Driving Two Hours for Groceries

I can presumably die happy now; I've been to Wegmans. Today I joined the library's Foodie group on a trip to Northorough to visit the new Wegmans supermarket there. Wegmans based in Rochester, New York has about 80 stores in the Northeast. They are ever so slowly moving into Massachusetts with this store being the first followed by a much smaller store in Chestnut Hill in fall, 2013 and another in Westwood by 2014.

The store has 140,000 square feet and 650 employees. We got a welcome Q and A from the Service Manager who told us that customer service is the key to Wegmans' success. They are one of Fortune Magazines top ten companies to work for and spend a lot of money training their employees. Tomorrow for example members of the fish department are going out of Boston on the day boats to get an idea of how their product is handled. Most of Wegmans' fish nationwide come from the Boston market so we are getting the freshest fish in the chain. They are all about educating their customers too. The Fish Department had a full large striper on display along with a full halibut. The meat department had a display case that showed the steps in dry aging beef. The finished product, all US Prime, was on sale for about $22 a pound.

That's also a Wegman's secret. Each major station has an over the top gourmet division and a reasonably priced section. The regular beef is US Choice, the normal grocery offering at normal prices. They actually had a chart comparing their prices to Whole Foods and BJs. Their regular offerings matched BJs prices. Don't forget that a big chunk of Wegmans is a grocery store like the three in Easton-I got two liter Polar Seltzer for 99¢ each.

You may have heard that you can get truffles at Wegmans for only $999.99 per pound. A helpful produce person reminded us that truffles have a strong flavor and a very light weight so that an $8 chunk is all you need for most recipes like a big truffle risotto! One day maybe, but I was pleased to find fresh chanterelles for only $19.99 a pound. I picked up a couple of ounces, a nice pile,  for a supper tonight-more on that tomorrow.

The Cheese Section is a lot like the one at Whole Foods with great choices from around the world. Better than Roche Brother's, but not enough to make me drive an hour-well not until I taste the three I bought! The Deli Section is typically Wegmans: a take-a-number section with a good range of selections and a charcuterie section with premium cured meats from around the world. I'm trying two prime hams in my sandwiches this week-a juniper flavored ham called Speck and a Spanish Serrano. The Serrano was cured for 450 days!

You can buy food to make recipes from scratch or buy a vast number of prepared dishes-they have $6 and $8 dinners for example, but you can also eat at Wegmans. Amazing! When we arrived, there was dim sum-eight different Asian dumplings. There's a sushi bar, a coffee and pastry bar, a sub and pizza shop, an american hot food bar, an Asian station, and a hot and cold veggie bar. The dim sum were fantastic. For lunch I passed on the great looking ethnic food and went veggie with two wonderful dollops of prepared salad (out of about a dozen) and a variety of hot veggies-mushrooms cooked with French herbs, the ubiquitous jalapeno poppers, a veggie General Gau's Chicken, and two Indian-style potato, cheese, and peas cakes. There was more! Much more, the best cafeteria food I have ever eaten. Talking to the check out lady, I learned that Wegmans hires graduates from places like Johnson and Wales to cook their food.

So is it worth a trip? Yes, come hungry, come with a list of specialty items and enjoy a store that combines a regular grocery with a Whole Foods without the attitude. It makes food fun. I can't wait to the store opens in Westwood. The Northborough store sits in a mall with the typical store. Planned right you can grab a meal, go shopping, come back, grab a second meal, and do your food shopping.