is Paper Chef) for $8.99 a package. It's at the end cap near produce on the paper goods/food storage aisle.

I bought it for $6.99 at Schaumburg this weekend. There is an instant mfr coupon til 11/21 or 11/24.

I also found it for $6.99 with the instant coupon at Niles on Sunday.

Apologize if already covered (I missed it in a scan of this thread) but Melrose Park Costco due to open 11/17 per Costco website.

The new Costco in Mettawa is scheduled to open on 11/20. It's being built at the Route 60 (Townline Road) exit off I-94 -specifically: 25901 Riverwoods Road.

stacy lunardini wrote:Oakbrook is out of Chanterelles until Tuesday However, Urbani has a rep on hand offering fresh truffles, both white and black. The black ones are about $25 per ounce. The whites I didn't consider - but I think were $130 per ounce. I guess a shaved black truffle will have to substitute for the mushrooms I was going to throw on some pappardalle! They also have the truffle oils and some bruschetta condiments.

Anyone seen truffles this year?

If not I will have to settle for truffle oil ;D

Great selection of cookbooks today at the Clyborn store-both David Tanis books-A Platter of Figs and the new Heart of the Artichoke, Dori Greenspan's Around My French Table, the new Ina-How Easy Is That? are the ones that really caught my eye. Like I NEED another cookbook

justjoan wrote:unlike AmyLu's amazingly delicious buffalo chicken meatballs bursting with real blue cheese flavor (all natural, made in chicago). i called them today to tell them how much i love them ( and i never eat meatballs), only to discover that they have been discontinued. the helpful woman i spoke with told me they were made only for regional costcos (chicago area) and will be replaced soon with a chicken burger.

AmyLu's meatballs are back at the Clybourn store, although the variety I saw was an Italian chicken meatball. They are really stocking up for the holidays, the loaf bread has been moved over by the pickled/canned items and a great deal of liquor is where it used to be (although the bakery items are still in place) and all sorts of chocolates and other impulse buys are littered throughout the store.

yeah, i saw the new amy's meatballs and her chicken burgers. i found the burgers unexciting when i tried them. havent tried the meatballs yet. i'm still upset that they won't make the buffalo wing flavor any more- but i am very happy to have them around. they are healthy, low fat, not too high in the sodium department , unlike the rows and rows of prepared soups costco sells. the panera soups, for example, have over 1000mg. of sodium per/cup. it's disgraceful that so many prepared food manufacturers rely on salt to flavor their food, rather than creating flavors the natural way, with vegetables and slow cooking. i wonder how many shoppers read the labels before deciding what to buy....
1 newish product that costco's lincoln park store has been carrying recently is culatella- an unsmoked version of proscuitto. it has a real earthy, piggy flavor and i'm loving it. it isn't very easy to find, i think, even in delis. justjoan

Went to the Melrose Park Opening, today, and drove into a parking lot nightmare.
Once inside the door, it was a Costco/Fellini-style Bumper-Cart Fantasy Feeding
Frenzy scripted in Polish, Spanish, Italian, and English.

Samples found in the aisles (I didn't try all of these):

Grilled pork loin pieces
Grilled top sirloin pieces
Rotisserie chicken pieces
Spiral-cut ham pieces
Rolled ham cold-cut slices
Crabcake pieces
Precooked tail-on shrimp
Precooked bacon 1/2-slices
Meatballs
Bulgogi w/rice & white onions
Sausage slices -- 4 or 5 kinds
Cheese pizza pieces
Lobster bisque w/Parmesan cheese garnish
Marinated green olives w/crusty cracker pieces
Waffle pieces
Croissant pieces
Olive oil on pieces of crusty bread

House-blend coffee
White grape juice drink
Cranberry juice drink

Frozen berry smoothie
Frozen yogurt -- choc./vanilla combination
Greek yogurt w/blended fruit mixed in (blueberry, peach, strawberry)
Chocolate decorated cookies
Pastry roll pieces w/icing
Pumpkin pie

Fresh apple slices
Fresh pear pieces

They really pulled out the stops for this opening!

Most of the throng seemed to be in a good mood despite the determined
jockeying for samples combined with shopping cart collisions (it helped that
there were plenty of sample station refills tended by agreeable staff.)
I found it best to just park my cart off to one side and wade into the fray
thus-unencumbered. Luckily, my cart and its contents only disappeared once.

Unlike the "Lincoln Park" store on Clybourn, there was no fresh gelato
for sale up in the front of the store--rather a disappointment!

Regular unleaded gasoline was for sale outside at $2.89/gal.

--Matt

can anyone recommend the kirkland brand of organic chicken or beef stock. they have a nice short ingredient list. thanks, justjoan

I went tonight to the new Melrose Park location and was disappointed.

There was almost no seafood, no prime beef to speak of, and the choice beef they did have was not competitively priced. I was looking forward to Costco opening because of the comparisons made on LTH to Restaurant Depot. I'm hoping the opening of this store is still in progress and the selection will improve.

I've never been to Costco before so maybe I don't understand the model, but there does not seem to be a seafood department nor a dedicated meat/butcher shop, there's just a large confused "cold" section - is this normal?

zoid wrote:I've never been to Costco before so maybe I don't understand the model, but there does not seem to be a seafood department nor a dedicated meat/butcher shop, there's just a large confused "cold" section - is this normal?

Yes, although most locations have seafood on some fridays/saturdays.

gleam wrote:

zoid wrote:I've never been to Costco before so maybe I don't understand the model, but there does not seem to be a seafood department nor a dedicated meat/butcher shop, there's just a large confused "cold" section - is this normal?

Yes, although most locations have seafood on some fridays/saturdays.

no, it is NOT normal for the 'lincoln park' store (which is not really in LP). there is a large meat dept. with butchers visible through the glass wall. the fish dept. is only 1 large cooler, but it exists 7 days a week. justjoan

zoid wrote:There was almost no seafood, no prime beef to speak of

Go to the service desk and ask for it.
The Mt Prospect/Randhurst Costco did not carry Prime beef for a number of years. I kept asking for it. About a year ago, prepackaged steaks showed up. In the last couple months, butchered steaks appeared in the meat dept. I'd like to think I had something to do with it. (nb the Glenview location had prime meats from day 1)

Their fresh fish selection is slim, but of good quality. I have never bought from their weekend seafood carts yet, the prices don't compare to the Asian markets.