Where to buy TV syrups in NY/NJ?

Does anyone know where I can buy Trader Vic' s drink syrups (orgeat, rock candy, maraschino, passion fruit & grenadine) in the NY/NJ area? It seems nuts that for $20 worth of syrups I'd have to pay $17 in shipping if I order one bottle of each on their web site. The online stores I've looked at (liquorama, for one) don't carry everything.

susanr5-

I wish I had an answer to this question. I have looked far and wide for TV products in the Tri-State area and every time I do it's the same result: zip! They are nowhere to be found in any stores around here. I have even been to Trader Joe's in Connecticut and New Jersey and those particular stores don't carry any of the products, even though it seems that their West coast stores do. And in the city that supposedly never sleeps, I dare anybody to find Trader Vic products anywhere here in NYC. So welcome to the Trader Vic search & frustration club (Northeast Chapter). If you ever come upon a goldmine of any of the products in any store you're looking in let me know. Meanwhile, just order from the website, it saves alot of frustration. I actually just got a shipment last week.

Good luck!

susanr5 / donhonyc,

I'm from Northern NJ myself and have the same issue myself! I broke down awhile ago and ordered the Orgeat and Passion Fruit Syrup on-line. But due to the same reason you mentioned, I don’t plan on doing that again due to $hipping co$t$!!

But I'm hoping donhonyc MIGHT be able to point me to where I can find Falernum, Maraschino Liqueur and possibly Fee Brothers or Angostura grenadine (I believe Fee, Angostura and Trader Vic are the only brands that use real pomegranates... I think.) I’d prefer to hit a liquor store next time I’m in the city that stocks this stuff rather than travel from liquor to store in my area.

As for the Orgeat I plan on picking up either Torani Sugar Free Almond or Monin Sugar Free Almond.

I also want to check their ingredients as well for the Passion Fruit Syrup to see for myself if Trader Vic’s is truly “the only brand that contains passion fruit”.
This is from the Monin site:
“Monin syrups are highly concentrated and made from natural fruits, nuts, spices, water and sugar.”
So if this is true it should have real passion fruit (and hopefully REAL sugar and not High Fructose Corn Syrup like the TV products do.)

I plan on making my own simple syrup with Splenda (I’m sure you're seeing a trend here. Just cutting out sugar or worse HFCS where I can).

Rich

susanr5~ i live in cali and order from vics all the time. the trick is to order the bottles in threes. the first time i ordered from them i ordered 2 bottles and shipping was 9 bucks. the next time i ordered i got 6 bottles and the shipping was only 14 bucks. the boxes they use are made that way(3 or 6 per box)and since they are pretty big i guess that ups charges them by the size and not the weight.

so my suggestion would be to order the orgeat, passion fruit and grenadine from vics and make your own rock candy syrup( it is very easy). the cherry syrup is something you will hardly use ( at least in my bar it is) and you should be able to get by with another brand.

hope this helps

JerseyRED-

The one place that you may (and I emphasize 'MAY') find the liquers you are looking for is a place here in the city called Warehouse Liquors (I'm pretty sure that's the name). It's a huge place on Broadway right off Astor Place, about a half block below 8th Street. It's on the west side of the street, you can't miss it. They have a pretty wide selection of stuff, so you might have some luck there.

I think I may have had almost as many problems looking for Torani syrups as I have for the TV stuff. So far the only place I can find that has a large selection of them is a coffee store called Porto Rico Imports on Bleecker St. off 6th Ave. I had such a time trying to find Vanilla syrup last week, and I was trying to avoid going to Porto Rico Imports, because it is located on the other side of town and a pain in the ass to walk to unless you have another reason to go over there. So I looked in all of these 'gourmet' supermarkets around here and came up nill, until I found a place on 7th Ave and 14th St. that I can't remember the name of, that had Vanilla syrup made by 'U-bet' . It's like an old-time brand that I only used to see in chocolate form, but I guess now they have Vanilla. By the way, I was looking for Vanilla syrup to make one of the Mai Tai recipes that's in 'Tiki Road Trip', just in case you were wondering.

P.S. Not to be too much of a crybaby , but this seems to be the story of my life lately: all of the cool, specific things that I look for here in town I can never find. For example...vintage Tiki in any form- postcards, mugs, Exotica LPs etc., as well as non-Tiki stuff like vintage movie lobby cards. Cannot for the life of me find this stuff anywhere. I search most of the flea markets around here, and I have yet to strike gold on any of these fronts. The few isolated cases where I have found these kinds of things it's always at a vintage boutique where the prices are grossly inflated. There's no thrill in getting a great find and paying $50 -$100 for it. I want the $5-$10 mind blowing find at a garage sale, thrift store, or flea market, but I guess I'll have to keep looking.

And they say that you can find anything in New York City....NOT!!

Thanks everyone, I am boggled that NYC/NJ is so horribly remiss in this area. Maybe I should order a large economical shipment start dealing the extras on the street here! (Hey man, I got some prime orgeat, real sweet stuff, man....)

I guess doing the multiples of 3 ordering is the way to go, I just got the Beachbum Berry books and I'm trying to put together a basic setup with which to attempt these potions! I wish I'd read about the Havana rums before my sister came over from France.... Thanks again!

I've searched everywhere in Manhattan for TV syrups, too- no luck. Sorry Donhonyc, I've checked Warehouse Liquors, but no luck (I thought they would have it). I ended up getting Torani syrups from Porto Rico.

ANy opinions on how the TV stacks up against the Torani? I really like the Torani stuff, so I'm not sure if it's worth the expense of shipping the TV.

drunken hat,

I think you need to take into consideration the shipping charges from the west coast to the east, it'll be more than $9. But that's what I did to "save" and it was still very high considering how LONG it took to arrive.

But, I bit the bullet and if you don’t have time it looks like you’ll have to do the same Susan!

donhonyc,

Thanks for the tip. I'll give them a try when I'm in the area! I really would love to score on some of these hard to find liquers.

I called Fee Brothers and their distributor is in Staten Island. They were very helpful, but explained I would need to order a minimum of 3 bottles of the grenadine (along with the orange bitters that I want). I may try these mail order places for the items (or Regan’s Orange Bitters).
http://surfasrestaurantsupply.com/products/22796.cfm
http://www.owensliquors.com/store/shop/category.asp?catid=4
http://www.buffalotrace.com/giftshop.asp

I sent an e-mail to Monin to find out more about their syrups and distribution in the NYC-metro area. They have a web store, but I haven’t gone through the process to see how much the shipping would be.
http://www.monin.com/

And on a final note, YEAH! I’m feeling ya! I know exactly what you mean!
It’s not like I expect to find some Heywood furniture at some unsuspecting home owner’s garage sale, just a really cool find from time to time! Either everyone is more educated or they are throwing the stuff on e-bay?
Hmm, could be the fact that I’m older and this “cool stuff” is getting harder to find? NAH!!!

Happy mixing all!

Thanks for the links RED. That Fees Bros American Beauty Grenadine destroys all competition (IMO). I've got the sugar free Torlani almond and I must say it doesn't taste much like orgeat. It's pretty lame I think. I like Torlani orgeat a hair better than TV's. Yum. Is that true what it says in your Owens Liquors link? Orgeat is pronounced "or-SHOT?" I thought it was or-zhyit or even orgy-it. Doh!

JerseyRED-

Yeah, it's a bitch ain't it. I think Ebay has definitely become the double-edged sword of all things collectible. On the one hand it's really easy and convinient and you can window shop at home. On the other it has definitely made people more aware of what they have, and has taken all the fun out of garage sales, flea markets, etc. I remember hitting a bunch of garage sales last summer in Long Island. Basically every one of them was a family getting rid of the old baby toys, playpens and furniture their children outgrew. Yeah...that's real fun to rummage through. Who the hell wants used puked-on baby toys? I don't have kids, but if I did I wouldn't be like "hey honey, let's go hit the garage sales and find junior a nice used Romper Room set with some other kid's excrement residue on it". What the hell are these people thinking?

Just a correction to my last bitch-fest post. I remembered that this past fall, I actually did find a pair of Tiki Leilani mugs for $12 one day as well as a pretty rare postcard from the Bali Hai in Northport, Long Island on another day, both at the Chelsea flea markets. But once again I have to say..definitely the exception and not the rule.

Happy Hunting and good luck to ya and all the other disgruntled cool-item-searching folks we have here in the Metropolitan Area. :drink:

If any of you venture down to Virginia, the Cost Plus World market stores have 8 stores there, and carry Torani syrup, although it's best to call ahead to find out if they stock the flavors you want.

Related sites: http://www.torani.com
http://www.costplusworldmarket.com

On 2005-04-20 13:55, Urban Tiki wrote:
ANy opinions on how the TV stacks up against the Torani? I really like the Torani stuff, so I'm not sure if it's worth the expense of shipping the TV.

Right now I have a bottle of the Trader Vic's orgeat and the Torani orgeat.

The TV's is thicker and seems to have a hint of citrus blended in with the almonds.

The Torani's is more watery and has a very pronounced almond flavor. It smells and tastes much like marzipan. In fact I don't notice any flavor other than almond.

Orgeat should be a mixture of almonds, sugar and rose water/orange-flower water, and the TV's seems to be going the orange-flower route.

And now for the purely subjective part:
In my Mai Tai's I prefer the taste of the TV's orgeat. I feel that the Torani is too one dimensional and candy like and can easily overpower the balance flavors.

However, when my local source is out of stock I do fall back on the Torani.

What other brands of orgeat has anyone tried?

FLASH BULLETIN: TRADER VIC PRODUCT FOUND IN NEW YORK CITY!

Shocking indeed! In the city where Trader Vic products are scarce! I almost fell over when I found a liquor store today in Chinatown that sells Trader Vic's Banana Rum for $7 a bottle. That's cheaper than alot of the on-line stores sell it for. The only thing I was wondering about it was if it's actually an official Trader Vic product. The logo looked the same, but I have never seen this stuff before, plus it' s not on the TV website, but I quess they can't sell liquor on there (?). Whatever the case, I didn't buy it. I'm going to Hukilau in a couple of days, so what's the point. If I get a jones when I come back I 'll get it. But I can just see it now; I'll want it, I'll go down there, and they'll either be out of it or they will discontinue selling it. Hate to be negative, but that kinda stuff happens to me all the time.

Aloha :drink:

[ Edited by: donhonyc 2005-10-04 18:13 ]

Sorry, but all you people need to move to Los Angeles.

No problem finding Trader Vics syrups, old Martin Denny records, paper parasols, old tiki mugs, and Torani syrups in every variety imaginable.

If you need good pizza, stay in NYC. If you have a Tiki jones, Gotham is not the place to do it. And I say that as someone raised in Bergen County, New Jersey.

P.S.: When you get here, check out the flea market at Pasadena City College. First Sunday of the month. You'll probably find Tiki mugs on Melrose Avenue, or other hipster hot spots, but you'll pay through the nose for them.

I live about an hour north of NYC, but this might be helpful for suburbanites north of NYC and in North Jersey. High Withers Wine and Spirits, in Goshen, NY, carries Fee Brothers products. We get orange bitters from them (which they keep on the counter, since the demand is so high) and we recently asked them to order falernum for us, which they did. They seem very receptive to those requests.

I get Torani syrups at Porto Rico, in NYC, but agree that it can be a pain getting there.

On 2005-10-18 22:53, KaptainKuku wrote:
Sorry, but all you people need to move to Los Angeles.

No problem finding Trader Vics syrups, old Martin Denny records, paper parasols, old tiki mugs, and Torani syrups in every variety imaginable.

If you need good pizza, stay in NYC. If you have a Tiki jones, Gotham is not the place to do it. And I say that as someone raised in Bergen County, New Jersey.

P.S.: When you get here, check out the flea market at Pasadena City College. First Sunday of the month. You'll probably find Tiki mugs on Melrose Avenue, or other hipster hot spots, but you'll pay through the nose for them.

Couldn't agree more! As one who grew up in LA I know exactly what I'm missing and it hurts!

Believe it or not TWO more tiki drink related finds right here in NYC:

1. There is a Latino/Chinese restaurant on the Upper West Side called Flora De Mayo. Although there is nothing Tiki about it all, I was totally surprised that they serve Mai Tais and Zombies in Orchids of Hawaii Tiki mugs! They also use Trader Vic's Mai Tai mix in their Mai Tais. Who woulda known? It's a very busy restaurant located across the street from the 1930s/ ArtDeco era Metro Twin theater which also looks like it's worh checking out.

2. I almost fell over when I found that the Food Emporium at Union Square carries Mr. T's Mai Tai mix. This is the first time I have ever seen any supermarket carry Mai Tai mix in New York City. You can't ever find it anywhere;not at the upscale supermarkets or bodegas or anywhere in between. So this was a total surprise. I bought a bottle and hopefully they'll continue to carry it. Hell..they carry all those stupid TGIF Mudslide and other lame drink mixes why shouldn't they carry at least one brand of Mai Tai mix?

[ Edited by: donhonyc 2005-10-31 12:24 ]

Well there's a good reason to run to Union Square! I'll have to make a trip very soon

Thanks!

This is from the "knew this was gonna happen" department. Went to Food Emporium-Union Square tonite. NO MORE MR. & MRS. T'S MAI-TAI MIX. I knew it was too good to be true. Either their out of stock (doubt it) or it was just a seasonal thing. I guess I'll have to wait until next summer to find out. They had every other frickin' TGI-Friday's and Mr. & Mrs. T's drink mix but zero on the Mai Tai. Guess that's what happens when you live in a Martini & Cosmo town.

The Northeast Tiki hunt continues...

Well, if it's any consolation, a Trader Joe’s is scheduled to open up in Union Square along with a liquor store next store. Two Buck Chuck comes to the East coast.
I haven’t seen anything about a date as to when, but if I do I’ll be sure to report back. And if any of “youse” find out please let me know what the liquor store has to offer.

Signing off from the other side of the Hudson, Rich

JerseyRED, you've made my day! I'm also west of the Hudson and have been missing Trader Joe's desperately since moving from Westchester. I'm in the city all the time, so this is perfect!

a Trader Joe’s is scheduled to open up in Union Square along with a liquor store next store.

Is it really? I think I heard something about that. Wow, this town gets more generic by the minute. Whole Foods supermarkets on Union Square and The Bowery...CBGB closing. We're going to need a new name for the city soon. Something like New York SUBURBIA instead of New York City. I'll wait and see what happens as far as availabiliyt of Trader Vic products at this new Trader Joe's. Every other Trader Joe's that I have visited in this area never have Trader Vic products.

I agree. The gentrification of NYC is why we lost all those great Tiki bars and palaces.
But I’m thinking the attached liquor store may be the silver lining to this cloud. Think of the rum possibilities.

Mr. & Mrs. T Mai-Tai mix? Yuck. Come on now my east-coast brother. Buy some Orgeat or almond syrup (Little Italy) and make some simple syrup or up the amount of Curacao.
And as far as Trader Vic products go, the only thing I get from them is the Passion Fruit Syrup, as they are the only one I know that makes this product. But ALL of the products have High Fructose Corn Syrup in them (Passion Fruit Syrup included). You can make your own grenadine with POM and sugar (or Splenda) and Orgeat can be found easily in “the City” made with real sugar (not HFCS) or even sugar-free.

Rich

Mr. & Mrs. T Mai-Tai mix? Yuck. Come on now my east-coast brother. Buy some Orgeat or almond syrup (Little Italy) and make some simple syrup or up the amount of Curacao.
And as far as Trader Vic products go, the only thing I get from them is the Passion Fruit Syrup, as they are the only one I know that makes this product. But ALL of the products have High Fructose Corn Syrup in them (Passion Fruit Syrup included). You can make your own grenadine with POM and sugar (or Splenda) and Orgeat can be found easily in “the City” made with real sugar (not HFCS) or even sugar-free.

Trust me, I'm a purist, and I have made almost all of the Mai Tai recipes found in Grog Log, Intoxica, and Tiki Road Trip. I prefer to drink the authentic, original recipes. Not just once, but many, many times I found myself making these original drinks. I even had a stretch of time when I was making the Zombie from Grog Log that has the powdered sugar in it. But I'm as surprised as you are to find that Mr. & Mrs. T's Mai Tai is actually very good. I think I like it because it's easy, and also because no matter how carefully I mixed any of the Mai Tai recipes they never tasted like the Trader Vic or Mai Kai Mai Tais. THOSE are the best and unless you have the recipes, which I don't think anybody has, you just can't make those at home.

Finding Orgeat is easier said than done in this town. True, Little Italy is a possibility for finding it. There is also Porto Rico Imports on Bleecker St. in the West Village. SOMETIMES they have it. It's totally frustrating when you walk in there and find that they don't have it. They'll have every other variety of Torani syrups...like 25 of them, but they won't have Orgeat. It's easier to mail order it from Trader Vic.

Once again, New York City..supposedly the city where 'everything' is available is NOT tiki friendly and hasn't been for years ever since Trader Vic's, Hawaii Kai, and the Kona Tiki in the Americana hotel all closed in the 80s.

[ Edited by: donhonyc 2006-01-30 08:22 ]

[ Edited by: MrBaliHai 2006-02-12 08:17 ]

It's almost here...

http://www.thefoodsection.com/foodsection/2006/03/late_bird_gets_.html

On 2006-01-30 07:09, donhonyc wrote:
THOSE are the best and unless you have the recipes, which I don't think anybody has, you just can't make those at home.

Hey DonHoNYC - Some people have the recipe! PM me and I might be able to hook you up. JerseyRED is on the right track.

[ Edited by: tikigap 2006-03-04 00:10 ]

I saw that there was a Trader Joe's opening up on the ground floor of the 'Palladium' NYU dorm building. While I'm interested in the prospect of them stocking Trader Vic products, it still ticks me off that the legendary Palladium nightclub, also formerly the Academy of Music theater which were originally in this spot are gone now only to make way for this lavish dorm for spoiled suburbanites coming to town to get their higher, extremely expensive education. This is New York City in the 21st century folks: everything you wanted to get away from in the suburbs is now here, and the rents continue to go up, up, UP.

I guess we'll see if this new TJ's stocks any TV products, specifically the drink mixes and not just the syrups. That will certainly take the edge off, but I'm not quite holding my breath yet. The few TJ's in this area that I have actually visited didn't carry any TV stuff. For now I can just picture a bunch of rich 20 something NYU students going down there to stock their dorm fridges with expensive cheeses and stuff. Stay tuned...

On 2006-03-05 10:02, donhonyc wrote:
While I'm interested in the prospect of them stocking Trader Vic products...

Hope for the best but plan for the worst.

On 2006-03-05 10:02, donhonyc wrote:
The few TJ's in this area that I have actually visited didn't carry any TV stuff.

**In general, the TJ's out here on the west coast do not carry Trader Vic's products either. Occasionally they may have the Trader Vic's dark rum but that's about it.

The Drunken Hat had good advice as far as mail order. Heed his words:**

On 2005-04-20 09:49, the drunken hat wrote:
...i live in cali and order from vics all the time. the trick is to order the bottles in threes. the first time i ordered from them i ordered 2 bottles and shipping was 9 bucks. the next time i ordered i got 6 bottles and the shipping was only 14 bucks. the boxes they use are made that way(3 or 6 per box)and since they are pretty big i guess that ups charges them by the size and not the weight.

so my suggestion would be to order the orgeat, passion fruit and grenadine from vics and make your own rock candy syrup( it is very easy). ...

GO NOW!
http://www.tradervicsfoodproducts.com/default.asp

Thanks for the advice Hakalugi, but I have done the TV mail order several times. In fact I still have one or two full bottles of Rock Candy and Passion Fruit syrups. I was under the impression from reading some fo the posts here on TC that the TJs on the West coast stocked TV products on a regular basis. MAYBE they'll be daring since this IS New York and all that, and stock the TV stuff in the new store, but like I said..this is just going to be another outlet for rich indie hipsters and NYU students to get their mucho expensive/exotic grub. I know that sounds bitter and cynical, but 10-15-20 years ago I would have never imagined something like Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, or Kmart being in downtown Manhattan, but guess what? I mean there is a Whole Foods now literally around the corner from CBGB. I shudder to think what will take the place of CBGB when it vacates on October 31. Starbucks, J. Crew, American Aparrel? Could be.

Has anyone gotten in to see the liquor store at the new Trader Joe's on 14th St.? (NYC)I had passed by before they opened and the shelves were still bare, haven't had a chance to peek since.

BTW, I am today going to test the Mai Tai mix ordered from TV's versus the recipe in the Grog Log. Have never had either! Is it worth getting an old copy of TV's book to compare also? (Which edition of the book?)

It's a tough job, but I'll do it anyway!

On 2006-03-19 10:06, susanr5 wrote:
BTW, I am today going to test the Mai Tai mix ordered from TV's versus the recipe in the Grog Log. Have never had either! Is it worth getting an old copy of TV's book to compare also? (Which edition of the book?)

When you compare the Grog Log recipe to the TV original, one difference is the amount of fresh lime juice that is called for.

I believe the original calls for the "juice of one lime". Typically this should equate to .75oz to 1oz of lime juice. The Grog Log calls for 1.5oz of lime juice. Way too much in my opinion.

My favorite Mai Tai recipe is another from Beachbum Berry and is found on his website. It is named the Hundred Dollar Mai Tai.
http://www.beachbumberry.com/100dollarmaitai/
It calls for very specific rums and Curacao in an attempt to recreate what Trader Vic originally concocted. Make one of these and you will not be disappointed.

Hmmm! Sounds good, right now I'm not getting through to the weblink, I hope I can get it today!
(It's saying document contains no data.)

Ah, works in Safari, not Firefox. What a fun site! And I have nearly all the right ingredients already!

Has anyone gotten in to see the liquor store at the new Trader Joe's on 14th St.? (NYC)I had passed by before they opened and the shelves were still bare, haven't had a chance to peek since.

The liquor store or the "Trader Joe's Wine Shop" as they're calling it isn't slated to open until next month. I went by there tonight hoping to get in and see if they have any TV products but there was a huge line, and from all reports there have been huge lines since the place opened last week. I'll wait on lines for some things, but not to go into a grocery store.

Just think 10-15-20 years ago this place was the Palladium. People were waiting on line to see The Ramones and Fugazi. Now they're waiting on line for cheese. How times have changed, eh? And deep in the abyss of my cynism, I too will become a shopper there. It's been getting good reviews. Ah....whaddayagonnado?

Just got back from my first visit to the new Trader Joe's New York store. Not as packed and didn't have to wait on line to get in. The place looked like a store that was picked over before a hurricaine. Alot of the shelves were half or totally empty, and the store wasn't as big as I thought. Now the real reason for the vist: I asked one of the floor people if they had drink mixes, and he told me they didn't carry them. I asked if they would have them in the soon to open Wine Shop and he told me he didn't know and that he was 'in the dark' about what was going on with it. The only thing remotely relating to alcohol there in the main store was a small corner of beers for sale including Guiness and some other brands. So maybe I'm thinking, we'll see some Trader Vic products in the wine shop, but I'm not holding my breath. Places that deal exclusively with wine and not with booze in general don't offer those kinds of things. So for now, my search for Trader Vic products in the Northeast is gonna end here. Just gonna except that mail order is the only way to go.

Thanks for the info on the store. Keep the details coming!

The Palladium, the Bottom Line and next, CBGBs. I hope they carry the TV products just to make up for the loss.

PS: Come summer you can get a great (albeit expensive) Mai Tai and many other wonderful Tiki concoctions at the Flatiron Lounge on 18th. Go early to beat the "clubing" crowd.

Thanks for reminding me about the Flatiron Lounge. I've been there a few times and the cocktails are top notch. Expensive though. I've spoken to the owner once or twice and she told me that they try to follow the original Mai Tai recipe.

On the club closing note, yet another mainstay, albeit not as-well-known rock club in the East Village will be closing this summer. Or as I've heard by other accounts, it will be converted to a lounge only. The place I am talking about is The Continental on 3rd Ave near St. Mark's. This place deserves almost as much credit as CBGB in the New York City rock and roll history books. Although CB's started American punk, The Continental was instrumental in keeping it alive and giving it another home in the 80s and 90s. It wasn't uncommon for people like Debbie Harry, Joey Ramone, or Iggy Pop to show up there unannounced and do a gig. In fact around 1997 I was lucky enough to be at the Continental for a gig by The Remains, The Ramones spin-off band fronted by Dee Dee and Marky Ramone, along with Dee Dee's wife and another guy named Ben Trokan on guitar. Joey showed up by surprise and got up on stage and did a few numbers, as well as downtown legend Wayne..um, Jayne County who also got up and did a few Ramones songs. With Joey, Dee Dee, and Marky onstage together it was (almost) The Ramones. Now with the closing of The Continental there will be NO MORE rock clubs in New York City. It is definitely the end of an era. Rock and roll as we knew it for the last 30 years or so in this town is unfortunately coming to an end.

To everything..turn, turn, turn.

Wow, The Continental too! I've seen my share of a few local bands there, no one famous. Well, excluding the one and only Robert Gordon!

Kinda feel like I'm beating a dead horse here, but I breezed through the Trader Joe's Wine Shop on 14th St. which opened today, two or three weeks now after the main store. No revelations here,but I thought it was worth posting. In short NO Trader Vic or any other cocktail products. When they say this place is a Wine Shop, they're not kidding. 99% wine with some champagne, sake, port and nothing else. LAME!!!!!! BTW when I concluded my 60 second visit to the Wine Shop I went outside to see that there are still lines going out the door into the main Trader Joe's shop. Pardon me for being on the negative side here, but I really fail to see the big attraction of this place. On the first visit I made there, I was totally underwhelmed by it all. All I can say is Trader Joe's=HYPE. New York City will always be a great town, but when things like Trader Joe's get so much undeserved attention, I gotta just stand by and scratch my head. The place is so UN-New York. Maybe the Food Emporium will start stocking Mr. & Mrs. T's Mai Tai mix once the summer gets underway. That the best I can hope for.

[ Edited by: donhonyc 2006-04-10 20:13 ]