Due to a series of fortunate events, I was able to visit Zingerman’s Deli in Ann Arbor, MI. It’s one of those places that gets you excited about food the minute you enter.
Have I mentioned that I’m a fan of really good butter? Just inside the door, I spy this:
Then I was approached by the cheese dude, the cheese guy, the cheese meister, and after describing a couple of cheeses I had enjoyed recently, he gave me a sample of something just as yummy.
I love that. Not that he was doing his job of selling me cheese I’d never heard of, but that he knew his stuff and did his job well.
Next I see this, and know I have come home:
Realizing I was going to be there for a while, I asked if I could set up a tent in the olive oil and vinegar aisle – and the cashier offered to get me a cot. True story.
Inside the locked case above, there rests a $300 bottle of balsamic vinegar. Yes – it’s over the top.
So you and I and 298 of our closest friends should each pitch in a buck and get to lick a spoon dipped in it. All I really want is to taste
$300 vinegar.
Don’t even get me started on the rugelach. Best I’ve had.
And apparently weird exotic chocolates are regional – in Texas I saw them with chiles, and here they are made with pepperoncini. To each his own weird exotic chocolate.
Please let me know – what store do you leave having happily, giddily spent too much?
I’d like to put together a Map of Food Store Heaven. I’ll go off and try to figure out how to make an interactive map while I’m waiting to hear from you.
Well done Zingerman’s!
Postscript: I thought of titling this post “Zing Went the Strings of My Heart.” If you know that reference, please write me. We’ll start a club.
Credits: thanks to my brother Stephen for the gift box introducing me to Zingerman’s, and David, who insisted I go there while in Detroit, and Giulia, for actually reading my stuff!
Yep, I know the song.
Oh what a beautiful store. It’s the kind of store that make your eyes get wider and wider until you think they may just fall out.
I was in Pier One yesterday and asked them if I could just live there. They said yes, so be on the lookout for my change of address card. I know it’s mass produced crap, um I mean stuff, I mean objet d’art. BUT, the colors, textures, smells, and shiny things make me drool. Who ever their buyer is has been inside my brain.
btw, my dollar’s in the mail!
And this is why we are friends!