Recs from Fox & Obel

I'm planning on heading down to the taping of Wait Wait Don't Tell Me tonight in the Pritzker Pavilion. My friend's bringing a bottle of wine and a blanket, and I've been tasked with snacks. Instead of my original plan to stop by Jewel, I'm thinking of stopping by Fox & Obel and then just walking down to the park, but I was hoping the board could provide some specific recommendations. I've only been once before, shortly, so I'm pretty unfamiliar with their stock, but I do know this: if I'm dropping gourmet prices for gourmet foods, I'd rather not risk a clunker. So I put myself in your capable hands.

There's just 2 of us, and my friend doesn't eat pork ("Aw, c'mon, God's not looking!" hasn't worked so far). I'm thinking maybe some bread, some cheese (or a spread for the bread, or..both!) , perhaps fruit or veggies if that's worth it at F&O, olives?, and something sweet. Would love recommendations on specifics or further suggestions, especially on the cheese.

I've searched and found these items mentioned as particularly delicious: macaroons, cinnamon rolls, orange cream danish, challah, sourdough miche. Do they have any prepared stuff that's worthwhile? I would greatly appreciate any additional must-haves or ideas.

Thanks!

you could get a brown box dinner: http://www.fox-obel.com/Fox-Brown-Box-Dinners

or grab some pre-wrapped sandwiches from the refrigerated case. The cheese counter is excellent and staffed by knowledgeable people, if you have questions. Good looking salumi as well as smoked fish, fancy chips and sodas. Their house made hummous is very good, IMO. There is some good stuff in that sort-of deli-case area.

I can only think of one thing I've had that wasn't good: it was a cold soba noodle salad thing that tasted very old and was not in fact soba noodles.

I work near F&O and stop by frequently for lunch. I doubt you'll have any problem picking out something good.

A tarp & some ponchos...although those would probably be cheaper at the Walgreen's just west of F&O (in the AMC River East building).

Seriously though, I've enjoyed all of the smoked fish I've sampled from the deli case. I've found the various salamis, cheeses & whatnot to all be tasty too. I'd love either at a picnic (although both would be better ). The breads are good too. Mmmm, some good bread, smoked trout, and some meats & cheeses...sounds like a killer picnic to me! I personally would add some ice-cold Orangina to wash things down

Just a possible alternative: Pastoral, the excellent cheese shop, is on Lake, practically across the street from Pritzker. They make some of the best sandwiches around and have cheese. They have very little dessert (just one or two items), however, and Fox and Obel is very strong in the department.

JOnah

Thanks for the replies!

Jonah wrote:Just a possible alternative: Pastoral, the excellent cheese shop, is on Lake, practically across the street from Pritzker. They make some of the best sandwiches around and have cheese. They have very little dessert (just one or two items), however, and Fox and Obel is very strong in the department.

JOnah

That's a great suggestion. One of the reasons I wanted to go to F&O was for a better cheese selection than Jewel, which would be my only other option today. Now, timing changes have shifted my plans a little, so I may just stock up elsewhere, and hit Pastoral for the cheese.

F&O has excellent marinated long stem artichokes in their deli case with the smoked fish etc. Perfect with cheeses and bread for your veggie friend!

Economics and geography conspire to keep me from getting into F&O very often. But, passing by on my way home around dinner time this weekend, and already in the grip of holiday shopping dementia, I stopped in. Didn't go nuts, stayed mostly at the low end, and discovered some relatively affordable deliciousness there.
* An 8 oz. container of mixed baklava from Jaafer Sweets, $5.99. The pieces were fresh and delicious. While I'm generally an all-out pistachio type, I found the walnut ones particularly buttery and luscious. Not sure how much less expensive the same amount would be on Kedzie, but given the overall richness and how long such a treat is likely to last me, this seemed pretty reasonable.
* The F&O baguette. At $2.79, I think it's one of the more expensive baguettes in town, but for me, also one of the best.
* Nueske's smoked liver pate. Ten oz., about $5. Yum. Especially with some good mustard spread on the aforementioned baguette.
* F&O breakfast sausage (links). About $6/lb. These are some of the best trad. breakfast sausages I've had. Nice slightly coarse grind, well peppered but in balance with a really appealing overall meatiness. Not to get precious, but the word "robust" kept coming to mind as I smelled them cooking and as I ate them. (Again, on the toasted baguette.)
*Small F&O tart cherry pie. $7.99 (I think). Very good, if not as sublime as Mrs. B's. Not too sweet, but the cherries could have had a bit more intense fruit flavor. Good crust.

One thing that struck me as slightly odd was the proliferation of signs announcing "F&O Find!!!" in front of fairly generally available products (e.g., Molinari salami). Nothing wrong with the product, but no need to hype it as their personal "find."

Other finds at Fox & Obel just this morning include milk that's been sitting overnight in a 57 degree dairy case, house made stock that's a week beyond the labeled expiration date, and white truffles from alba that came in "sometime in the last few weeks".

To prove that I'm balanced in my assessment, I'll note that I returned to Fox & Obel at lunchtime: the refrigerator is back down to 36 degrees and, more notably, there is an outstanding new product in the prepared-foods part of the deli case: candied kumquats. These little guys were cooked in a sweet syrup which removed some of the sometimes-overpowering bitterness of kimquats, but left enough to let you know what you're eating. They were served with terrific, well-toasted and sweetened almond slivers. At under $4 a pound, I got a generous snack-sized portion for 80 cents to go with my tasty chopped liver and crusty demi baguette. One of the best food bargains in town.

mrbarolo wrote:...* An 8 oz. container of mixed baklava from Jaafer Sweets, $5.99. The pieces were fresh and delicious. ../

I had a hankering for these the other day, so I decided that I was willing to overspend at Fox & Obel since it's a block away. The containers were marked with an expiration day of 3/19, which didn't make any sense to me. I know this stuff has enough fat to last a little longer than other pastries, but I can't imagine eating these after they've sat for 2 months on a shelf. I could see a week or two at most before they become unpalatably stale. I took the box to the store manager and asked him how the expiration date had been calculated. He had no idea, so he called the Packaged Goods buyer. That guy had no idea either. Typical Fox & Obel cluelessness and/or intentional deception.

Article in Crain's today.

riddlemay wrote:Article in Crain's today.

The article notes that F & O is way behind in rent payments. In addition to trying to save money that way, they're apparently trying to reduce utility expenses too. 54 degrees in the dairy cooler yesterday.

I stopped by F&O yesterday and the seafood section was about a third full -- lot's of exposed ice. Poultry was sad, but beef was still good. Cheese seemed to be about half of what it used to be. Produce has been pathetic for a couple of years now, IMHO. The whole place had that classic Death Spiral feel -- they keep less stock and variety to control costs, which drives customers away reducing income, so they reduce stock again, and so on. I know I'll have a tough time going back if I don't hear something about them being "reborn."

Maybe they should just be a cafe.

kateem wrote:Maybe they should just be a cafe.

And a bakery.

Maybe they could move somewhere like the North Shore. Lots of money and free parking. Where they are now seems like it's more surrounded by tourist stuff. Hard to believe that's the best location for a grocery store.

I'd hate to see them just vanish. They were once so glorious, and people there were so excited about the concept.

Cynthia wrote:Maybe they could move somewhere like the North Shore. Lots of money and free parking. Where they are now seems like it's more surrounded by tourist stuff. Hard to believe that's the best location for a grocery store.

There's a ton of people living around there now. (That's why for example, counterintuitively, The Purple Pig actually is a neighborhood restaurant.) I shopped at Fox & Obel in its first years a few times, and then once or twice after it was taken over by the guy from the Jewels, and my sense agreed with the general consensus I picked up here, which was that the store became somehow more "ordinary." I've seen it happen with other retailers, too--in an attempt to survive against competition or against difficult economic times, a business decides that it must become less special, when (if only it realized it) being special was the one thing it had going for it.

riddlemay wrote:

Cynthia wrote:Maybe they could move somewhere like the North Shore. Lots of money and free parking. Where they are now seems like it's more surrounded by tourist stuff. Hard to believe that's the best location for a grocery store.

There's a ton of people living around there now. (That's why for example, counterintuitively, The Purple Pig actually is a neighborhood restaurant.) I shopped at Fox & Obel in its first years a few times, and then once or twice after it was taken over by the guy from the Jewels, and my sense agreed with the general consensus I picked up here, which was that the store became somehow more "ordinary." I've seen it happen with other retailers, too--in an attempt to survive against competition or against difficult economic times, a business decides that it must become less special, when (if only it realized it) being special was the one thing it had going for it.

I absolutely agree that it became less special. It still had lots of amazing stuff, but not as much, and not as much enthusiasm from staff, and then the produce got kind of redirected to ordinary, and they got rid of the tasting bar in the olive oil section, and there were fewer OTT prepared foods. I stopped going when it stopped being amazing, because it's just not easy enough to get there (at least for me) to justify the trip for ordinary.

The reason I thought the free parking in the suburbs might help is that they wouldn't need to support the valet service they once had or pay for the underground parking they use now, and that they subsidize if you spend $20 or more. Two hours of parking that close to Navy Pier has to be costing them more than whatever they earn on that $20.

I'd love to see them survive, but I don't know how they could do it where they are with what they're currently offering, and I don't see how they can afford to do more, at least not in that location.

If I'm not mistaken, this is in the same building that Fox & Obel occupies:

On Sunday, June 5, 2011, Dose, a year-round, monthly European-style market, will launch at Chicago’s River East Art Center. The modern, lofted halls will provide an open, airy backdrop for this dynamic gathering, where the finest selection of vendors offer artisan food, innovative fashion and high design under one roof.

http://dosemarket.com/

It seems that this would attract the type of vendors that F & O should already be doing business with, at least as far as food goes. To say nothing of the customers.

bean wrote:If I'm not mistaken, this is in the same building that Fox & Obel occupies:

On Sunday, June 5, 2011, Dose, a year-round, monthly European-style market, will launch at Chicago’s River East Art Center. The modern, lofted halls will provide an open, airy backdrop for this dynamic gathering, where the finest selection of vendors offer artisan food, innovative fashion and high design under one roof.

http://dosemarket.com/

It seems that this would attract the type of vendors that F & O should already be doing business with, at least as far as food goes. To say nothing of the customers.

VERY interersting...really surprised that F&O's lease doesn't prohibit this kind of competitor from being able to set up shop in their building. And does anyone else wonder about the blurring of the lines that results from editors of publications that REPORT on the food and retail world in Chicago setting up a for-profit venture (didn't see anything about the proceeds of this going to charity!) with purveyors whom they feature????

bean wrote:If I'm not mistaken, this is in the same building that Fox & Obel occupies:

On Sunday, June 5, 2011, Dose, a year-round, monthly European-style market, will launch at Chicago’s River East Art Center. The modern, lofted halls will provide an open, airy backdrop for this dynamic gathering, where the finest selection of vendors offer artisan food, innovative fashion and high design under one roof.

http://dosemarket.com/

It seems that this would attract the type of vendors that F & O should already be doing business with, at least as far as food goes. To say nothing of the customers.

I know everyone is in love with tickets these days, but why exactly do I have to pay $10 to get into a market?

gastro gnome wrote:

bean wrote:If I'm not mistaken, this is in the same building that Fox & Obel occupies:

On Sunday, June 5, 2011, Dose, a year-round, monthly European-style market, will launch at Chicago’s River East Art Center. The modern, lofted halls will provide an open, airy backdrop for this dynamic gathering, where the finest selection of vendors offer artisan food, innovative fashion and high design under one roof.

http://dosemarket.com/

It seems that this would attract the type of vendors that F & O should already be doing business with, at least as far as food goes. To say nothing of the customers.

I know everyone is in love with tickets these days, but why exactly do I have to pay $10 to get into a market?

I bet we'll see serious changes to this model within a couple months. I'm involved in a charity that has used River East Arts Center and it's a tough location for foot traffic (though warmer months--when presumably Navy Pier tourism is higher--will probably be better than January or February). It doesn't help that the tables/stalls will probably be set up in the lower level, so there isn't a lot of street-level visibility. And I agree...$10 for the priviledge of spending money (particularly since it's a for-profit) seems like nothing more than a $$ grab. I'm betting the organizers are working on a profit-sharing model with the vendors & worry about their ability to generate a lot of revenue, so they're hoping admission will help cover their a**es. (Because, of course, they also have to pay rent to River East Arts Center.)

Out of idle curiosity, is there a rationale for the name Dose? Right off the bat, it conjures up the medicinal, which can't be what they're going for. Is it a French word that's pronounced doe-SAY, or something? I'm thinking the name must mean something I'm not getting, because it can't mean what I am getting--or can it? I browsed the website a little, looking at the home page and the "about us" page for a bit of rationale, and couldn't come up with it. But maybe someone has explored further and knows the answer.

Maybe they are looking to create something like the French Market? San Fran's Ferry Market? NYC's Chelsea Market?