Thursday, September 25, 2008

NYC Field Report: Prologue

We now officially have an NYC branch of baddiefish, which means two cities for the price of one. It also means this little boy has a lot of eating to do. Like, probably close to 100 miles of eating. Maybe more.

I'm not going to pretend I'm not scared. I'm terrified. The first thing I do in a new city is try and get a handle on the food scene, and with the number of restaurants in the New York area that task can seem a bit daunting. So, with this first post I'm going to stay close to home and report on something I have a lot of experience with: Trader Joe's.

I had heard about the Craziness from various people-- insane lines, competitive shoppers, always running out of things-- but I never truly understood until now. While I haven't experienced the Manhattan location first hand, I have been working down the street from the new brooklyn store and let me just say, the place is HUGE. It used to be a bank, so that gives you some sense of scale. People whisper about it on the street. I saw one of their trainees on the subway the other night and people were looking at her like she was Jennifer Aniston. Even I was not immune to her siren song and literally had to stop myself from shouting across the train, "What's it like inside? Will they carry Go Lean CRUNCH!?" This is all new for me. Good groceries were never more than a car ride away, and you could do huge shops because you had a car to put things in (and a kitchen with a pantry.) Now all that's changed, and after lugging three full grocery bags across town after work I am beginning to understand the goldrush that is Trader Joe's in Brooklyn. You better believe I'll be there opening day, pick axe in hand, ready to report on all the bloody madness... And here is the rest of it.

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