Table Talk » Foodie Field Trip Archives

February 28, 2009

Field trip to Sid Wainer & Son, New Bedford, MA

If you ever want to take a fun foodie field trip, check out Sid Wainer & Sons, a specialty food purveyor in New Bedford, MA. Sid Wainer supplies 23,000 restaurants daily; if you live in New England, you've probably seen their trucks on the road. But you don't have to be a restaurant to enjoy Sid Wainer's goods. The Gourmet Outlet is open Monday-Saturday from 9-5 for retail business. (Don't let the word outlet fool you, Sid Wainer's is not a discount store.) Saturdays are especially fun at Sid's. The chefs cook up a storm and provide samples and recipes to give you ideas on how to use the products. There are samples on weekdays too, but on Saturdays they go all out.

We chatted with one of the chefs while he prepped Eggplant Rustico, a layered casserole with panko-crusted fried eggplant, roasted cherry tomatoes and garlic, basil, fresh mozzarella, and pecorino romano. Boy did it look good. We grabbed recipe cards so we can try it at home. The chefs and the entire staff are so helpful. They are always willing to give you ideas about how to use an ingredient that is new to you. If they don't know about a particular ingredient, they find someone who does.

The cheese room is my favorite part of Sid Wainer's. Bring a warm coat because cheese room is very cold. Seriously, the people who work in the cheese room wear heavy coats. If you aren't dressed warmly, you won't be able to stay in the room very long. There are over a hundred cheeses; you'll want to look at all of them. The cheese room makes my head spin and my mouth water. I could spend my life savings there. One of the cheeses they had out for tasting was a Roquefort Crusted Chevre. Blue cheese crusted goat cheese. Does it get any better than that? Yup, I had to have some. I also spotted a truffle cheese. I've never had truffles and I've always wanted to try them, so that went into my basket. And a small piece of ricotta insalata.

The produce room always has something I've never seen before. On Thursday I checked the website and saw black garlic featured, so I was looking forwarding to seeing it. I've read about it recently. Alas, there was no black garlic out, but I did see my first ever fresh garbanzo beans. And baby brussels sprouts. Keffir limes, and more. Hmm, why didn't I pull my camera out in the produce room?

Here's my loot from the trip:

fresh dill, Roquefort Crusted Chevre, sourdough bread, aged balsamic vinegar, heirloom cherry tomatoes, ricotta insalata, truffle cheese, chorizo