Hi- Have the crowds thinned out at the Skokie Mariano's? I was there the second day they were open, but I was going out of town that evening, and so I only bought some apples on sale, that I ate on the train going down to New Orleans. I did not have a lot of time to spend in the store anyway.

Mariano's has an ad in today's Chicago Tribune, in which they have a $5 off $50 store coupon, and they also have quite a few things on sale for memorial day. The sale only runs 5/21-5/25. The sale is posted on their website, but it is in pdf form, and it would not let me post a link to it. I am going there today to get some strawberries for $1.25, and a few other things. Hopefully they are better than the strawberries I have been getting at Jewel this season so far.

They have their homemade Italian sausage on sale for $2.50 a pound right now. Does anybody know if this includes chicken sausage? They also have fresh Maine lobster for $10 each, but I don't know if that is a good deal. Hope this helps, Nancy

NFriday wrote:Hi- Have the crowds thinned out at the Skokie Mariano's?

I was there this morning at around 10. Crowds were at normal levels.

Hi- I went to the Skokie Mariano's this afternoon, and I like the store, but the area is just too congested. It took me 30 minutes to get there from Ridge/Davis. I left at 5:00, and so I hit the end of rush hour, which did not help any. I still have to figure out where the best place is too exit when I leave the parking lot too. I left the store at 6:30, and traffic was still crazy busy at that corner. I was going to try to make a left hand turn onto McCormick, but I finally gave up, and turned right, and then right again at Touhy, and turned around in the parking lot at the mall.

The crowds had died down considerably compared to what they were the first week, but they still had a fair amount of customers, including a lot that keep Kosher. I wonder how much this store is affecting Kosher sales at the Howard Jewel? At least the strawberries were the best that I have had so far this year. They were Driscoll, and they were on sale for $1.25. The Italian sausage that is on sale for $2.50 a pound does not have a chicken version. They were giving out free samples of the Italian sausage, and I was underwhelmed. They do have some homemade chicken feta sausage on sale for $3 a pound. I looked at their shrimp, and none of it was marked as far as where it came from. The most expensive shrimp they had in their seafood case ran $18 a pound. They had some shrimp on sale I believe for maybe $8.99 a pound, but like I said, I have no idea what its country of origin is. I like the store, but it is too much of a hassle for me to get to it to do all my grocery shopping.

BTW- I noticed that Valli is having a job fair the beginning of June for their Dempster/Dodge location, and Mariano's is having a job fair for their location at Willow and the Tristate, which is going to open up in June. Hope this helps, Nancy

NFriday wrote:Hi- I went to the Skokie Mariano's this afternoon, and I like the store, but the area is just too congested. It took me 30 minutes to get there from Ridge/Davis. I left at 5:00, and so I hit the end of rush hour, which did not help any. I still have to figure out where the best place is too exit when I leave the parking lot too. I left the store at 6:30, and traffic was still crazy busy at that corner. I was going to try to make a left hand turn onto McCormick, but I finally gave up, and turned right, and then right again at Touhy, and turned around in the parking lot at the mall. y

There's a traffic light on the Touhy side of shopping complex. Hang a left out of the lot and another left on to McCormick.

Cooked some Mariano's bulk breakfast sausage from the new Skokie store (bought a few weeks ago and frozen). It was ridiculously salty, as if someone doubled the salt in the recipe. Don't know if it's a one off, but I won't be buying it again.

EvA wrote:Cooked some Mariano's bulk breakfast sausage from the new Skokie store (bought a few weeks ago and frozen). It was ridiculously salty, as if someone doubled the salt in the recipe. Don't know if it's a one off, but I won't be buying it again.

It's very hit or miss (mostly miss) on the sausage at Mariano's. Encouraged by RAB's comments on another thread that sausages are being made at each individual Mariano's store, last week I stopped into the store at Damen and Chicago and picked up a variety of sausages. The bulk country breakfast sausage was the best of the lot. Mild but pleasant spice, hint of thyme, reasonable salt and most importantly, proper bind and defintion. Giardeniera links, otoh, sausages were a shameful disaster -- basically casings filled with ground up, unseasoned meat. Right into the garbage they went. Chicken-Feta-Spinach links, for which I didn't have much hope, had decent definition and bind but were very dry with an unusual mouthfeel. Coils of Italian, both Hot and Mild, were bound well and had nice definition but the flavor was not stand-out. I know several other grocery stores, even Sunset, that put out consistently better versions. I think it'll a be a while before I head back to Mariano's for their house-made sausages. I'm not a fan of sausage roulette.

=R=

Hi- I went to Mariano's again today (Memorial Day) to hit the last day of their five day sale, and this time the traffic was much better, and it only took me 14 minutes to get there. The store was actually busier than it was when I went there on Thursday at approximately the same time. I don't think I will abandon Jewel entirely. Jewel is still more convenient for me, and if Mariano's hadn't had a sale worth going to, I don't know if I would have made a special trip. I did not get any, but they had family packs of boneless skinless chicken breasts on sale for $1.69 a pound, which is a really good deal. Has anybody here had their store brand chicken? I did get some more strawberries, a container of Edy's ice cream for $2, some bananas, and some frozen bagels which were on sale for $1 a package. One thing that I did not realize until today, was that Mariano's gives you five cents back if you bring your own bag. I did not see very many people bringing their own bag though. I was surprised that Mariano's did not have any veggie plants for sale.

I also stopped at the Howard/McCormick Jewel on my way home too, and their business is definitely hurting. I was surprised though that even though I was there at 6:00 PM, that Jewel did not have their hot bar set up. Mariano's had lots of customers at their hot bar. The hot bar at Mariano's actually looked good, and it is only $6.49, whereas Whole Food's hot bar is I believe $8.99. Jewel also did not have their Kosher coffee place open.

Does anybody know when the store is going to open up that is moving into Dominick's former store at McCormick and Pratt? Thanks, Nancy

ronnie_suburban wrote:I'm not a fan of sausage roulette.

<censored response>

On Sunday I did, in addition to ribs, chicken and bacon wrapped jalapenos stuffed with Italian sausage/dates, 15-sausages/4 -5 types of Mariano's brats for a BBQ class a group won at a Common Threads silent auction. I smoked them with wood on our Barn & Company offset Yoder and they turned out really well.

Juicy, full of flavor, a hit with my current favorite sausage condiment, a puree of yellow mustard and giardiniera.

NFriday wrote:I also stopped at the Howard/McCormick Jewel on my way home too, and their business is definitely hurting. I was surprised though that even though I was there at 6:00 PM, that Jewel did not have their hot bar set up. Mariano's had lots of customers at their hot bar. The hot bar at Mariano's actually looked good, and it is only $6.49, whereas Whole Food's hot bar is I believe $8.99. Jewel also did not have their Kosher coffee place open.

Jewel may very well be hurting, but I wouldn't judge that based on yesterday because it was a Jewish holiday (Shavuot), and their Orthodox customers were not grocery shopping.

Hi- I was wondering about that because I noticed that the kosher coffee plce was not open, and I did not see any orthodox people in the store or in Mariano's. When I was in Mariano's last Thursdays, there were quite a few Kosher customers there. Thanks, Nancy

G Wiv wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:I'm not a fan of sausage roulette.

<censored response>

On Sunday I did, in addition to ribs, chicken and bacon wrapped jalapenos stuffed with Italian sausage/dates, 15-sausages/4 -5 types of Mariano's brats for a BBQ class a group won at a Common Threads silent auction. I smoked them with wood on our Barn & Company offset Yoder and they turned out really well.

Juicy, full of flavor, a hit with my current favorite sausage condiment, a puree of yellow mustard and giardiniera.

LOL . . . which Mariano's? Skokie?

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:LOL . . . which Mariano's? Skokie?

Western/Belmont, I stopped on my way to work.

Looks like we'll need to wait until "mid-year 2016" for the Jollibee experience in Skokie - http://jollibeeusa.com/announcement.html

bw77 wrote:Anyone been to a Jollibee? That looks interesting.

Since February 2015, Chicagoland fans of Jollibee —the Philippines-based fast-food chain— have eagerly-anticpated the arrival of the company's first restaurant in the Midwest. Their salvation is near, as the company today announced they'll open next week at 3534 W. Touhy Ave. in suburban Skokie. The grand opening will take place on Friday, July 29, according to a spokeswoman.

http://chicago.eater.com/2016/7/21/1224 ... ago-skokie