June 26, 2005
Rare non-sarcastic praise from DCSOB
Hooray, hooray, a thousand praises for the new Giant in Columbia Heights!
I don't think I'm unique in my appreciation of a good supermarket, since most people spend time in one at least once a week and the options available therein color the week's eating experience. The quality of local supermarkets has been a thorn In my side for quite some time, with the perpetually disappointing and dingy Soviet Safeway and the expensive Whole Foods my main sources of sustenance when I don't have business in the suburbs that makes shopping at places like Trader Joe's and Wegmans an option.
Why can't a nice, mixed-class urban neighborhood like Columbia Heights have a supermarket at least as nice as the ones you find in Montgomery or Fairfax County, instead relying on decades-old filthy stores with rancid meat, rotten produce and a limited selection of specialty goods?
That being said, I stopped by the Giant yesterday and came back with $90 in groceries (about double my usual weekly total) -- The food was cheap—I just got a lot of cool stuff I can’t easily get elsewhere in the neighborhood, like Guarana soda, Jamaican beef patties in bulk, pre-prepared individually-packaged flan and frozen Paneer. The variety in their International aisles (note "aisles" and not "half an aisle with some gefilte fish and canned Goya products") is amazing. It's a boon for all segments of the changing Columbia Heights community, but has needless to say drawn the ire of local activists, who need a break calling each other racists to get some fresh air and stage a protest. More on that later.
Posted by rj3 at June 26, 2005 11:10 PM
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Comments
i drove by this late friday night, and while i didn't have time to go in, it was lit up like a christmas tree and looked clean, and bright, and HUGE. so exciting to see an actual, real grocery store in the neighborhood -- it's worth the bike ride up the hill from dupont to avoid the soviet safeway.
Posted by: h at June 27, 2005 8:40 AM
Man, not only did I leave with $60 of booze in addition to my weekend grocery binge, but I got my damn face painted like a leopard right next to the cashier! I shed a tear that I no longer live a scant couple of blocks from The Giant of Fecund and Glistening Produce. Did you see the $200 wedge of Swiss that's the size of a teenage boy?
Posted by: JK at June 27, 2005 11:43 AM
jeff, you have no idea how close I came to buying that wedge of swiss. no freaking idea.
Posted by: rj3 at June 27, 2005 2:33 PM
I also spent close to a $100 on Saturday. It's glorious. I've never been that giddy while grocery shopping. They had everything I was looking for and more - I even bought a fresh pineapple. I wouldn't have done that at the other CH Giant.
I too saw the giant cheese wedge. Again, glorious.
Posted by: Underused at June 27, 2005 3:01 PM
There is frozen paneer? OMG (2x) Saag Paneer is in my future!
Posted by: Marie at June 28, 2005 10:33 AM
yes, it's in the freezer dedicated to indian food.
Posted by: rj at June 28, 2005 10:58 AM
I, too, love the new Giant. Did you notice that there's an aisle labeled both "Chinese Food" and "Asian Food"? I guess I was wrong in assuming one is a subset of the other.
Posted by: chrisafer at June 28, 2005 12:01 PM
Damn, it sounds like I'm going to have to take a trip to Mt. Pleasant just to see a $200 wedge of Swiss cheese that's the size of a teenage boy...
Posted by: seeking irony at June 28, 2005 2:55 PM
oops, i meant columbia heights.
Posted by: seeking irony at June 28, 2005 2:56 PM
The last time I bought Jamaican beef patties in bulk, I swear they went bad within the week, 'cause those things tasted nasty when I pulled them out of the freezer. Of course, this was at Costco, not Giant. But I'm just sayin'.
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