A couple years ago when Jonathan Levitt introduced Boston Globe readers to Bresca (see A Chef’s Vision Becomes a Tiny Treasure of a Restaurant), he explained that “Because Bresca is so small, Kern can pick up a lot of her own groceries. She buys locally, from farmers, fish markets, and supermarkets. This morning her first stop is Hannaford’s.”
And recently when the Maine magazine published an article—also by Levitt—about Rob Evans from Hugo’s, I read that the James Beard Award winner also sources some of his raw ingredients at Hannaford: pommegranates, offal, pumpkin seeds, etc.
It makes me wonder if I were to hang out in the Hannaford produce section one morning would I see a parade of Portland’s culinary notables streaming through. Are these two outliers or would I see Corry, Hayward, Villani, Matthews, Desjarlais, Hernandez, Harmon, and others shopping trips for the night’s menu?
7 comments on “Hannaford: Super Market for Star Chefs”
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While I shop at Hannafords, like it very much, why doesn’t anyone go to Whole Foods? Pricing? Variety of items?
Pricing.
and for the trifecta: http://www.boston.com/travel/explorene/maine/articles/2008/05/25/rock_and_roll_french_entices_urban_diners_at_evangeline/?page=2
“At the Hannaford supermarket in Portland, Desjarlais buys bananas and chicken livers and ogles the pig’s feet in the offal section.”
If you hung out in the produce section of Hannaford 2 years ago then yes you’d probably see more chefs.
It’s close enough to the wine section to make that an entertaining time…
Really interesting post. I think Hannaford goes out of its way to have the freshest, local produce around, so I like to hear that some local chefs shop there. Of course, we know from a certain cheese expert that KD gets cheese at WF.
But, one would expect them to shop at Hannaford in a town where you have two choices–especially in the winter. I guess I don’t see the surprise in it. I find more shock seeing Glen Close at the supermarket then Rob Evans.