what $6.99 can buy in new york city

My mom lives on the Cape.  When I visit, one of the things that takes some adjusting to, is the lack of  fresh, ready-to-eat foods.

I would guess there is no place within a 50-mile radius (maybe more) where you can go in and pick up dinner, all prepared. On the Cape, you pretty much have to plan your meals in advance.  You can't get lost in your day and then decide at 7 that you'll  just pick something up and bring it home. Unless you're talking pizza.  And even then, you'd have to buy a whole pie.  Solitary slices don't exist.

And even if there were a store where freshly made food was available,  there’s a reasonably good chance the store would close by five, six at the latest.  And it certainly wouldn’t be open past Labor Day.

I live right near Agata Valentina, a gourmet grocery store a half block from my apartment.  They are open every day from early morning to 10pm.  I have watched them grow from a smallish store when they opened in 1993, to a much larger one now.  They’ve even opened a second store downtown. I know the owners and managers, and am in the store almost every day.  Their pricing is no more than the local grocery stores, and the shopping experience is so much better.  Why shop at Walmart if you can get better quality clothes for the same price (sometimes even less) at Bergdorf’s?

The other day I was in the store looking for vidalia onions for a squash-apple soup I was making. I ask someone working in produce, “Do you have any vidalia onions?” His name is Miguel.  He walks me over to a bin labeled sweet onions. I explain again that I am looking for vidalias, and Miguel responds, “Vidalia’s are a type of sweet onion.”  And then without my asking, he explains, “Vidalia onions began production in the early 30’s in a town in Georgia actually named Vidalia. They were the first sweet onions to be promoted nationally.”  How can I not love a store where the produce guy knows the history of the vidalia onion?

Today Agata is having a lunch special that is still running when I am in the store close to 5pm.  I buy a decent-sized serving of salmon with a tomato and caper sauce, roasted fingerling potatoes, roasted yellow and green zucchini, and a bottle of Snapple, all for $6.99.  There is so much food I don't finish it all.

I think of my mom having to plan her grocery list.  Or decide in advance what to defrost.  Or make eggs for dinner because she’s run out of groceries or forgot to thaw something.  She’d be so jealous.