After redesigning and creating new menus a couple of months ago, we made the jump to try and bridge the gap between our grocery and the cafe even more. We want to encourage people to just go hunting our shelves for what strikes them. Want to pig out on candy and ice cream? Totally fine, grab a table, and go to town on some chocolate. Now we know not many (if any) people will go on a chocolate only diet, but if you see a bottle of wine on your way to the table, go ahead and snag it – we’ll open it for you, we’ll even bring you glasses! Pull a bag of crackers and slab of cheese and go hog wild. The grocery is your oyster.

We put the new section of “grocery goodies” on the menu to encourage it! Take a stroll around the grocery, take it back to the table. If you don’t want you table covered by your selections we are happy to hold on to them for you. We’ve even added Salted Caramel and TCHO s’mores to the menu – dessert, for bunch! Next time, give the shelves the once over, bring it to the table, take the rest home – because at Southport Grocery you are free to roam.

Rancho Gordo beans are from Napa Vally and are perfect example of our philosophy of making “regular food” special again.

You said beans right? Why do I want fancy beans?

Beans, yes beans, are something to rave about.  These are not your beans-in-a-can beans, these are hand selected bean varieties from the Americas – some on the verge of disappearing – that are non-genetically altered seeds or plants, picked at perfection, dried, and bagged.  The beans always have a fresh taste, full of unexpected flavor from a simple bean.

Special beans? Do I have to cook them special too? What can I use them in?

Nothing special. Soak and cook the Vaqueros in any dish, drop in a handful of rice beans to perk up a soup, or simmer Yellow Eyes all day with your famous stew – they’ll be perfect.  Classic as a side or the main course, Rancho Gordo beans will make any meal lovely.

Why beans, who would would pick beans out of all things?

Starting from tomatoes and moving to beans, the man behind Rancho Gordo wanted to have fresh and delicious indigenous food. He wants to bring back food that is considered a rarity, food originally from this land back into our diets – away from what he calls a “euro-centric”diet.  “New world foods are exciting, tasty, healthy, romantic, and debatably, easier on the earth.”

What kinds of beans? Only fancy? What about kinds I know?

Starting from just a few beans and growing to cover over twenty varieties, Rancho Gordo has something for anyone: not just pinto or black, but Yellow Eye or Vaquero.

Where can I get these?

Here on our shelves. Looking for a particular kind? Let us know, we’ll do what we can to bring you the best beans.  Share in something that had only existed in the lands where beans are a way of life, and are now brought to your kitchen.

Have a taste for chocolate? Pick up an Oak’s Melty or Malty Melty Bar.

Chocolate bar, aren’t there 1000 of those?

Not likes these. Whipped chocolate center and a snappy thick chocolate coating. Oaks have a thick layer of smooth, rich chocolate coating the outside, providing a snap when biting into the bar.  The inside is whipped chocolate, not too heavy and not too light. There are two types of Oaks bars: the Malty Melty has a center with  Malt powder – like those sweet shakes from your childhood, and the Melty Melty is all chocolate all the time.

Who makes them and where are they from?

For over 100 years and five generations Oaks Chocolate has been making chocolate candies in Oshkosh, Wisconsin and we now bring that delicious tradition to you!

Just need a small bit of something chocolaty?

Yeah, we all do sometimes. We’re often overwhelmed by ‘King’ sizes and even regular sized candy bars – packed full of over sugared caramel and too much of everything. The Oak bars the the perfect size and never overwhelming. Oak’s bars are the ideal quell to your chocolate addiction – so much so even Saveur Magazine couldn’t ignore them, mentioning them in their top 100 of this year

Want to pick one or five up?

We’ve got them for you. If we’re low or out, we can always order some for you.

Old machine made peanut butter is what Cream-Nut is about.

Peanut butter eh?

Lowly Peanut Butter, cast aside too long as a simple condiment only be spread on bread and share the spotlight with Jelly or even packed in celery (raisins optional). The time has come, time for Peanut Butter to become an experience instead of a simple treat. Cream-Nut Peanut Butter is just that; opening the floodgates of sweet unadulterated peanut taste by the spoonful from the jar (how we like it) or on your PB&Js. Chunky or smooth there is a consistency to fix your needs.

How is it any different than a grocery store brand?

This stuff is made with vintage machinery, it has an amazing homemade taste. Cream-nut is the reward of quality linage: the tradition of food carried for over 80 years.  Try it alone, or use it in your favorite peanut butter dish and you will taste the difference. It is also made in Grand Rapids, a great town full of hard working people, which also makes it a local peanut butter.

Where can I get a jar of sweet peanut heaven?

Here, right on our shelves. Pick up a crunch and a creamy, both are great!

You won’t have to bury this pesto, eat it on crackers or by the spoonful! You can find Besto Pesto in our freezer.

A technology and chocolate came together to make TCHO, a chocolate manufacturing company at it’s core – one of the few artisan chocolate makers in the US. They don’t just melt other’s chocolate, they themselves create the chocolate in their factory on the famous San Francisco waterfront.  They are constantly checking the quality, from pod to bean to the machines. Small batch, tasty, hand picked – what is not to love?

TCHO obsesses over their chocolate and we’re sure you’ll do the same after one taste.

Like a cup of tea you had with in the cafe?  We carry all of the tea from the cafe on the shelf – and some that aren’t.  One of our favorites is the Organic Jasmine Pearl tea (pictured left) – it’s light and has a smooth earthiness unlike many over-bearing green teas; an ideal soft pick-me-up tea for those long winter days that never seem to end.

Joshua Kaiser, founder of Rishi Tea, wanted to bring what had flourished in wine for years to tea -  exceptional, hand picked, organic, and made with the best possible leaves.  The midwest based Rishi Tea has grown, but their quality hasn’t been compromised – still visiting the tea fields and hand selecting just the right ingredients.

One of the greatest things about tea is sharing, and we want to share with you some of the best tea out there.

After all the food what better than to read about food.  Head back to the corner and turn left onto Middle Street …go one block to Rabelais Books (86 Middle Street).  Books, books and more books about food(!) from what to eat and how to eat…cookbooks to novels from new books to collectibles.  

It’s another cold week in Chicago and I think we can all agree that we’re ready for Winter to be over.

To celebrate the final week we’re taking 15% Off Everything in the Grocery (except deli and bakery).

If It’s Not Nailed Down It’s 15% Off!!!

Stop by anytime this week for the eighth week of Winter Welcome …and stock up for Spring!