Savory Spice Shop - Lincoln Square

I mentioned in the Openings thread that Savory Spice Shop is opening this summer at 4753 N. Lincoln Ave. Having been to their Palm Desert, California location, I'm excited for their arrival -- terrific variety and quality. And if you go to their Facebook page and sign up for their newsletter (near the top of the page next to the Twitter logo, there is a box which says "join newsletter"), they'll email you a $10 certificate good on any purchase during the first two weeks that they're open - too good to pass up.

Do they have any special offerings that set them apart from GNR The Spice House or Penzy's?

I haven't done side-by-side comparisons, but I had a very positive experience shopping at the Savory Spice Palm Desert location . . . quite the extensive selection including a huge number of items that you could only find at specialty spice stores like these. And we purchased several items and the quality was excellent - fresh, aromatic . . . just what you'd hope for and expect. I find that all of these shops also offer their own proprietary blends so I'm sure you'll notice that those differ slightly from one spice shop to the next.

stevez wrote:Do they have any special offerings that set them apart from GNR The Spice House or Penzy's?

The biggest special offering they will have if they are a quality shop is LOCATION for those of us up north. Love Spice House but I rarely get to Old Town and I've never even been to Penzys since the Oak Park location is completely out of the way for me.

Signed up for the newsletter and look forward to checking it out! Thanks for the heads up Brad!

boudreaulicious wrote:

stevez wrote:Do they have any special offerings that set them apart from GNR The Spice House or Penzy's?

The biggest special offering they will have if they are a quality shop is LOCATION for those of us up north. Love Spice House but I rarely get to Old Town and I've never even been to Penzys since the Oak Park location is completely out of the way for me.

Signed up for the newsletter and look forward to checking it out! Thanks for the heads up Brad!

I'll be curious to check this place out as well. I was only asking because they are California based and thought there might be something special they were known for. BTW, Spice House in Evanston is a good, close option and easier to get to (for me) than Old Town and Penzy's Oak Park location is directly across the street from Katy's, so there's that.

stevez wrote:

boudreaulicious wrote:

stevez wrote:Do they have any special offerings that set them apart from GNR The Spice House or Penzy's?

The biggest special offering they will have if they are a quality shop is LOCATION for those of us up north. Love Spice House but I rarely get to Old Town and I've never even been to Penzys since the Oak Park location is completely out of the way for me.

Signed up for the newsletter and look forward to checking it out! Thanks for the heads up Brad!

I'll be curious to check this place out as well. I was only asking because they are California based and thought there might be something special they were known for. BTW, Spice House in Evanston is a good, close option and easier to get to (for me) than Old Town and Penzy's Oak Park location is directly across the street from Katy's, so there's that.

Actually, they're based in Denver, Colorado, although the owners used to live in Lincoln Square. Read here and here for more info.

And don't forget Pinch, on Milwaukee at Oakley just S. of Western, in Bucktown.

BR wrote:Actually, they're based in Denver, Colorado, although the owners used to live in Lincoln Square. Read here and here for more info.

Matt and I had a great time shopping in their Denver store while visiting friends many, many years ago. Granted, we weren't the sophisticated cooks then that Matt (not me) is now, though there is nothing wrong with top ramen and english muffin pizzas. In particular, I remember being really happy with a thai green curry spice mix that they sold us (not that I had ever had a good thai green curry in my life at that point).

The owner chatted us up about Chicago for quite some time and recommended that we check out Spice House when we got back home, which we did. Though Spice House is comparable for individual spices and quality, it never seemed to have the range of interesting spice mixes that Savory had. But that's just my foggy memory, for what it's worth.

For convenience alone, a spice shop will be very welcome addition to Lincoln Square!

I remember it being very similar to Spice House in terms of quality and dedication to crafting good spice blends. I actually recall years ago when they first opened having a conversation with the owners about their connection to spice house. I could be wrong, but I believe one of them used to work for spice house and when they moved away decided Denver could use a store similar. Interesting that they're now moving into the Chicago market.

Teresa and I have actually shopped more at Savory in Denver than we have at Spice House, Old Town is just not convenient, and frankly I'm in Denver more often than Old Town. If the Lincoln square outpost is up to the standards of the Denver location, I'm VERY excited to have it opening up in our neighborhood.

laikom wrote:I remember it being very similar to Spice House in terms of quality and dedication to crafting good spice blends. I actually recall years ago when they first opened having a conversation with the owners about their connection to spice house. I could be wrong, but I believe one of them used to work for spice house and when they moved away decided Denver could use a store similar. Interesting that they're now moving into the Chicago market.

Teresa and I have actually shopped more at Savory in Denver than we have at Spice House, Old Town is just not convenient, and frankly I'm in Denver more often than Old Town. If the Lincoln square outpost is up to the standards of the Denver location, I'm VERY excited to have it opening up in our neighborhood.

Posting at the same time! At least our stories add up.

You two are like the culinary version of my married friends who communicate with one another on Facebook from different parts of the house...

laikom wrote:I remember it being very similar to Spice House in terms of quality and dedication to crafting good spice blends. I actually recall years ago when they first opened having a conversation with the owners about their connection to spice house. I could be wrong, but I believe one of them used to work for spice house and when they moved away decided Denver could use a store similar. Interesting that they're now moving into the Chicago market.

Teresa and I have actually shopped more at Savory in Denver than we have at Spice House, Old Town is just not convenient, and frankly I'm in Denver more often than Old Town. If the Lincoln square outpost is up to the standards of the Denver location, I'm VERY excited to have it opening up in our neighborhood.

There are solid reasons why Savory Spice Shop in Denver was very like The Spice House. The founder of Savory Spice Shop worked for The Spice House. This article offers information on how both stores can be so uncannily familiar:

The other spice business in the Denver area has a history with my family. The person who started it worked for a period of time at my sister Patty and brother-in-law Tom’s spice store in Chicago. Patty and Tom’s Chicago store is an offshoot of the spice store that my parents, myself, my sister Pam, and many others built on the near northwest side of Milwaukee. The fact is this “Denver” business was started in Chicago in the middle of the night when its founder used his key, took Patty and Tom’s blend book to Kinko’s, and photocopied the entire thing.

I understand that we’ve all done stupid things that we later regret. But what will always stick with me is that when confronted about what they did after opening their store, and selling exactly those blends, they refused to stop. Ultimately it cost Patty and Tom a tremendous sum of money, most of their savings, for court costs to try to get these people to do the right thing. When their blend book showed up in court it was still in Tom’s sister’s handwriting. They never even bothered to recopy it.

In full disclosure, I know Patty and Tom Erd, from the first time they did a talk for Culinary Historians on spices in 1990's I also nominated The Spice House for a Great Neighborhood Resource.

Regards,

Coincidentally...walked past today and the sign says they're opening tomorrow.