Peach Balsamic Vinegar?

Oh yes. Trust us when we say it’s possible to drink this vinegar right from the bottle, we have. It’s sweet, which cuts the sharp pang that you get from most vinegars. It’s not a weak vinegar that’s weighed down by over sugared peach either.  The Peach Balsamic Vinegar is rich.  The real vinegar snap doesn’t come til the end, until the balsamic has done its job of mellowing your tongue enough to squander the impact of sucking down a spoonful of vinegar. One taste and you’ll want a bottle waiting for you at home. The flavor brings out something of an explorer in us.  We found ourselves dashing some on fruit, soaking pork chops, and even topping ice cream – yes, it’s that good. There were the obvious places to try it – like with olive oil on a salad, which is great, don’t get us wrong. But a vinegar this good needs to live and breath life into food, not spend it’s days laying on top of greens. We were elated to see a bottle in the line up at the SoFi awards in New York, and even happier when they received the gold in their category – though not too surprised. The Peach Balsamic Vinegar is handcrafted and made to the same standards as the rest of Lucero’s line up.

Where can I get this?

On our shelves near the oil and vinegars, waiting in it’s swirling black and gray pattern with a thin understated orange stripe.  Harking you to give it a try. We’ll do what we can to keep it on the shelves.  If we’re out, an order is a phone call away.

After a tiring, early afternoon of stomping around the city, we rested and cleaned up for dinner. Where, of all places, do we go in such a great city of all things eat? Spotted Pig. The Pig is a well-known spot in the Meatpacking District…a fantastic neighborhood.  Not only that, it has some amazing food, and soothes our guilty pleasure of star spotting. But the food, oh the food. Of course we all ordered different items, so each person could at least taste everything at our table. An order of red and white bottles and we hunkered down for dinner; the ladies at the banquette and the gentlemen sat in short stools. From deviled eggs to pig’s ear – we got a real spread. We ravaged our plates, chatted, and cleared the sauce from our faces. After dinner we walked into the cool night’s air, we were ready for the movie.

Though this wasn’t just any movie – it was a rooftop film. We headed to the Lower East side. Out of the cab, we checked in at the door, got our arm bands, and huffed up the six flights of stairs of the lower-east-side school building. The top of the ‘Open Road Rooftop’ was covered by young budding artists in swaths of bright colors across the floor and walls; a pastoral hodgepodge that set the mood. Toss in a live opening band and a cool breeze: the night was set. The rooftop-film people know what they are doing.  This was a fantastic way to spend an evening, and if you are in town, or have the chance to catch a film – don’t miss it.

It had been a long night. Two of us had to get up early, so we ended it there. The next morning we had breakfast in the hotel; really well-made french toast and a bowl of fruit between the two of us. After breakfast, finally, we were off to the show. After getting our badges it was off to judge the 2010 Sofi Awards: delicious food was spread out on the tables, meaning a hard vote for most of the categories.  Some of our favorites won like Lucero’s Peach Vinegar, Rishi Tea, Creminelli meats, Cyprus Grove and more!

After voting we took to the rows and rows of vendors: tons of great stuff from brand new companies and old favorites showcasing fantastic new items. After eating our way through the show, we took a cab back to have a drink and napped. The Pride Parade ended near out hotel and a couple of us still had the energy to enjoy the celebration, while the others had a down night after a long day of walking and stuffing our face.

The following day we had breakfast at Pastis early. Nothing could have been a better top off to our time in NYC – an open patio in summer, and a brunch at one of New York’s ever-more famous french spots. The fruit was incredibly fresh and the french toast was thick with ideal toasty edges, great all around. A short walk back to the hotel, and a quick pack-up of our things…  our time in NYC was over.

Tasty, fun, times in New York City. We’ll be back for sure.

Woah, what? Caramels that taste like the city?

Yeah, that’s right. The delicious tastes of Bucktown (coffee), Lincoln Square (salty and nutty), Old Town (pretzels), and Pilsen (spiced) all wrapped up and ready to take you into a land of sweet delicious candy. Grab a pack of one type, or explore the whole city with all four. The flavors are as smooth as the caramel, never overwhelming or so much as to hide the true caramel taste. Soft caramels potted with the flair of our favorite city.

Who makes these delicious treats?

Julie and her staff cook up these yummy caramels. Her experience from the land of candy (Hershey’s), and her love for Chicago helped foster City Caramels, we’re happy they did – the result is so tasty! Just ask Tasting Table.

How can I get my mitts on some?

Stop by Southport Grocery, we try to keep the four flavors as much as possible. Run out of your favorite? Let us know, we can always order more. Want us to save you some? We’ll horde for you too. Get a three-bag of Chicago flavors, you won’t be sorry.

Ah, I love granola!

We do too, and that is why we wanted to feature one of our favorites here. It is sweet, but not sugary, crunchy but not clumped, it is the perfect medium in the realm of granola. In this crazy world of maldexrodo-whatevers and trans-fats – it’s easy to get lost in the hodgepodge. This here granola has all legible foodstuffs, real ingredients means real granola. Milk & Honey Granola contains only the tasty and good-for-you in it’s clear bag. Real dried blueberries, clusters of oats, are visible – not hidden behind a box or brown wax paper bags – you can see all the good stuff right there. Behind it’s styled label lays the sweet mix of blueberries and pecans, or cinnamon and raisins, or more – grab a bag and finally enjoy breakfast with real granola.

Who are these devisers of delectableness?

Why the folks over at Milk & Honey Cafe, of course. They concocted a meld of their own creation in the Cafe’s conception, a truly tasty invention.

A breakfast food…

Woah, stop there. Granola isn’t only for breakfast. Mix some in with your salad for a sweet much with your greens, top off a casserole with it for a fantastic crunch, or eat it from the bag as a snack. Don’t let granola only live in the breakfast category for another second. Be adventurous with your granola, your taste buds will thank you.

Where can I get it?

Right here on our shelves. Grab a bag today for great tasting granola tomorrow (or out the door). If we’re low or out of a flavor you are looking for we can help – we ‘ll order it for you. Luckily they’re in Chicago providing us with their scrumptious granola. Stop eating your faux-granola and get real Chicago granola from Milk & Honey already.

Thats right, we do private parties right here in the heart of Chicago. Shock and awe? Yeah, it happens. We here at Southport Grocery have the unique ability of opening our doors for private parties after normal store hours; this means no back ‘private party’ rooms or paying a huge premium on shutting a place down. You and your guests can sit (or stand) in the comfort of our grocery and cafe, without a worry in the world.

Get some locally grown food into your wedding guests for a rehearsal dinner, wow your friend on their birthday with a restaurant full of friends and butt-kicking-good food.  Want to have a real foodie dinner for your family, no matter what you are celebrating? We can help.

We won’t force you into breakfast, don’t worry!  We really enjoy doing dinners, but if you want breakfast for dinner, we can arrange that too. As far as building a menu goes, we can do anything. If you have something in mind already, we can work with you, and if you have no clue, we can help.  Even if you don’t want to deal with it at all and you want a surprise walking in, like our Secret Supper, we can do that. For private parties we can arrange a full sit-down dinner or passed hors d’oeuvre r. You can even have something in-between, the cafe is your oyster.

So if you are looking now or in the not-so-distant future, think of a local favorite for your private party – us!

We shipped out on the first plane to The Big Apple Saturday morning before the show. Our plan of attack? Land, check-in to our hotel, and get living like ‘real’ New Yorkers – eating our way though the city. We checked into The Maritime, a Southport Grocery favorite, and headed out for brunch (of course).

We got a tip from our baker to try out Paris Commune just down the street from our hotel – so we huffed the few, short blocks. The sun was on the rise and we could already feel it was going to be a tough day for walking, we spotted the restaurant and walked in. First thing we noticed was it was as if their decor fell out of a small town in France – cute and light during the day and a mellow looking wine bar and a private table or two downstairs for the evening. Then we noticed it was relatively empty, but we chalked it up to our midwest eagerness and hunkered in for some overdue grub. We started with a round of coffee, a bloody mary, and the Oscar Wilde; good strong coffee, just enough spice in the bloody mary, and not too sweet on the cocktail. For breakfast: A Salmon and Spinach Omelet, the Truffled Eggs, the Southern Belle, and their fritata – all great fresh flavors and never overwhelming. A good pick by our baker, no wonder it’s a neighborhood favorite.

After breakfast, we took a brutally long walk to the farmer’s market at Union Square. Late June, with a minor heat wave cascading down the angled streets of NYC, it was unbearable in the sun and sweat-inducing in the shade – we even had to break in NYU bookstore to get some A/C. It was worth it though, we do love our farmers markets and The Union Square Farmer’s Market is huge and great. Lots and lots of veggies, fruits, meats, and one thing we don’t get at our farmer’s markets in Chicago: fresh fish. Not just one stand of small fish either, a plethora of stands carrying muscles, prawns, shell fish, and red snapper – oh my!  Before leaving we picked up some native New York state juices that looked and tasted amazing by Red Jacket Orchards – we got Blueberry Stomp and Raspberry Apple, so refreshing after a long walk.

After the stroll around the farmer’s market, we decided had to check out our New York counterparts; so off to Dean and Deluca then to Magnolia’s. Dean and Deluca is great, they have so much shelf space enough room for everything under the sun – although it does get a tad overwhelming, it is a great place for inspiration. On our trip to Magnolia’s we got lucky, no line. We liked the cupcakes at Magnolia’s, don’t get us wrong – we are just privy to another particular cupcake.

Next NYC post: Dinner and ‘the show.’

First it was Tasting Table, featuring their new rubs and awesome sauces, we were glad. Then when we were reading through our Time Out Chicago Edition and came across a nice little ditty of an article about CoOp Hot Sauce we were elated. For those who don’t know, we are smitten with CoOp’s Hot Sauces, we dole out their hot sauces as our in-house hot sauce and sell it for use in your beautiful home as well. We like to splash some on eggs, burgers, and maybe a dash (or more) on our sandwiches.

Do yourself a favor and try it, between the heat and the flavor what else could you want? Well they’ll give you more – local ingredients, local young chefs, and how about giving back to the community in your own back yard? Those chefs are the budding future chefs growing their craft thanks to the donations and fundraising - in the form of their amazing sauces.

How is this different than the stuff at big box stores?

A lot of ways. Lets start with the process of picking – O-MED hand picks all of their olives from their own trees in spesific micro-climate sections of Spain. Picking by hand reduces bruises and allows picking only the perfect olives without over-ripened or under-ripened olives – for a cleaner taste and a better quality of olive oil. Before being processed, the olives are separated into their respective farms to keep single origin and blends separate and pure. From there the olives are beat then milled into a homogenous paste where the oil can be cleanly extracted in a three step centrifuge. What these do, what all of these small steps do, is create a cleaner better olive oil. The flavor of O-MED olive oil is much stronger and frankly better than nearly any olive oil at big box stores. They are also contained in a tin, blocking out sun – which degrades olive oil.

Who makes the olive oil?

The good folks at O-MED and their well trained staff, from pickers to quality controllers they produce some of the best olive oil we’ve had. They have a passion for the making the finest quality oil; they care about the food they make and with that kind of heart it is hard to ignore.

When should I use it?

Anytime, as a finishing oil or to roast with – though keep in mind that with finer olive oils, a little goes a long way. The flavors in O-MED are clean, but strong enough that a small amount is plenty. Cook up your radishes, drizzle on asparagus, dip some bread in it, it’s good no matter how you use it. These rich olive oils are strong in flavor and in character – they’ll be your go-to olive oil and won’t let you down.

Where to can I get O-MED?

Get it here, at Southport Grocery and Cafe. We carry both Selection and Arbequina – each fantastic in their own right. Running low, or want us to put some aside for you? Give us a call, we’d be happy to help.

Salami? I’ve had Salami.

Not like this. This Salami is made with a recipe passed down from generations, from making for the family – because that is just what you did in the 1600s, to their grandparents who started the business and sold to the area and Italy. Where the current proprietors bring the tradition and flavor to the US. They have brought something that hasn’t been in available in the states for a long while – bona fide hard Italian Salami. We carry two types, the Piccante and Sopressata. Salami Piccante is sometimes known by it’s American name: pepperoni; but this isn’t your grocery store pepperoni, this is hand made with paprika and hot peppers from the Calabria region. The Sopressata has a strong garlic flavor with great spices and sea salt to accompany the fine cuts of pork. Both have their own distinct flavors, but are superb in flavor and quality. They have a strong punch of flavor and are robust enough to be eaten on their own or in accompany with a antipasto setup or with cheeses.

Where does the Salami come form? Who makes it?

This Salami comes from those who know cured meats, Italy. The Creminelli family has been making artisan meats for longer than than the oldest aunt can remember, some even say 1600s is when they started. It is still under the family, and the quality is kept at the same standards from the beginning – hand selected ingredients, made by hand, salted, cured with delicious rewarding scrutiny.

So do I eat the salami only by it self?

You defiantly can. We can’t help but cut a couple pieces ourselves before serving it at a party, or adding them to a recipe. The Creminelli blog is even devoted to finding recipes and ideas to use with their meats. Make a pasta salad with small pieces of salami, add seasonal veggies and some great olive oil to finish it off. Slice thin the Piccante and put it on a homemade pizza for authentic Italian taste. There isn’t a bad time to reach for Creminelli meats, strong flavor and rich meatiness is nearly irresistible.

Where can I get these Salamis?

In our fridge! We carry two types of Salami, Piccante and Sopressata, but if you are looking for a specific type we’ll do what we can to get you them. Don’t hesitate to ask questions, we’ll be glad to answer anything – from meal ideas to flavor differences, we’ll help.