Good Fish & Cheese Mongers near Aurora

I live way out in Aurora (don't consider it TOO way out, since we are the 2nd largest city in the state!),

I was just wondering if anyone knew of any reputable fish mongers and cheese mongers out my way...

The only place I can find decent seafood is Michaels Fresh Market on Rte 59 by Sams Club, they get stuff in daily and it is fairly fresh... It is also one of the very few places around here I can find head-on shrimp. Succulent Seafood in Naperville needs at least a couple days notice to fill the order.

The best cheese monger I can find is over at Sams Wine and Spirits in Lombard. Good selection, looks like they have good rotation of the product.

But I was wondering if there were any other "gems" out there I am not aware of...

Any help would be greatly apreciated!

No answer for you, but I edited your subject line to make it more specific and hopefully encourage interest/responses from those who would know.

I live in Batavia and used to work in Aurora and Naperville, not much to report for you in regard to seafood or cheese specialty shops. We usually trek to Whole Foods in Wheaton about 4 times a year to satisfy each of those needs. Trader Joe's in Batavia can have a good cheese selection at times but it is not vast. I don't have the exact address for WF but it's east of the Naperville Rd. - Butterfield Road intersection in the Danada shops, turn in at the first light east of that intersection off of Butterfield.

Hope you don't mind trekking Butterfield Road east to almost 355 - if so, Sam's Wine is a great place for cheese, I personally prefer them over Whole Foods (which is good, but expensive, for fish).

Nancy

As far as fish goes, if you are up for a trip a bit north of your area I can recommend two excellent places for raw and cooked.

In St. Charles on Rt 31 there is Today's Catch. Most all of what they have is not farmed (exception of scallops, trout and sometimes tilapia) and a pretty nice variety: salmon, mahi mahi, halibut, cod, lake superior whitefish, snapper and a few exotics. Everything I've purchased here has been extremely fresh and notches above what you might get in a grocery store. They also have a decent selection of smoked fish as well which I have not tried.

Further west and north in South Elgin is New England Coast Seafood Market. I can't vouch for the raw fish however it looked excellent. Similar variety as Today's Catch along with a very nice selection of crab and crab legs (dungeness, snow and king). Also good selection of house smoked fish. What I did try was the jumbo fried shrimp basket. They also offer fried scallops, catfish, lake perch and a few others. Orders come with hot or mild cocktail sauce, cole slaw and curly fies. For $8.25 I received approx 9 or 10 healthy size shrimp (U15s) that seemed to be hand breaded and fried to a proper degree of doneness. My only quible with the place was the service. I went on a friday during lent and the volume of people was more than the 5 guys behind the counter could handle. They all had the- deer in headlights, I'm in the weeds and can't get out look- you see in a restaurant every now and then. There is no place to eat there so be warned carryout only. Finally they also offer different flavors of Italian ice which looked interesting. Good luck.

Today's Catch
311 N 2nd St # 103, St Charles, IL
(630) 444-0168


New England Coast Seafood Market
1944 Mcdonald Rd (off Randall Rd), South Elgin, IL
(847) 717-0007

Thanks for the info on the place in South Elgin, I don't get that way very often and when I do, it's on a Sunday and they have been closed. The place in St. Charles is about 15 minutes from my home but I have never tried it, it's about a half block north of The BBQ Shack which has been reviewed here.

Thanks electric mullet!

I'll be sure to take a drive and check them both out...

Not too many places you can find with shrimp that are U15's!!!

And very few places have fresh head-on shrimp!

No undiscovered gems, but some cheese/food shopping ideas:

The Cabernet & Co. in Naperville has a nice selection of cheeses, with tastings on Saturday afternoons (along with wine). The strip mall where Cabernet & Co is located also includes Trader Joe's, Great Harvest, Succulent Seafood, and Casey's grocery store, which has a nice deli section. People love Casey's meatloaf and chicken salad.

Binny's on Ogden in Naperville also has a cheese counter. City Meat Market is located in that strip mall, as well.

Long-time residents of Aurora swear by Prisco's grocery on the southwest side of the city for their deli and salads.

There are 2 locations for Zeppe's Italian market, which carry Italian meats and cheeses, sauces, pastas, etc. One is in Naperville, the other in Oswego. I noticed another deli in the general strip mall in Oswego -- maybe Polish? I haven't tried it yet, and haven't been by there for a while, so I'm not 100% sure it's still there.

There's also the Blue Goose grocery store in St. Charles, which has a nice deli section, along with a good frozen food section, carrying unusual items like duck, bison, etc. I like local grocery stores because you never know what you'll find.


Cabernet & Co.
88 W Gartner, Naperville
630-596-9463

Binny's
790 Royal St George, Naperville
630-717-0100

Prisco's
1108 Prairie Street, Aurora
630-264-9400

Zeppe's Italian Market
529 W 87th Street, Naperville
630-753-0955

2757 US Highway 34, Oswego
630-554-0048

Blue Goose Super Market
164 S 1st Street, St Charles
630-584-0900

Just to add to this thread, the Woodman's Grocery of Kenosha opens in North Aurora on Wednesday, June 7. It is located on Orchard Road and Oak Street, just west of Randall Road and north of I-88.

I've never been to one, but I can't wait to go.

tcdup wrote:Just to add to this thread, the Woodman's Grocery of Kenosha opens in North Aurora on Wednesday, June 7. It is located on Orchard Road and Oak Street, just west of Randall Road and north of I-88.

I've never been to one, but I can't wait to go.

Do you know anything about the place??? I think I saw a comercial about it... Is it that store that is entirely employee owned?

What I know about it I've either read here at the forum, or in today's Aurora Beacon News. In today's article, they quoted the manager as saying that instead of 9 different kinds of mustard, they have 9 FEET of mustard shelf space. They buy and store in bulk, and pass the savings on to consumers. I'm not sure if it is employee-owned -- haven't had much luck finding it on the internets.

Once my car is out of the *@!(!@* shop, I intend to race right out there. Will report back.

I made a flying trip to Woodman's. The variety and depth of offerings is unbelievable. It's like having a Michael's Fresh Market with all their canned and frozen ethnic foods plopped down in a Jewel. Prices are very good -- $2.09 for a gallon of Dean's milk (I don't know if that's promotional or not).

A very small deli.

A HUGE cheese section, all pre-packaged, but a really wide variety of producers and types. Not much fancy schmancy cheese, though.

3 or 4 different producers of frozen pasties, including Captain Jack and Stella's Pastry shop from Pewaukee WI. The Captain Jack looks pretty commercial, and so does Stella's, really, but there was one brand in the case that looked really home-made. Prices ranged from $0.89 for a small beef from Captain Jack to about $2.50 for the really home-made looking one. They also had chicken and vegetable pasties.

A HUGE frozen fish section, similar really to Trader Joe's, only a LOT bigger with a lot of variety.

Frozen rabbit hindquarters (boneless).

8 kinds of horseradish, from about 4 producers!

No liquor. Most baked goods seemed to be imported from Wisconsin.

They have 6 different brands of fresh coffee beans that can be ground or bought whole, with at least 5 different types of coffee from each prodcer. There's a similar display to buy loose tea by weight, with maybe 12 kinds of loose tea. Not to mention packaged teas from Lipton to Twinings to brands normally seen at specialty stores.

They also carry King Arthur flour.

Thanks all for all of the great "finds!" I think next weekend I will spend it "store hopping!"

Although I did not see it, the checkout person said they did have a liquor section albeit out of view at the south end of the store. For those of you unaware of Woodman's scale, the distance to the supposed liquor department from the checkout is about 50 yards. There may also be some arcane rule about paying for your food before going to buy liquor.
FYI-debit cards are OK, but not credit cards.

I can add to this thread...

I live in South Elgin and I stopped by the New England Fish Market when it first opened. I spoke with the proprietor and he was friendly. I did ask him where his fish came from - meaning fresh, farmed, from what area - and answered, 'From the docks down in the city,' which was not the answer I was prepared for, to say the least! When I explained to him what I meant, he still didn't seem to know specifics. Still good to have a fish monger in the area.

I have gone to the Woodman's that is at Huntley and Randall Road (or thereabouts). Here is how I describe it to friends...at Jewel, you can get 5 flavors of regular Yoplait. You go to Dominick's and you find 3 of the same flavor, and 2 that are different from what you found at Jewel. You go to Woodman's, and they have every single flavor Yoplait makes. And they have every other brand and every flavor they offer. Basically if they carry the brand, they carry pretty much the entire line. On top of that, they have many ethnic and uncommon brands and products. It is an amazing place. I drive to Caputo's in Hanover Park for produce and deli meats, and Woodman's can't beat their prices. Their produce is close in price to Caputo's, but their lunchmeat is far closer to Jewel than Caputo's, so shop around if you care about prices. And the $2 milk gallon is pretty standard. Beware the Wall of Snacks that divides the frozen and refrigerated section from the regular aisles. It runs nearly the entire span of the store and is very tempting if you are trying to keep figure friendly foods in the house. A very comprehensive and amazing place with great prices. As far as cheese goes, I will just say that this is the first place I have ever found Ricotta Salata. They are a cash based business - no CCs and I am unsure about checks. Also, the liquor department is run basically like a separate operation at one end of the store and is extensive. Prices seem on the inexpensive side - comparable to Sam's, or a little more. I have learned to park at that end of the store (there is a side entrance) and hit it on the way out. They are even understanding about ringing up a few extra items you might pick up along the way. In general, a great place to shop! I hope you enjoy it!

We finally had a chance to visit the Woodman's in North Aurora, it certainly is a huge place! Contary to an above post, they do have a liqour department but it is seperate and to the far right of the entrance, we didn't go this trip but their hours are 8-9 and 12-9 on Sundays. The selection of items is outstanding, we found every item we normally buy at Jewel plus. We did not look closely at the meats, etc. because we pretty much eat vegetarian but the produce section is large with a great variety, as in a whole case devoted to mushrooms. The cheese selection is large and they do have several kinds of cheese curds. We were surprised at the good variety and amount of ethnic items, some bulk items and a whole section of organic and health food items. They carry some household products, things like lotions, hair care and aspirin but the emphasis is food. It is billed as employee owned and everyone we encountered was helpful and very friendly. They are open 24 hours.

Woodman's
Orchard Road and Oak Street (Next to North Aurora Auto Mall & I-88)
North Aurora, Il
630-723-3900

electric mullet wrote:In St. Charles on Rt 31 there is Today's Catch. Most all of what they have is not farmed (exception of scallops, trout and sometimes tilapia) and a pretty nice variety: salmon, mahi mahi, halibut, cod, lake superior whitefish, snapper and a few exotics. Everything I've purchased here has been extremely fresh and notches above what you might get in a grocery store. They also have a decent selection of smoked fish as well which I have not tried.

Today's Catch
311 N 2nd St # 103, St Charles, IL
(630) 444-0168

Today's Catch has been closed for some time however I drove by there last Saturday and found that Diamond Seafood, a wholesale distributor has this as a storefront. We bought 6 huge scallops and broiled them that night, so meaty we could only each eat 2. We bought trout that we have not yet tried. Everything looked and smelled very fresh, he says he brings it in daily and whatever isn't sold that day goes to an after market (jewel??). The above address and phone are the same but it's Diamond Seafood now. I did notice their truck at one of the higher end restaurants today.