| Tuesday, December 17, 2002 |
01:03 - Right under my nose
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My search for pickles has taken me to all corners of the world, throughout my life. I've gone through brand after brand of grocery-store dills trying to find a reasonable approximation of the bright green, humungous deli-style monsters they sell in the fluorescent brine at meat counters in supermarkets and 7-11s. But they never sell those in grocery stores' pickle aisles, nor do they sell the sliced versions. At college, I could have my fill of the green slices of ambrosia, party as they were to the bounty of Sysco. But now those days are gone; and the best I can do is to ask for extra-heavy pickles at burger joints and sandwich places, hoping that one day I can penetrate the perimeter of the Evil Pickle Conspiracy and find out where one can obtain these supreme examples of foodservice pickledom. Even Granzella's, the restaurant/deli/grocery out in Williams where my family stopped on the way back from vacation and I found jars of the whole giant deli dills for $8.95 (and brought one home cradled in my lap), seems not to carry them anymore.
But today I had a revelation-- one that I feel like an idiot for not having before. If I want the kinds of pickles I get in restaurants, why not go to Smart & Final-- the foodservice supply bulk retailer that has outlets all over the Bay Area as well as the whole state?
Of course, they had 'em. Of course, they're exactly what I wanted. And henceforth, my quesadillas shall never go unadorned again.
They're cheap-ass, they're brashly oversalted, they glow in the dark. And that's the stuff of my dreams. Such has it been for nearly twenty-seven years, and now the dream is realized.
Now the only question that remains: who in God's green hell came up with the name Smart & Final?
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