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Let's Talk Grocery Stores

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Steve P

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Let's Talk Grocery Stores

by Steve P » Sun Sep 23, 2007 11:18 pm

All,

What a wonderful forum you have here. Becky and I are seriously considering relocating to Louisville in 2008 and as "foodies" we were estatic to find such an (apparently) thriving food scene.

Restaurants aside, could some of you tell us a bit about the grocery store "scene" in Louisville. I recently took a (1 year) position with Oklahoma University, which required that we relocate from Minneapolis to Oklahoma City. In "The Cities" we enjoyed a large variety of supermarkets, specialty shops, butchers and farmers markets. Here in Oklahoma City...Ahhhhhh Not so much. MOF the place is a veritable desert when it comes to quality fruits, veggies, cheeses and meat.

What are things like in Louisville ?...Do you folks enjoy some quality grocery outlets or do you end up forming weekend car pools to "Jungle Jim's" in Cincinatti ? :D
Stevie P...The Daddio of the Patio
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GaryF

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by GaryF » Mon Sep 24, 2007 12:22 am

Dear Steve
Welcome to the forum- I wish I had known about it before I moved here, it is indeed a great resource.
I moved from a large city , too, and for a year and a half afterwards I thought the most cutting edge place to shop was Whole Foods!
The site that helped me the most (until the generous people on this forum) is the Courier- Journal list below by Sarah Fritshner. I'd go to the site soon- Sarah is no longer with the paper so who knows how long it will be up. It has a list of Farmer's Markets, but especially a list of Ethinic markets. I've been happily surprised by the scope and quality of the markets here.
I also recommend Creation Gardens downtown on Main St. They basically are a restaurant supplier but anyone can walk in and shop through their inventory- including the huge refrigerated warehouse with produce and cheeses.
Hope to see you in '08.
http://www.courier-journal.com/kyguide/ ... arkets.htm
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Kim H

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by Kim H » Mon Sep 24, 2007 12:38 am

Thanks for the link, Gary! I copied and pasted to Word so I can keep it. Great info to have!
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Robin Garr

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by Robin Garr » Mon Sep 24, 2007 8:01 am

In addition to Gary's advice, I've got a somewhat more concise list of some of the ethnic markets on LouisvilleHotBytes.com at this link:
http://www.louisvillehotbytes.com/ethnicmarkets.shtml

In the next couple of months, Food & Dining magazine will have a substantive discussion of ethnic markets; and LEO will also come out with an annual city guide, "U R Here", which will have something similar, so there's plenty of reference material around.

To hit a few highlights, in addition to Whole Foods (which isn't a bad option), <b>Lotsa Pasta</b> is the specialty store that just about everyone loves. It started as an Italian shop but now features food from all over the world. <B>Doll's</b> and <B>Burger's</B> markets are both general but upscale grocery stores with lots of specialty items and excellent produce. <B>Highland</b> and <B>Seafood Connection</b> for seafood and fish - the quality of seafood here will surprise you for an inland city. <B>Valu Market</b> is interesting - three different neighborhood branches of this regional grocery, each specifically designed to serve its neighborhood. The one out in the South End is the most interesting - it serves a remarkably diverse immigrant community and has ingredients and produce there for just about every ethnic cuisine you can think of, not fancy, high-priced gor-may stuff but fruits and vegetables and canned goods.

There's <B>Rainbow Blossom</b> for organic, and <b>Creation Gardens</b> just east of downtown for very high-quality produce and things like whole lobes of foie gras ... they're basically a restaurant supplier that lets the general public come in.

Lots of small shops for specific ethnic groups - Chinese, Vietnamese, Asian in general, Indian, Mexican, African - the lists above, including the CJ's list, will help you with that.

And yeah, people do go up to Jungle Jim's. ;)
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by GaryF » Mon Sep 24, 2007 10:55 am

I never knew about your page, Robin or I would have also suggested it. Between the two lists I imagine almost anything can be found, except bialys.
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Suzi Bernert

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by Suzi Bernert » Mon Sep 24, 2007 5:15 pm

Don't forget Fresh Market! And if absolutely all else fails, we are just 2 hours from Jungle Jim's!
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by Steve P » Tue Sep 25, 2007 2:09 am

Robin, Gary, Suzi, All,

Thank you all for the advice. It certainly sounds like there is no shortage of quality markets in the Louisville area. We'll be out on a little "Search and Explore" mission late next month. Between now and the time we get there I'm sure we will have most of the places you suggested "Googled" and "locked and loaded" into our GPS.

I hope you don't mind if we pick your brains a bit more in the coming weeks about this and (perhaps) other topics. Becky and I are looking for our proverbial "place in the sun" and Louisville seems to have much of what we are looking for. What better way to learn about the area than from the people who live, work and play there. Thank you again.
Stevie P...The Daddio of the Patio
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Robin Garr

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by Robin Garr » Tue Sep 25, 2007 7:33 am

Steve P wrote:I hope you don't mind if we pick your brains a bit more in the coming weeks about this and (perhaps) other topics.


Any time, Steve! We're happy to talk about our city, both food-related and otherwise. I think most of us here like Louisville, and we're a good mix of natives and relative newcomers. With no official connections, we're not Chamber of Commerce types and will be happy to talk about the negatives as well as the positives, although I suspect most of us like this town enough that we might <i>sound</i> a little like the Chamber (which, oddly enough, is not called the Chamber of Commerce but, erm, "Greater Louisville I-something or other" ...
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Michelle R.

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by Michelle R. » Wed Sep 26, 2007 3:40 pm

As long as I've lived here, I've NEVER been to Jungle Jim's! I've heard great things, but have never actually dragged my carcass there. I may have to make a trip this weekend...

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