Food & Drink shopping in Chicago
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Blommer Chocolate Store
Often in the Loop, a smell wafts through that’s so enticing you’d shoot your own mother in the kneecaps to get to it. It comes from Blommer Chocolate Factory, which provides the sweet stuff to big-time manufacturers such as Fannie May and Nabisco. Luckily, the wee outlet store sells a line of Blommer’s own goodies straight to consumers at cut-rate prices. The dark-chocolate-covered almonds reign supreme, and there’s a sweet selection of retro candies like Zots, Pop Rocks and Zagnut bars.
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B
Bon Bon
A mother-daughter team infuses the handmade chocolates with exotic, heady ingredients like rose petals, chilies and chai tea. As if that wasn’t sensuous enough, they then mold the pieces into figures from the Kama Sutra (as well as into little Buddhas and King Tuts, who are still kind of sexy). Serve the rich concoctions to the object of your affection, and you’ll be ripping each others’ clothes off in no time.
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C
Vosges Haut-Chocolat
Owner-chocolatier Katrina Markoff has earned a national reputation for her brand by blending exotic ingredients like curry powder, chilies and wasabi into her truffles, ice cream and candy bars. They sound weird but taste great, as the abundant samples laid out along the back counter prove. The heaven-sent dark-chocolate blends are the sweets to beat, dressed up with sea salt, ‘enchanted mushrooms’ and bacon. Yes, bacon.
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D
Garrett Popcorn
Like lemmings drawn to a cliff, people form long lines outside this kernel-sized store on the Mag Mile. Granted, the caramel corn is heavenly and the cheese popcorn decadent, but is it worth waiting in the whipping snow for a chance to buy some? Actually, it is. Buy the Chicago Mix, which combines the two flavors. One estimate says Chicagoans wolf down a collective 480,000 pounds per year. The entrance is on Ontario St.
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E
Spice House
A bombardment of peppery fragrance socks you in the nose at this exotic spice house in Old Town, offering delicacies such as black and red volcanic salt from Hawaii and pomegranate molasses among the tidy jars. Best though are the house-made herb blends themed after Chicago neighborhoods, including the piquant ‘Argyle St Asian Blend,’ allowing you to take home a taste of the city.
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F
Sam’s Wine & Spirits
Cavernous Sam’s carries Chicago’s largest selection of imported vino. It’s easy to spend hours chatting with the informative staff and loading up for future dinner parties. Tastings occur a few times each month, usually on Tuesday or Wednesday evenings. Beer, spirits, champagne and cheese are sold en masse, too.
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G
Coco Rouge
You need to keep your energy up, right? So here we go, to Coco Rouge. Behind the velvet drapes lies a tiny glass-case counter, and inside the counter lie the sweetest truffles you’ve ever laid lips on. Point at your fancy, then the staff whisks it to the back room and genteely wraps it. It’s all quite a production.
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H
Aji Ichiban
The front sign at this Asian snack and candy store says ‘Munchies Paradise,’ and so it is. Sweet and salty treats fill the bulk bins, from dried salted plums to chocolate wafer cookies, roasted fish crisps to fruity hard candies. It’s all packaged in cool, cartoony wrappers, with plenty of samples out for grabs.
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I
Ten Ren Tea & Ginseng Co
Ten Ren is the place to buy green, red, white and black teas, plus the teacups and teapots to serve them in. They also sell thirst-quenching bubble teas at the counter.
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J
Wikstrom’s Gourmet Foods
Scandinavians from all over Illinois flock here for homemade limpa, herring and lutefisk. It sells over 4000lb of Swedish meatballs around Christmas time.
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