Shops: Fine Foods, Spirits & Specialties

Whoever coined the phrase “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” never considered the sinful creations that Candy’s turns out. Candy’s starts with immense, hand-selected Granny Smith apples of unparalleled crunch and flavor. Then it mounds this gift of nature with various combinations of ingredients, ranging from traditional caramel to peanut butter, macadamia nuts and Heath Bar pieces, completely obliterating any nutritional value that might have originally existed. It’s a challenge to figure out how best to eat one of these delectable monsters (we used a knife and fork), but it’s a challenge well worth meeting.

If Yusef’s doesn’t have it, you don’t need it. That’s our thought, anyway, after browsing through hundreds of Middle Eastern and North African items stocked on the shelves of this delightful shop.

All the basics are covered: powdered sumac, Turkish coffee, teas, zaatar (thyme and sesame seeds to be blended with olive oil and dipped with pita), and kadaifi (phyllo dough). The store’s got the fancy stuff, too, like Israeli olives, Lebanese green beans, Bulgarian eggplant dip and a tasty variety of feta cheeses. And Yusef’s has got novelties, like a must-have tobacco water pipe called a hubba-bubba.

Yusef’s? You said it.

Pop rocks!

And nowhere in town will you find a wider selection of the bottled bubbly (non-alcoholic variety) than at this fizz fanatic’s paradise, a soda supermarket that stocks hundreds of hard-to-find carbonated potables.

Specializing in regional and imported sweetened swills you either haven’t tasted in years or never knew existed, the inventory (some 300 brands) includes such arcane quaffs as Mexican Coca-Cola (despite Coke’s official company line, it’s far zingier than its domestic cousin), Dr Pepper from a maverick Texas bottler that still uses pure cane sugar, and Dr. Brown’s Cel-Ray, which tastes a lot better than it sounds. In short, enough effervescent nectars to finance your dentist’s Malibu beach house.

Burp!

Maybe your house was filled with the smell of fresh-baked chocolate-chip cookies every week when you were a kid. Or maybe your mom’s idea of making cookies was opening a package of Chips Ahoy!. Whether you’re reliving your childhood or compensating for it, you’ll want to drop in on Fat Cat Cookies. Every morning finds owner Linda Schneider up to her elbows in delicious cookie dough. She and hubby Kem make 18 varieties, from basic chocolate chip, peanut butter and sugar cookies to whisker-lickin’-good specialties such as “cat’s meow” (white chocolate and macadamia nut), “purr-fect pineapple” (crushed, unsweetened pineapple in a soft, cakelike cookie), “cat’s whiskers” (white chocolate chips, pecans and a touch of rum flavoring) and the “original fat cat” (chocolate, walnuts and peanut butter chips). If you’re lucky, you might even get to meet Boston, the “boss cat” of the operation.

How can something so simple go so wrong so often? Phoenix is a veritable citrus mecca, yet drinks bearing no trace of lemon get passed off as lemonade here every day. And don’t get us started on how people have served us Crystal Light with a straight face, as if we wouldn’t know the difference. Lemonade is simple; there’s no need for creativity, tricks or gimmicks. Or artificial sweeteners. If you like your lemonade tart and straightforward, Jamba Juice does it just right. Buried amidst a lengthy menu of smoothie combinations, it’s easy to overlook the almost quaint listing of lemonade. But it’s there — so satisfyingly sour, with just a little sweetness, and chilled with plenty of slushy ice. Pucker up.

It’s not often that we break into tears at the sight of food. But as soon as we walk into Guido’s, our hearts swell, and our eyes well up at what must be the closest thing to heaven on Earth for real (or wanna-be) Italians.

How could we not grow misty over San Marzano tomatoes? Overwhelmed by olive oil, bread and imported pasta? Smitten with sauces, marinated olives, cookies, pastries and even imported antacids? And that’s just the stuff on the shelves. Mascarpone cheese, handmade mozzarella, carved capocollo, hard salami and more than a dozen from-scratch salads fill the cooler cases (the tomato and garlic salad is outstanding). If we don’t feel like cooking our own, Guido’s caters with its take-home lasagna, cheese tortellini, potato dumplings and ravioli. Whatever you do, take time to smell the sausage. It, too, is made by hand, gloriously juicy and bursting with fennel.

The name is deceptive: This is a shop with regular hours, not a weekend event. For cooks who despair of finding exotica like in-season cherries for less than $7 a pound, or for those who have heard tell of mythical eggplants that come in colors other than purple but have never actually witnessed such sights, the Guadalupe market is a mecca. It’s not a tiresome gourmet shop with the precious-gem prices we’ve come to expect for things that should be everyday items, like ripe tomatoes or local grapefruit. This is a straightforward produce market, run by people who understand that they’re selling vegetables, for goodness sake, not Russian caviar. Guadalupe Farmer’s Market’s plentiful produce is fairly priced, always fresh, and local whenever possible. Better yet, its fruits and vegetables taste like foodstuffs you’ve only heard about from elderly relatives who swear no one sells produce like they did “way back when.” Guadalupe does.

Short of manning your own farm, you won’t find a better, more reliable way to get organics than with the home delivery service of Boxed Greens. This company cuts out the middleman, so the just-picked treasures come right to our door, guaranteed by 7 a.m.

This certified organic produce is grown mostly right here in Arizona, without pesticides. It’s all the best the season has to offer, with pick-of-the-week freshness and boutique varieties that can’t be found anywhere else. Working exclusively with small farms (500 acres or less), Boxed Greens snags such delectables as heirloom tomatoes, unusual herbs or fruits, all picked to order. Sure, these precious pleasures cost more — purple beans for $7.95 a pound, plus $9.95 for delivery — but aren’t your taste buds worth it? We know ours are.

Gourmet grub doesn’t have to be expensive. This we learned at Trader Joe’s, an amazing emporium of more than 800 upscale items for remarkably palatable prices. We love the freshness, and the variety of product, too. TJ’s shelves — and now ours, too — are stocked with delicious things like sweet garlic sauce, artichoke lemon pesto, Satsuma mandarin oranges in syrup, Super Colossal Sevillano olives, Manchego cheese and Bluefort Aged Sheep’s Milk Blue Cheese. TJ’s has wines from around the world, organic cereals, mozzarella and tomato salad, poultry sausages, low-fat curried turkey burgers, ready-to-eat meats, Spaten Beers from Germany, Fiji Water, designer jerky, and even gourmet goodies for our pets.

We wouldn’t trade Joe’s for anything.

Saturdays, fall through spring, take on special meaning for gourmets who are looking to score some extra-special treasures for just a few shekels. Perhaps it’s a bottle of little-known boutique wine, an obscure blue-veined cheese, artisan breads or organic produce. We find them here, all crafted or grown by independent vendors, and at factory-to-us pricing. Fair-weather Saturdays are when Guerithault operates his farmer’s market, set up in the parking lot of his restaurant from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The market opens for the new season on October 13.

If all this shopping makes us hungry, we can pause to snack on some of chef Guerithault’s mouth-watering creations. Made-to-order crepes always make their way to our mouths, the whisper-thin pancakes filled with any number of delectables, savory or sweet. Duck tamales delight our taste buds, and soufflés satisfy even our most formidable stomach rumblings.

Hey, we may be cheap, but with Vincent’s market, we can still be classy, too.

Sportsman’s has won our Best of Phoenix so many years now that some might think we own stock in this popular wine shop. Nothing could be further from the truth. What is true is that Sportsman’s continues to surprise and delight with the breadth of its selection, expertise of knowledge, and flat-out friendliness to connoisseurs as well as people who couldn’t find their way out of a vat of Boone’s Farm. Looking for that perfect pairing for buffalo? Sportsman’s recommends a 1997 Rombauer Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa. What’s good with spicy Asian food? Select a 2000 Alexander Valley Vineyards Gewürztraminer. And for those stumped about what to serve with shellfish, a 1998 Merryvale Chardonnay “Reserve” is just the ticket (not for lobster, though). Sportsman’s is easily the best game in town.

When we say, “Pass the cheese, please,” it’s no easy proposition. It takes several trips to cart over the more than 60 varieties the Duck brings in from around the world. This is a virtual tour of the classiest cheeses from France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, England, Belgium, and, of course, the good old U.S.A. Exploring for l’Explorateur, a triple-cream cheese with almost as much butterfat as butter? The Duck’s got it. Salty, spicy Mimolette Cheddar is on the menu, too, along with Port Salut (made by Trappist monks), Bruder Basil, Chevagne (goat’s milk) and gorgeous, hard Parmigiano Reggiano.

Not sure which is your favorite? The Duck offers free samples. If you like it, buy a pound, and they’ll simply put it on your Duck bill.

Paradise Bakery
several Valley locations