2022 Grocery Outlet [California, Oregon, Washington, etc., etc.]

[rajbot]

Had some updates to share;

I did get out to Novato and went looking for the Haloumi.

I previously have not liked the Novato store as much as the new San Rafael one, but this time we found a lot of good stuff. It also feels like they have re-organized/partially updated, but maybe I’m just imagining things.

First, the obligatory “cheese island” photo. They did not have the Haloumi, sadly.

They did have this fresh burrata @ $4.99, although I did not try.

I was impressed with the wine selection. The wine area is large and easy to navigate (wide aisles) as opposed to the SR store. They also have many bottles that I haven’t seen in SR (either because they weren’t ordered or sold out quickly). Some of the shelves are marked with vivino scores, which is nice.

The beer selection is also a touch better than San Rafael (at least for beers I prefer, which are things generally outside the IPA/heavy hop range).

I tried this Pilsner from Davis Dunloe Brewing. They had a hazy pale from Dunloe as well. I thought both of them were pretty good.

I will probably stop back for the wine section alone next time I’m out that way.

Not pictured is a frozen Neapolitan pizza (mostly tomato? I think it was the “Talia Napoli Neopolitan” brand (missing the wrapper?). Would add a link but my account doesn’t seem able to post links in comments. Not sure on pricing, but it was quite good, would buy again (it sounds like this brand is well-reviewed).

I also recently went to San Raf again and had these two finds:

Gardein Veggie Meat soups, $1.99 can. About what you’d expect from a canned stew, except it’s vegetarian. $1.99 is a touch high, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a vegetarian stew with veggie meat. Might buy one or two just to have in the pantry but wouldn’t stock up at this price.

Newman’s Own Newman-O’s Cookies (oreos). $1.99. These are pretty dang good for shelf-stable cookies.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention! San Rafael restocked the Haloumi. Expiry date on the stock was late June. $3.99.

[Lethe2020 (Jeane)]

Oooh, di Stefano burrata is primo stuff! I would have snapped that up in an instant, LOL. Sounds like you had a good trip overall, anyway.

[zippo1]

Hi rajbot,

In your first photo, the cheese display at the Novato GO, I see the Annabella Water Buffalo Milk Mozzarellas at $5.99 on the shelf below the top one at the far left. The blue and white package is the plain version and, next to it, the green and white package is the Annabella with herbs.

[brisket44]

Santa Rosa G.O.

[zippo1]

Recently at Oakland Grocery Outlet -

            Zippo's Pick of the Week  

$1.99/14.8 oz jar - Andrea Alfredo Truffle Pasta Sauce, produced in Italy, with light cream, grated sheep’s milk cheese, grated parmesan, black truffle, garlic, extra virgin olive oil, made in small batches, distributed by Andrea of Newton, MA, best by April 2023. Only needs refrigeration after opening. I bought 2 jars and would buy more.

Deli -

$2.49/7 oz - Kerrygold Irish Grass-Fed Savory Cheddar Shredded, made with milk from Irish grass-fed cows, product of Ireland, Best before July 8 2022.
“Our cows graze outdoors on the lush, green pastures on small family farms in Ireland for the majority of the year. This GRAZED milk is used to make all Kerrygold butter and cheeses.”

$1.99/48 oz - Hope and Sesame, Sesame Milk Unsweetened Vanilla, made with sesame milk, no added sugars, organic Madagascar vanilla extract, made in the US, best by 8/10/22.

$1.99/40 oz - Take Two Barley Milk Unsweetened

NOSH/Organic/Gourmet section -

$1.99/13 oz jar - Truly Indian Goan Curry Sauce Organic, product of India, best before July 2022

In the Olive section -

99 cents/3.9 oz jar - Palermo Capers, product of Turkey

[zippo1]

Recently at Oakland Grocery Outlet -

Zippo’s Pick of the Year

Brutal Blue by Rogue Creamery in Oregon (Lisa Wilk)

On National Cheese Lover’s Day, 6 cheeses to try in 2022

$10/lb., available in wedges with soft rind at about 6 or 7 ounces each - Rogue Creamery’s Brutal Blue is a semisoft, green veined, raw milk cheese that has been aged for about 3 years in Rogue’s Oregon cheese caves. It was a limited edition issue that is no longer available on its website. It has a tasty rind, is peppery with green veining, and a funky aroma that hints at stinky tofu. Due to the long aging, there is contrasting texture from the cheese crystals.

Even though it’s only June, this is my Pick of the Year and, after shopping at Grocery Outlet for about 25 years, one of the top finds ever. It was in the regular cheese section in a box on the lowest shelf. They also had a few of the Rogue Oregon Blue at the same price, which is one of their flagship products. The Oregon Blue is aged 90 or 120 days and has a tinge of sweetness and vanilla taste to it. I prefer the Brutal Blue.

Rogue Creamery is famous for its blues and at the 2019 Bergamo, Italy Cheese Festival won the award for best cheese in the world for its Rogue River Blue.

I made 3 trips to Grocery Outlet for the Brutal and bought about 5 lbs before spilling the beans.

https://roguecreamery.com/our-story/#worlds-best-cheese

Celebrating the Oregon Cheese Festival: A Tasty Cheese Pairing

A few other things -

$3.49/12 oz. - Frank’s Red Hot Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce (mild version) with no stabilizers, emulsifiers or preservatives listed on the label. If you are seeking an alternative to the hard-to-find Huy Fong Sriracha, try this.

99 cents/17 oz tub - Sabra Classic Hummus. That works out to abut 94 cents per pound.

99 cents/10 oz tub - Sabra Bagel Everything Hummus with poppy and sesame seeds.

[Midlife]

Just before Chowhound shut down I got into a thing with Melanie Wong where I maintained that my local Grocery Outlet (south Orange County, CA) didn’t seem to stock anywhere near the number of interesting items being posted about in the topic like this one. She basically said I didn’t know how to shop there.

Since then I’ve tried to be more observant but I still think our owners (and rightly so) stock what they sell best and cater to an audience more like Food 4 Less or similar stores. It only makes sense to me after having spent most of my life in and around consumer product retail businesses. I get their daily ad emails and they feature very basic everyday kinds of products. In the store I find a few unique things but not like many of you picture here. The cheese section, for example, is maybe 4’ wide and pretty basic except for an occasional few small dairy offerings. I’ve gotten pretty lucky picking lower end wine by AVA/region, some frozen proteins and other basic things by price, but otherwise I find more cool things at Trader Joe’s.

Is it me?

[brisket44]

@Midlife

Is it me?

I live in the south central part of San Francisco so am almost equidistance to four G.O.s and 90% of the time I shop at two of them and not the other two, because they are more likely to have interesting things in addition to the standard products. I’ll stop at the others if I’m driving by and just need chicken or berries or milk and the like, but the selection is noticeably different at two of them. But I’ve never been to a G.O. where I couldn’t find at least one or two interesting things. So I’d say it’s 95% not you.

[benne]

It’s not just you Midlife. I have favorite GO’s in the south bay and Monterey bay areas. Before covid I drove a lot so it was easy to drop in when I was nearby. One that’s close to me doesn’t have the high end cheese, etc but has excellent cheap fresh produce. Also the last few years have been bad for grocery shopping at any type of store–supply issues, decline in quality I’m seeing especially at Trader Joes, and I see nowhere near the variety that used to be at GO.

I checked the board because I might be going to GO today–thanks for the Rogue Creamery tip, Zippo1.

[Babette (Andrea)]

It’s not you. Different stores have different owners/franchisees, clientele, rates of sell-through, floor space, etc. They are not all exactly the same.

[Midlife]

Agree totally. I really couldn’t understand why she went to such lengths to ‘educate’ me. She even pointed to pictures on their Facebook page where she said they showed great things. I’d never said mine had nothing, just that it seemed to have far less than she and others found in their shopping around the Bay Area. That absolutely makes sense if the owners are responding to what they sell and don’t sell. Pretty much Business 101.

[zippo1]

I’ve always been impressed with Melanie Wong’s eye in finding interesting items at the many Grocery Outlets she visits. I used to post on Chowhound about GO as did “rworange.” I first started shopping at their East Bay stores almost 30 years ago and have learned to spot deals that others may miss. It’s an art that I’ve learned.

Lately, I have only regularly shopped at the Oakland store because, since I don’t drive, can get to by bus. Oakland is owned by the GO corporation, headquarter in Emeryville, and operates slightly differently than other stores that are independent.

The Richmond store in the East Bay on San Pablo and Macdonald is independent, yet had many of the good finds, sometimes more than Oakland, because it is larger. Alameda, independent, has a solid deli section. When I did travel, some independent stores had deals not found in Oakland.

I agree that scouring is a skill, learned over time. I believe that if someone posted a detailed picture of the deli, cheese, or Nosh/gourmet/organic sections of an independent GO that I would be able to point out worthwhile items that had been missed.

I agree with Melanie due to her track record and dedication over the decades, and my own experience.

[StephanieL]

It’s not you. As I’ve posted, the East Hayward GO also seems to cater to those with less money than the target audience at other GOs, and consequently we don’t get the fancy stuff too often. (Though weirdly, the store carries a lot of GF items and plant-based yogurts, frozen desserts, etc.) And lately I’ve had to look really closely at the expiration dates.

[MrGuyGuyGuy]

There’s a big difference between the two stores in San Diego. The City Heights store seems to, as you say, cater to the Food 4 Less audience while the Allied Gardens one has more stuff and more variety. Interestingly the weekly circulars for the two stores are different.

[Midlife]

It kindof felt like Melanie had a more than benign interest in the promotion of Grocery Outlet as a brand.

[ML8000 (M)]

It’s not you. There’s definitely differences in what each store carries. And you’re right, why would a store carry stuff that doesn’t suit the clientele or have a hard time selling? That said, stuff gets buried or in obscure places but those places can be figured out.

[bbqboy]

Our south Medford store changed owners about a year ago and the product mix has gotten much more bland and nondescript.
Sucks, frankly.

[Aubergine]

Your favorites?

[ML8000 (M)]

I was at the Oakland store, maybe ten years ago on a week day afternoon. I noticed a large bus limo and guys in ironed shirts and slacks and they entered the store and walked around with notebooks. I thought to myself, those guys look like VC guys. Sure enough Berkshire Hathaway bought into G.O., eight years ago, I had to check.

[Glencora]

I used to go to the Oakland GO a lot when my mom was sick because it’s near Kaiser. Now I go to Richmond and I prefer it. I think the selection is better. I’ve noticed prices going up, though.