Fresh Farms Wheeling

I just stopped by the "new" Fresh Farms in Wheeling -- relocated about fifty yards from the old FF. It is an absolutely beautiful store. There is a gelato bar when you first walk in (and two creepy looking life-size models of the Blues Brothers in the seating area). Everything is shiny and new. But....

Let me say I am a regular shopper at FF in Niles, even though I live in Wilmette. I think it is hands-down one of the great makets in the US (and I've lived from coast to coast). It's praises have been sung voluminously elsewhere on this site, so I'll just say I concur.

The Wheeling store, however, is like Fresh Farms Light. It's about 2/3 the size of the Niles store, and while the produce section is close to comparable, the rest of the store is rather one dimensional. Apparently the demographic they are going for is Polish/Russian, because nearly all of the imported stuff they stock is along those lines. I'm Greek, so obviously I compared the Greek products most closely, and, I would say Wheeling only has about 15-20% of Niles along Greek lines (the Greek cheese selection alone in Niles is the best I've ever seen outside of Greece). But lots of other products were missing, from by favorite Bosnian cabbage to the fresh Louganisa to the Persian bread. And I noticed very, very little that was South Asian/East Asian (although they did have a fresh sushi case -- of course that's more North Shore than Pacific Rim).

In the same way that the Devon Fresh Farms skews heavily Indo-Pak, Wheeling is clearly Polish/Russian. Fair enough--I'm sure they know their consumer-base--but I'll stick with the drive down Touhy for the time being.

Thanks, Doc, for the scouting report. I appreciate the info. Being in Deerfield, I'm still going to check it out but I'll go in with temepered expectations. Happily, my office is 5 minutes from the Niles store and shop there frequently.

=R=

I went in yesterday, it is definitely a visual improvement from the old store (about 1000 times nicer)! The prices seem to reflect the new digs too IMO. There has always been a big Polish/Russian emphasis at this location. The addition of the fancy bakery was attractive but I've already heard the cakes were dry and flavorless.

I was amused that the layout of the new store is pretty much identical to the layout of the old one, with the addition of the fish and meat counters (since the old store didn't have those). I had a bit harder time finding the odd cuts I usually buy there (beef and pork necks for my dog, that sort of thing) but with a bit of sleuthing I did ok.

Much better staffed and just a nicer "feel" walking through the store (though to be honest, that gelato case seems pretty incongruous to me LOL) and I'll be back regularly to see if there's been much change to the produce/deli, etc.

I checked this place out a few weeks ago with my parents, about 3 days after it opened. I have never been to the Fresh Farms in Niles, so I cannot compare. I have been to the one on Devon.

I think if I lived in the area, I'd be a regular shopper. I liked some things there, although my initial impression was not of greatness.

What I liked: maybe to you not as good, but to me, the selection of feta and feta like cheeses very high and good; in its old form, I liked the Russian style cold-cuts and salads, and while these seemed now a bit diluted in a bigger selection, it's still a plus. Same goes for the smoked fishes, and good prices on those too--I got excellent salmon caviar and beef salami. What I found best, was the wide selection of whole fish, openly displayed (although after about the fifth time, the staff got mad at me for poking around the gills). I really had my eye on the whole lake trout, something I have not seen in a market here, but other fish looked interesting too--fresh anchovies!

What I thought should be better: my parents, in Northbrook, seem especially bereft of good bread options, and we actually went to the store specifically for bread. They were, in fact, happy with what they got, but I'd like to have seen a much better bread bakery. The place pales in comparison to my local Polish market in that aspect. The produce selection is very large, although not Super H large, but it was not as value driven as Caputo's, nor filled with particularly special looking items. It was just stuff. Getting back to baked goods, the cakes and cookies and the like came from a New York bakery called Kiev. I have nothing jingoistic against this place, and granted I did not try, but from my eye at least, it looked like stuff sent over. Again, in this area, I'm spoiled by my Polish markets and even Caputo's which has fun but trashy Italian pastries.

Listen, it's not like I've really gotten to know this place. It was one visit, but I would surely return for fish. Actually, I don't have plans to return for fish but I have plans already to cajole my parents into buying fish to bring to my house for me to grill.

Vital Information wrote:I checked this place out a few weeks ago with my parents, about 3 days after it opened. I have never been to the Fresh Farms in Niles, so I cannot compare. I have been to the one on Devon.

I think if I lived in the area, I'd be a regular shopper. I liked some things there, although my initial impression was not of greatness.

What I liked: maybe to you not as good, but to me, the selection of feta and feta like cheeses very high and good; in its old form, I liked the Russian style cold-cuts and salads, and while these seemed now a bit diluted in a bigger selection, it's still a plus. Same goes for the smoked fishes, and good prices on those too--I got excellent salmon caviar and beef salami. What I found best, was the wide selection of whole fish, openly displayed (although after about the fifth time, the staff got mad at me for poking around the gills). I really had my eye on the whole lake trout, something I have not seen in a market here, but other fish looked interesting too--fresh anchovies!

What I thought should be better: my parents, in Northbrook, seem especially bereft of good bread options, and we actually went to the store specifically for bread. They were, in fact, happy with what they got, but I'd like to have seen a much better bread bakery. The place pales in comparison to my local Polish market in that aspect. The produce selection is very large, although not Super H large, but it was not as value driven as Caputo's, nor filled with particularly special looking items. It was just stuff. Getting back to baked goods, the cakes and cookies and the like came from a New York bakery called Kiev. I have nothing jingoistic against this place, and granted I did not try, but from my eye at least, it looked like stuff sent over. Again, in this area, I'm spoiled by my Polish markets and even Caputo's which has fun but trashy Italian pastries.

Listen, it's not like I've really gotten to know this place. It was one visit, but I would surely return for fish. Actually, I don't have plans to return for fish but I have plans already to cajole my parents into buying fish to bring to my house for me to grill.

It's amazing what a few years difference make. Back then, I said I had never been to Fresh Farms Niles. Now it is my favorite area grocery. Then, I complained about the breads at Fresh Farms Wheeling, now (well the other day), I had the most amazing black bread from there and I expect that other breads there are just as amazing.

The breads are one of the reasons I shop Fresh Farms Niles. I love the quality and I love the variety; troubled often by the decision between getting something I know I want and something I know I need to try. With indecision, I can alway rely on the Greek village bread made with natural starter or the grain edge bread, we call "triangle bread" because if you saw it, you would know why. Saturday, I found myself at Fresh Farms Wheeling for the first time in ages, maybe since that post. I made my way to bread-ville. There were some of the Greek breads here and a few more that we see there, but what struck me was several Slavic breads not found at Niles. They carry names that do not tell me, at least, much of what they were, and some asking did not do much more. One must, I suppose, buy. We ended with "monastarsky" or something close to that when told it was naturally started. It was a black bread, but not moist as a good pumpernickel. On the other hand, it had a brutal crust that would do well if an intruder tried to take your bread and would make an intruder try to take your bread. I eat a lot of very good Eastern European breads because of where I live and shop. This was the best yet.

BTW, it's not all bread as in what you should get. Just near the bread area is some prepared foods. They had these giant skewers of grilled Georgian chicken that you should get with your bread. Man, I wish a Fresh Farms would open closer to me, and man how things change.

Vital Information wrote:BTW, it's not all bread as in what you should get. Just near the bread area is some prepared foods. They had these giant skewers of grilled Georgian chicken that you should get with your bread. Man, I wish a Fresh Farms would open closer to me, and man how things change.

Funny you should mention this. Fresh Farms Niles is getting ready to open a pretty massive prepared foods section in the tarped off area across from the deli (where the bakery used to be).