It took me a week of obsessing to buy these cherries. The first time I saw gorgeous cherries in the supermarket, it was at a Dean & Deluca, whose prices are always prohibitevely high (Morel’s were $75 per pound there last week!). The display looked so amazing that I almost broke down and paid the $9/lb they were asking, but then I came to my senses and walked right out. I then saw gorgeous cherries at Gourmet Garage for the slightly-more-reasonable price of $6.99/lb, but I still couldn’t bring myself to buy them. They were gorgeous and looked juicy-delicious, but they just seemed too expensive to justify. It’s not like I don’t have an extra $7 lying around, it’s more the principle, you know?
Unfortunately the idea of those cherries haunted me, and I spent the next few days ducking into every store I passed, looking for a better price so I could get my cherry fix (sure hope I don’t get any creepy Googlers due to that phrase!). It got so bad that I started to worry that if I did break down and spend the money, that if the cherries didn’t meet my expectation that I’d never forgive myself.
Well, as you can see in the picture above, I did buy cherries . . . but if you look closely, these really aren’t very pretty! As is so often the case in New York City, the best price I could find was from one of those fruit carts that’s often on a corner near a subway entrance. I paid a whopping $3.99 for this pound of cherries! Score! They aren’t the prettiest, but they taste simply divine. I’m pretty sure they taste sweeter because I got a good deal!
Unless you’re lucky enough to live in Brooklyn and belong to the co-op, you’ll find the best price-to-quality ratio for fresh fruits and veggies in Manhattan at Fairway or the fruit cart on the corner. Greenmarkets are nice, too, but you never know what’s going to be available and the prices are usually pretty high (not that I’m saying they’re not worth it!). The fruit carts sometimes sell over-ripe items, but for the price, they’re totally worth it!
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We’ve had that same problem at being tempted by “food toys” at Dean & Deluca! While we don’t live in Manhattan, we come to visit and have been know to purchase from the “fruit carts on the corner” as well as splurging a little too! Here is our adventure at D & D: http://lovefeasttable.com/blog/inspired-at-the-food-toy-museum/ Have you ever tried Cherimoya’s? That’s a fun food toy too!