I know this is a big adjustment for you and I feel your pain. I travel a lot to CA and Europe and am often quite surprised at what we are missing here (that said, when I go to the midwest USA I come home feeling eternally grateful! Just depends on your reference point…). Meat-heavy restaurants are a problem for us as well. If Russo/WF can’t get you what you need, I would suggest joining a CSA next year for a more interesting/fresh selection of veggies. I agree that some farmer’s markets are pretty disappointing, and since I have been getting a CSA share I don’t even patronize them. You should find a much better bread selection if you get Iggy’s from their main bakery in Cambridge (Fresh Pond, not too far from you), although the WF in Fresh Pond carries a lot more of theirs than WF/Newton does. I agree about Pig’s Fly bread…underwhelming IMO. For charcuterie, folks rave about Moody’s Deli in Waltham.
I agree with everything you said, ScienceChick. I haven’t tried Moody’s but my husband works in Waltham and likes it.
I would say that our farmers markets get a lot better when the produce comes in…starting August, and then goes through October. It’s hard to adjust to the NE growing season, and we will have none to little stone fruit this year because of the mild winter and then the Feb. freeze after the trees had started blooming…very, very early. Other years, local stone fruits have been outstanding and local apples are wonderful.
I don’t go to Russo’s all that often anymore (for reasons that have nothing to do with their products), but I have always seen multiple varieties of eggplant there. It’s a zoo on weekends, to say the least. It’s hard to get through every aisle with all the traffic. Not to mention getting in and out of the parking lot.
It’s hard to adjust to a new location. It was hard for me…decades ago…but it helped me a lot to see what is good and new, and to focus on that. New England cheeses are wonderful. I still have a hard time appreciating local root vegetables for months on end…but there were many other reasons I came back to Boston, and overall I am glad to be here.
I get that the Waltham farmers market has little to offer, but it sounds like the one in Watertown has more varied vendors.
Red Bird in Waltham has a vegetarian menu, but you have to ask for it. And, you really should check out Wilson Farm in Lexington right now. They grow many vegetables using IPM. Additionally, I do hope you give yourself a chance with an open mind to discover what makes so many of us feel truly grateful to live in the Boston area.
[quote=“ScienceChick, post:61, topic:5046”]
I know this is a big adjustment for you and I feel your pain. I travel a lot to CA and Europe and am often quite surprised at what we are missing here.[/quote]
I split my time 50/50 between Boston and SF for 5 years, maintaining residences in both cities, and I’ve got to say I think this is totally off base. Is the produce better on the west coast? Both areas have their own strengths foodwise. Actually having lived in both places, in my experience, Boston’s food is every bit as good as SF’s. I feel fortunate to live here.
I’ll post here what I posted on the “other board.”
yep, no more replies. Guy can’t hear and/or wants to be back in San Diego or Hamburg. Boston isn’t either, and never will be, and complaining about it after lots of people have been patient and offering suggestions that he won’t take won’t change that. There is no hidden San Diego type supermarket in Watertown that we’ve failed to tell you about. No hidden wonderful places you don’t have to leave your neighborhood, in either Watertown or Waltham, for. You live here. We tried to help with lots of patience. You hate it here. OK got it.
I’m sorry you’re finding the area so much more difficult food-wise than San Diego. I share your preference for buying things several times a week, but I approach it differently. In the summer, I shop at a few different farmers’ markets on different days of the week, and I just buy whatever looks good. It means I can’t go in with a preset idea of what I’m going to cook, but what I end up with is always fabulous. And yes, sometimes it means that I end up eating a lot of zucchini for a stretch, but it’s helped me expand my cooking creativity! If there’s something I’m wanting to make that requires ingredients I don’t find at the markets, I save that for after my weekly grocery shopping trip.
hey, you are not in california where everything is grown all year round. my son, who moved from vermont to california said that from november thru march us new englanders live on grubs and worms. so unless you are willing to spend a load of bucks and even then fresh produce is difficult to find. and that i know as i live 100 miles from boston and trucking charges add a lot to already sub-prime produce. so you will just have to get used to it and adapt.
you poor displaced souls from the west coast…
California is in the midst of a huge historic drought. The produce will not be able to continue with the mega farms where there is no rainfall.
So I am curious which produce in Boston is better than in California ? And the restaurant scene in Boston is a clear improvement over San Diego (for example really enjoyed a great tasting menu last night at Journeyman which would have been in the top 5 in SD) but isn’t on the same level as SF and LA (as is hardly any city in the US and beyond)
Just calm down - everything will be OK. Just relax - criticizing something doesn’t mean hating everything. There is more in life than black and white and I mentioned a number of things I like about Boston, e.g. restaurant scene
Unfortunately it isn’t only produce - recently we tried to find ground lamb, ox tail and flank steak and we had difficulties to find especially the first two.
i find that hard to understand as i am 120 miles from boston in a town of 10,000 and i can get locally raised lamb. oxtails and flank steak from several farms. sorry to hear that boston doesn’t answer your needs
I don’t think it is an issue of no farms available but no interest from multiple supermarkets to establish distribution chains. In California over the last ten years there was enough demand by customers that especially WF but also many supermarkets have now much local organic/grassfed meat/poultry etc. with clearly marked names from the original farms. When I asked at two occasion at WF about the origin of their meat they couldn’t answer it for a single piece of it and one time one of the butchers mentioned that " nobody cares about it here so why should I care". Same with produce - I haven’t seen a single farm written down in the produce section and when I asked what “local” means on one of the signs I was told some farm in NJ they don’t know the name of. I don’t know but my definition of local isn’t around 200 miles away and why aren’t they interested to support local farmers. Most WF in California have a better selection than most Farmer’s Markets of local produce as over time they really have established strong relationships to many local farms - is there really no interest from customers ? And when I asked at one of the supermarket chains the “butcher” if they have ox tail and he replied that he didn’t know you could eat that, it was time to move on.
Is there a single recommendation for Whole Foods in this entire thread? Am I missing something? You added Whole Foods to the list yourself. Why are you coming here to complain about it?
There are multiple suggestions in this thread that will easily accommodate these "hard to find "meats you are whining about. However you seem more content to be miserable and just complain for the sake of complaining. Good luck.
I am just surprised that such common cuts are not available in regular supermarkets and you have to plan trip to buy it. And WF came up a few times here and CH as a good place to get stuff - and one can discuss the general stereotypes about WF but so far in my experience their business model set them apart that they had different distribution channels and sourcing qualities than nearly all other supermarket and shops
Dude…
You are going to be one cranky Mo Fo when winter hits…
I’ll be thinking of you when I’m hitting Chinos in the Ranch in November, in my flip flops with the top down in the one of those Stuttgart cars!
Hang in there Honk Herr…
Give Coolidge Provisions in Watertown a try for lamb. Nick is really nice and accommodating. If he doesn’t have any ground lamb, I’m sure he’ll grind some if you ask. I don’t know where they source their lamb, though, so it might not work for you. Also, if you feel that 200 miles doesn’t qualify as local, you may be in for permanent disappointment. We just don’t have that many local meat farms in eastern MA.
At this point I might care more about getting those cuts at all - will try Coolidge (saw them when I went for the Armenian shops).
Not sure about the number of farms - from what I see and read the actual number of local meat farms per area or population might be higher than in Southern California but there seems to be no customer demand
No, it most certainly did not. Below are the only two references to Whole Foods before your recent tantrum. YOU added Whole Foods to your list, then griped about it, and now are defending them in your latest post? You are talking yourself in circles. Take time to read and understand the suggestions people put time and thought into on your behalf. I think @Madrid Madrid nailed it and I won’t be wasting more time on this.
Chervil (as well as microgreens) are impossible to find here. I order it from Sid Wainer.
