Exotic Groceries in Pittsburgh

Maintained by the Dinner Co-op

This list is assembled from a variety of sources, so please email me if you spot any inaccuracies, have stuff to add, or can fill in names of places I vaguely mention...

Vegetarian & Organic Stores

Indian Stores

Bombay Emporium, Boulevard of the Allies (across from Playhouse): Indian specialties. Seedy and dirty, but they do have wild stuff, and you can rent a video camera for only $25 a night.

Kapoor Imports, 319 S. Craig Street (621-1800). Indian specialties including fresh veggies, spices, and samosas. Cleaner and neater than Bombay Emporium, and often cheaper.

Taj Emporium, 3005 Dell Ave, Dormont (341-5124). Open until 8pm, samosas, frozen Indian TV dinners, Indian-style ice cream, a good variety of fresh vegetables, and so on. The owners are pretty accomodating about trying to find special things for you.

India Grocers, 5040 William Penn Highway, Murrysville Shopps, Monroeville (325-3665), or 2101 Green Tree Rd., Scott Town Center, Pgh (429-5362). Better than Kapoors with more variety and lower prices. Also, they have enormous bags of the staple foods, so it'll be quite a bit cheaper if you need to buy in bulk. Closed Tuesdays. One warning: they don't take MAC or credit cards.

Other Asian Food Stores

Pgh Asian, Penn Ave, Wilkinsburg Large store carrying many Asian food stuffs, as well as cookware, etc. Avoid the electronics sold upstairs. Very expensive, but lots of selection.

Tokyo, Ellsworth, Shadyside (near the Artery) Japanese food store. Sells fresh fish for sushi.

New Sam Bok's, in the Strip (at the Wholey's end) Asian foods. Good selection, not as good if you need help or suggestions as the smaller places in Squirrel Hill.

Lotus, in the Strip (on Smallman). Probably the best selection in the strip.

You will spot several other Asian groceries if you walk around the Strip.

Central / South American Stores

Reyna Foods on Penn Ave in the Strip. South American foodstuffs.

Toadflax on Walnut in Shadyside. Overpriced but hard-to-find Mexican peppers.

European Stores

La Charcuterie: on Ellsworth. European cheeses plus a lot of other random gourmet food selections. Nice desserts.

Donatello's, Liberty Ave in Bloomfield. Italian groceries. There are a few other Italian groceries in Bloomfield as well.

Bear, Murray & Beacon, Sq Hill. Russian groceries. Good cheese selection & they take suggestions.

Polina's, Murray (uphill near Greenfield), Sq Hill. Russian & Eastern European groceries.

Several Italian groceries in the Strip, including Pennsylvania Macaroni Co (probably the best selection) and

Stamoolis Bros, in the strip. Greek.

Middle Eastern Stores

In Squirrel Hill, near the corner of Murray & Phillips.

In the Strip district, near Sam-Bok.

Miscellaneous Stores

Wholey's, Strip district. All kind of fresh meats & seafood.

The Teapot, on Rt. 19 north in Wexford, a tiny shop with foods from the British Isles (I just got some fabulous blueberry curd and Devon cream for my scones). Also has english teapots, tea cozies, baking tins and a tiny tea-room.

The East End Food Co-op (on Penn near Braddock). Organic & natural foods with a good supply of bulk.

The Pittsburgh Cheese Terminal wholesale cheese. Lots of varieties & good quality. But you need to want a LOT.

Penns Woods Organics in the strip. Organic wholesale. Call to check hours (765-1964)

Farmer's Markets

East Liberty Farmer's Market in the Penn circle on Sheridan Street. Saturday 5am to noon.

Pittsburgh Zoo Farmer's Market in the zoo parking lot Monday & Thursday afternoons in the summer.

Wilkinsbug Farmer's Market in the parking lot between Ross St. and South Ave. Thursday late afternoon and in the summer also Monday late afternoon.

Kretschmann Farms (farmer's market delivered to your door) For $12/week, you get a crate full of locally-grown veggies. 452-7189.

Berry Picking in the Pittsburgh Area

I don't know where else this could go!

From: JOHNHENRY_HARRISON@city-net.com (JOHNHENRY HARRISON)
Newsgroups: pgh.food
Subject: STRAWBERRY HARVEST LIST FROM PPG

Paraphrasing from Pittsburgh Post Gazette of 06-04-1995 section H-8 written by Suzanne Martinson

ELBEL'S PRODUCE FARM  (814)938-5878  daily 0700-2000 except Sunday 
Indiana County

HILL SIDE ORCHARDS       547-2693    0800-1200 & 1600-1900
Westmoreland

HUFF STRABERRY FARM      865-9593    0800-2000 Mon thru Sat
Prospect

KISTACO FARM MARKET      478-4361    hours vary ;  call first
Apollo

HENRY MALLISEE FARM      793-0898    0830-1200 & 1830-2030 M-F
Plum                                 0830-1200 Sat

McNULTY FARMS            452-4022    0700-Dusk daily
Harmony

PASKORZ FARM             265-3073    0800-2000 Mon thru Fri
West Deer                            0800-1700 Weekends

REILLY'S SUMMER          364-8270    0800-1700 Mon thru Sat
SEAT FARMS                           1000-1700 Sunday
Mount Nebo

SCHRAMM FARM MARKET      744-7320    0500-2000 Mon & Wed
Harrison City                        0900-1200 Tues& Thurs
                                     1100-1500 Sat & Sun

SCHRAMM'S FARM MARKET    282-3714    0800-1500 Tues & Thurs
South of Butler                      1100-1500 Sat & Sun

SIMMONS FARMS            941-1490    0800-1200 & 1800-2100 M,W,F
McMurray                             0800-1200 Sat

SNYDER'S FARM            445-3116    0700-2000 Daily
Chicora

SOERGEL'S                935-1743    0900-1900 Mon thru Fri
Wexford                              0900-1700 Sat & Sun

TRIPLE "B" FARMS         258-3557    0800-2000 Mon thru Fri
Elizabeth exit off 51                0800-1700 Sat,  1000-1700 Sun

TRAX FARMS               835-3246    0800-2000 Mon thru Sat
Finleyville                          0800-1800 Sun

From: "Marcie A. Wallace"
Newsgroups: pgh.food
Subject: Re:strawberry picking

We just went strawberry picking on Tuesday at Triple B farms in Monongahela, PA. The strawberries are wonderful. They are a beautifully deep red that I have never seen in strawberries before. They were also quite plentiful. I picked ~3 quarts (I think the smaller baskets they provide are 4 quarts) and I probably travelled less than 25 feet down the row I was picking. I only chose the very best looking berries--they were so plentiful it was easy to find plenty even with the most stringent criteria. I didn't end up with any that had white patches (or even light pink patches).

Their picking hours are M-F 8am-8pm, sat 8am-5pm and Sun 10am to 5pm. We started picking around 7pm and were almost the only ones in the field. The phone number is 258-3557.

Their strawberry festival is this weekend (Sat & Sun, the 17th and 18th). I don't know how much longer the strawberry season is expected to last, but they told us that raspberry season is expected to start 10-13 days from the day we visited (June 13th).

Directions (with help from Maggie Shumaker's post, which has expired at my site):

Take route 51 south, past Century III Mall to the Elizabeth Exit (the exit is *right* at the end of the big blue bridge). Go through one traffic light and take a LEFT at the second light. Go through town (go left where you see the "No Outlet" sign) and up a hill, past Lock 3. Go ~4.5 miles (all your turns, starting here, will be marked with *small* signs bearing a picture of whatever is currently in season) and take a LEFT. Go up a hill ~ 1 mile and turn RIGHT just after the house (I think it's the first house on this road) with the live rabbits in the unfenced front yard (drive carefully!). From here, I think there is only one more left turn, but the little signs clearly point the way.