The New York Times reports: Balducci’s Makes a Quiet Exit From Manhattan.
If social scientists were hunting for recent clues of gastronomical excess, they would need to look no further than the lonely bottles and tins left on the shelves of Balducci’s, the landmark gourmet market that closed its two Manhattan shops on Sunday.
Among the remains at the West 66th location, across from the Juilliard School, at midday Sunday despite discounts of up to 60 percent: Pomodoro Basilico dipping oil. Strawberry Sizzle vinegar. Canned stuffed peppers, regular price $15.99. Goose foie gras, normally $49.99 a tin. Bottles of Tasmanian rainwater “captured from the purest skies on earth” (and a relative bargain at $4.39, before the discount).
“Do you really need chipotle raspberry finishing sauce? What is finishing sauce?” asked Barbara Colasanti, a 45-year-old teacher who lives in the West Village, as she perused the scanty pickings at Balducci’s vaulted, marble-walled and echoingly empty Chelsea store at Eighth Avenue and West 14th Street. “People don’t need all this stuff. It’s a lesson.”
The closing of Balducci’s, the World War II-era gourmet market that was once the foremost pit stop for New York foodies, elicited myriad reactions from its customers, who met news of its last days in the city with surprise, sadness and, in the case of Ms. Colasanti, shrugs. Some viewed the closing as tragic, others as a necessary corrective in these newly pared-back times.
“They priced themselves out of the market, it was hubris,” said Ms. Colasanti, who was a devotee of the flagship Balducci’s at Sixth Avenue in Greenwich Village, which closed in 2003 and is now the site of a Citarella.
Overrated, overpriced and overhyped - it will not be missed.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
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5 comments:
I mentioned the other day the wife and I searching for pork belly and discovered a couple ethnic markets that had cheap spices.
Well, I had the thought to price compare next time we were in Wal-Mart (ethnic market is a lot cheaper), but just then the next place we went (after a stop off at a mediterranean restaraunt) was whole foods (hey, i was desperate to find pork belly). The ethnic place had a vacuum sealed bag of peppercorns for maybe 3-4 dollars. The bag was probably the volume of a football.
Whole foods had a tiny bag of peppercorns for the same price. It was the size of one of those small ziplock bags they use to indicate expensive weed in the movies.
On the one hand, I appreciate some of the food Whole Foods has...good cheese, some interesting things like chocolate covered coffee beans, their steaks are good and probably some other things you can't realy get other places around here.
On the other hand, its freaking expensive. Arkansas is not exactly a rich state, you know?
So my point, I don't know if Whole Foods will survive. It might and it probably can if they will be a little more price conscious. I hope it does, they have some things you can't really get elsewhere. I'm sure this doesn't really compare to the store you are talking about, but little rock isn't going to have near the same capacity to support those kinds of things (obviously) so maybe its kinda close.
But I'm certain the ethnic place will survive. Not only do I think it will last, I think it might thrive and others open up as rents go down. The mitigating circumstance might be if the relatively few Indian/Middle Eastern/Asian people we have around here all leave for some reason. Then I suppose places like that would be gone.
It's funny you should say this.
Just yesterday, I dragged a friend out to the Woodside-Jackson Hts-Elmhurst corridor. Now, this was a born-n-bred New Yawker and he'd never been there.
Took him to all the grocery stores - Indian, Mexican, Korean. He was just blown away at what you could get.
You could buy 10-lb bags of dried shiitake mushrooms for $25. Now, that's like a 10-year supply for me but it's good to know that such places exist selling in industrial sizes.
Nearby was a halal butcher. His response on going inside was "where's the meat?" and I was, like, "dude, they slaughter it to order - they're in the backyard - there's no frozen meat here" and his eyes went wide.
I go there regularly so I just had to do some "top up" shopping - rice, spices, etc. But we did have a kick-ass Tibetan meal.
I had to look up what a halal butcher is.
Do they just take orders until they have enough to kill an animal? Or maybe if you order a shoulder they kill it and then hang the rest in the fridge or whatever until its all cut up and sold...?
I wish we had one of those. Last night when writing this post, I thought about how ironic it is you can get things like pork belly in a big city, far from any farm, easier than I can get it in a rural state, minutes from all sorts of farms. (although, pig farming doesn't really go on here too much afaik)
Just a volume issue I suppose...
Oh yeah, and it seems like someone could start up a halal/kosher butcher and use the highest standards of both groups. Wouldn't that be ironic? :)
The mediterranean restaraunt has on their menus something to the effect of "we don't process, cut, cook or serve any pork products of any kind on our premises".
The name of the place is Istanbul. Maybe they just do that for effect, but I like to think its because the people running the place are really middle eastern/mediterranean types cooking authentic food.
Do they just take orders until they have enough to kill an animal? Or maybe if you order a shoulder they kill it and then hang the rest in the fridge or whatever until its all cut up and sold...?Both of the above.
And some things you can't order in parts. You can get a whole chicken, and they'll clean it for you the way you want it.
Oh, and there are definitely places where they don't serve stuff. There's a kick-ass Egyptian seafood restaurant that does not allow alcohol on its premises.
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