We love eating in grocery store cafes. Eating in-store gives us the opportunity to tuck into a sandwich and chocolate chip cookies while we watch people shop. At Fox & Obel, we joined in a conversation about chicken salad salad recipes and over heard lots of gossip about what was especially good in the shop.
Fox & Obel is a full-service gourmet grocery store in Chicago's Near North Side. There is so much to see here: gourmet groceries, prepared foods, coffee, meat, seafood, wine, cheese, flowers and some table decor items. They have a large candy counter, a bakery, and offer cooking classes.
We savored the breadth of Fox & Obel's offerings: chicken schmaltz ($2.29/lb), a snappy display of Cuisine Perel flavored vinegars ($8.99), even mini bagel dogs ($5.99). They also carry some cookbooks and a wide selection of food magazines, including Gastronomica and some hard-to-find BBC cooking magazines. Prices are higher here than in a grocery store, but for harder-to-find specialty items, the store is an excellet resource.
We visited the store while Mario Batali was speaking and signing books. We were impressed to see that the store could easily move the crowds of Mario fans through the shop and still keep the check out lines short. They store also offers valet service to park the car and pack the groceries.
P.S. We need Fox & Obel's chocolate cookie recipe. What's the trick? The cookies somehow manage to be both crispy and gooey in every bite.
(photo: Fox & Obel)
i adore this market. they have just about everything and anything you could ever want. not to mention its in a great area! it's really an impressive place to see.
I just visited the market while staying with a friend in Chicago, and loved their lobster club sandwich and strawberry-flavored licorice. The candy guy was great and recommended the licorice to me -- when I first said I wanted gummy bears, he asked, "Are you sure?" I asked why. He replied, "We're not allowed to say something is bad. Want a sample?"
Lisa, I'm glad you called out the guy working behind the candy counter. He was friendly and fun to with.
I love the bakery, which has the best baquette in town, and the chocolate chip cookies are great too! The cheese counter used to be one of the finest around, but lately seems to be in sad decline.
Can I ask why this blog always uses the first person plural? It's a writerly tic that drives me crazy, especially in posts like this where one person is clearly talking about a personal experience, but using the royal we. Is it a deliberate attempt to depersonalize the blog? To adopt a royal sense of indifference?
I love Fox & Obel; the baked goods are fantastic as is their meat counter. I love going to the cafe for breakfast really early on a Saturday morning.
I admit that I don't go as often as I used to, now that the free parking option in the lot across the street is gone. I know they have some sort of valet deal but it sounds like too much of a hassle...
I worked with Obel when he was a lawyer. I admired his courage, but I thought no way is anyone gonna haul their cookies to the Navy Pier to buy....cookies. I've been gone from Chi. for five years, but it's good to see they've done quite well.
They are pretty close with Red Hen for the best bread in the city. I would have to give the tie-breaker to Fox and Obel though.