For the first time ever, I visited Whole Foods in Hyde Park, as I was craving matzos for Passover and it was the only place that carried them. (Trader Joe’s, for instance, was sold out and wasn’t getting any until 2027.) Since Passover ended yesterday, nearly every place was sold out for the holidays.
Over my entire life, I’ve avoided Whole Foods for two reasons: it’s very expensive and also carries homeopathic remedies, which I despise as they’re totally ineffectual.
But the craving for matzos (I eat them spread with good sweet butter) drove me on. My haul is below, acquired on the advice of a friend. The matzos are not kosher for Passover, but of course I don’t care about that. And I was told that Kerrygold butter from Ireland is about the best you can buy, so I got two sticks of that to smear on the matzos. Finally, there’s a small jar of tart cherry jam made by Dalmatia and imported from Croatia, also recommended by my food-savvy friend.
Yes, the place is expensive, and walking there and back took 1.5 hours given the fact that no employee seemed to know where anything was. The jam, for instance, is not with the other jellies and jams, but for some reason was put at the cheese counter. Nobody knew where the matzos were, so I had to ask about five people. (I should add that Whole Foods employees at the Hyde Park store are not very friendly, especially when compared with workers at Trader Joe’s, who are always helpful and amiable.) Fortunately, the Irish butter was in the dairy section where it should be.
This is all the makings of a fine snack!
Whoops! I forgot to add that gas prices in Chicago seem to be about a dollar higher than the average across the rest of America. Here’s a photo from my trip to Whole Foods:
Score! Matzos!
I hate Whole Foods. Once I went into our local Whole Foods store desperate for some ibuprofen for a headache associated with a head cold. I couldn’t find any. They had every imaginable quack “natural” and “organic” remedy, but no ibuprofen. I asked a grocer where the ibuprofen was, and they told me they didn’t have any. That was at least ten years ago. Maybe they’ve changed.
At least they had matzos.
Try Walgreens
I cop to sending Jerry to Whole Foods for the Kerry Gold, sour cherry jam and matzo—I didn’t realize you were specifically planning to combine them! That butter and jam alone is worth every calorie so smacznego.
I did not plan t combine them, and haven’t yet done so, but realized post facto that I could combine them!
I will definitely add Dalmatia to the many Balkan cherry preserves I’ve tried, but nothing has beaten 365 Morello Cherry. Whole Foods has that going for them, at least.
Here in the ancestral home of Wegmans, Manischewitz Matzos are $4.99 for a 10 oz pack. I haven’t checked on butter and jam, but really you can always count on Weggies.
Wegmans has a delicious hand-churned butter imported directly from France. Look for it in the cheese shop. They don’t always have it in stock. Butter Boy Butter is salty, and expensive at about $20/lb.
You are a lucky man to have Wegmans nearby.
Isn’t Whole Foods now an Amazon appendage?
So they don’t care?
They don’t HAVE to!
Correct. Mysteriously, after acquiring Whole Foods in 2017, Amazon then launched Amazon Fresh, a retail grocery outlet. It was poorly managed, unsuccessful, and was recently jettisoned.
My Trader Joe had no standard, American matzos of the Streits
variety, with no alternative to overpriced, kosher matzos from
Israel. [Same taste as standard, but to be eaten from right to left.] I spread them with imitation butter, which spreads easier, plus shredded cheese.
I wonder how non-kosher for Passover matzoh tastes compared to the kosher for Passover variety.
I won’t do the obvious experiment, as I don’t like matza. A long time ago, I decided that I will only do the experiments in which I was most interested. And certainly no experiments that are disTasteful.
Looks like a great snack. The employees at the Whole Foods in my neck of the woods know where things are and are pleasant enough. It’s all about management- what do they value from their employees, how the employees are treated.
Since I no longer live in Hyde Park, it took me a long minute to orient to the BP sign and understand that the picture was intended for the view of Whole Foods behind it. * But as a note to drivers, this was the gas station that people came to call “the carjacking BP”, while a block east, by the H P Art Center, is “the smaller but better BP”.
*Though on further look, I must have initially missed the remark about gas prices, which clearly was the point of that photo.
The only reason I ever step foot in Whole Foods is for Amazon returns. I love Trader Joe’s, though the one near me does not sell beer, meaning I haven”t enjoyed TJ’s ale (licensed from Quebec’s world-class Unibroue) since I retired and left California.
My fool-proof matzah brei recipe (hearty for two): break four pieces into a mixing and soak in warm water for maybe 20 seconds. Mix up four eggs and a little milk, and stir it in. Add Osem onion soup powder and mushroom soup powder to taste (the special ingredients), and fry it up in a little butter. Serve with black coffee (or for kids, Chocolate milk made with Fox’s U-Bet, of course).
Same for my crew. I drove by our Whole Foods store with grandkids in the car. The 3 1/2 year-old looked that direction and said “there’s the return store!”
Matzah brei is a wonderful breakfast. Simple and delicious.
And I’m a big fan of regular old matzoh with peanut butter as a snack. Yum!
Well, we have similar tastes in food, but I did a comparison between Manischevitz and Streit matzohs, the former lightly salted, the latter unsalted. Matzoh has to pass the butter test – that is, be able to be buttered without fracturing. Streits failed that test hands down.
The other great combination is PB&J on matzoh. Even tuna fish goes well, although it does make the matzoh soggy.
I use butter that’s been out for a while so it’s soft, but even then you have to put the matzo on a flat surface (no plates!). Today I had my very first PB&J on a matzoh, and it was terrific. I was surprised at how good itwas.
Comment by Greg Mayer
As Joe Franklin said, “Matzos by Streit’s for the unleavened experience of a lifetime.”
GCM
Since this is a food related post I will mention that we were in Cambridge the last few days. Our first stop immediately after checking into the Hotel was Christina’s for ice cream. My personal favorite flavors are burnt sugar and banana together. Christina’s is the best ice cream I have ever had. I mention this because I believe you are quite fond of Christina’s as well.
Also, I agree with you regarding friendliness of Trader Joe’s employees compared to Whole Foods.
I don’t think I have had better ice cream than Chritina’s burnt sugar ice cream. The flavor is unbelievable.
When Whole Foods started out in Austin it was funky and fun. I liked to read the bulletin board, always full of arguments about things that are “good for you” and “bad for you,” often the same thing, like bacon. I suppose ibuprofen is “bad for you.” “Light My Fire” on the store music system in the cheese aisle. Now when I go to Austin I prefer Central Market for the good stuff like Bulgarian or Israeli feta and Kerry Gold butter and it’s not as pricey.
gas in Toronto yesterday was $0.50 more a litre than you’re paying in Chicago. For a 50-litre small tank the difference would be about $25.00.
I filled up here in Ottawa South today and I paid $0.321 less per litre of premium gas (91 octane) than it was at that Chicago BP station, and I could have gotten it at ~$0.50 cheaper if I’d been out in the west end of the city (Kanata).
I lived in Cambridge, Mass., for 20 years. During that time, I got accustomed to seeing the signs of the coming of Passover in Star Market and Whole Foods. When I relocated to Seattle (my place of origin), it was rather a shock to find that, not only were there no displays of Passover foods in the supermarkets, but such foods were hard to find at all and sometimes could not be found; and asking employees was not necessarily helpful, as some of them had no idea what matzah was. I suppose that this is how 99% of the U.S. is. I would have expected a supermarket in Hyde Park to be more like one in Cambridge than like one in Seattle, but maybe not.
Since moving from Southern California to Austin, every year I forget that not every supermarket will have matzo for Passover, so I have to rush around during the last couple of days before the holiday nervously searching for some. I recommend checking the supermarket websites online. Bonus, if they have matzo at all, often they’ll list what aisle or section they have it in.
I prefer Manischewitz, but this year I was only able to find Yehuda (made in Israel). Contra another commenter, it wasn’t expensive at all — $10.49 for a five-pack.