Category Archives: Markets

Open Letter to Costco II

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Acme smoked whitefish salad at Costco—sold under the Blue Hill Bay label. $8.95 for a 2-pund tub!!

Acme smoked whitefish salad at Costco—sold under the Blue Hill Bay label. ~$9 for a 2-pund tub!!

26 March 2011

Costco Wholesale Corporation
Attn:  Customer Service
P. O. Box 34331
Seattle, WA 98124

Re: My letter of 5 December 2010 concerning a lack of Acme Fish Corporation’s smoked whitefish products at your Richmond, California, store

Dear Costco:

It’s me again, your biggest fan.

I want to take this opportunity to thank you for carrying Acme Fish Corporation’s smoked whitefish salad, sold under their Blue Hill Bay label, for Passover this year.  This product is an important part of our celebration, so we really appreciate it.

With best wishes for a wonderful holiday,
The Akitachow household

PS:  Thanks also for the other Kosher products I found in the store, and for the extra-nice selection of cheeses I’ve been seeing

Acme's smoked whitefish salad on a bagel

Acme’s smoked whitefish salad on a bagel

Kirkland Fresh White Truffles

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Package of white truffles at my costco

Package of white truffles at my Costco on 12/23/10

Well, not Kirkland, but you get what I’m saying.

I was at my Costco (Richmond, Cali) yesterday and they had fresh white truffles for $1,799.99 per pound.  No kidding.  Really.  Not behind any kind of glass or protected by armed guard.  Out in the open in a case next to other stuff for $8.99 a pound.  Not to be believed.  I thought I’d seen it all.

These truffles are more valuable than the jewelry or cameras they sell.

Have a wonderful holiday season!

Gres des Vosges at my Costco

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125 gram box of gres des vosges cheese on black background

You normally don’t find 125 gram packages of any food item at Costco.  Well, maybe caviar.

I was very happy to come across this wonderful little fern frond-topped cheese — essentially a pasteurized milk version of Alsatian Munster — at the Richmond (CA) branch.

The real deal — meaning raw milk Alsatian Munster — is illegal to import/sell in the US unless it has been aged 60 days or more, in which case it would be dead.

This is a soft cow’s milk cheese with a washed rind.  Earthy, yeasty, pungent and a little fruity, it’s quite funky when very ripe, which I always appreciate.  Life’s a bore without a little stank, and I felt the presence of this baby in the cheese case even though it was situated next to some overripe teleme that had all but run out of its package.

Have it with some bread, fruit and a spicy white or dessert wine.

Little Crab Casseroles

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Individual crab casseroles in little fiestaware ramekins

Here’s an easy recipe for decadent little creamy crab casseroles I developed based on a couple 1950’s dip recipes.

They work very well if you are having people over and want to serve a comforting, hot appetizer.

Do me a favor, though:  buy decent ingredients.  Good mayo, like Best Foods/Hellmann’s, Raley’s or the new Costco version, and real cream cheese without gums, fillers and all the rest of the garbage in popular brands.  Gina Marie is good, and is available at some Costco locations in addition to upscale and natural markets.

Creamy Crab Casseroles
   Makes 8

8 ounces cream cheese
1 cup sour cream
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup grated Asiago cheese
A few drops of chili oil and a couple dashes of white pepper OR a little regular old pepper
16 oz crab meat
1 tablespoon butter
8 ramekins (about 3/4 cup capacity)

1).  Place the cream cheese in a mixing bowl and mix with a stiff spatula or spoon until softened.
2).  Mix in sour cream, mayo, cheese and chili oil/white pepper or black pepper.
3).  Carefully fold in crab meat.
4).  Lightly butter the ramekins.
5).  Distribute crab mixture evenly among ramekins and smooth out tops.
6).  Bake at 325 deg F. until a bit bubbly – about 20 minutes.
7).  Broil for a minute or two to brown tops, but carefully so as not to burn!
8).  Serve with good crackers or some crusty bread.

An Open Letter to Costco

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A whole smoked whitefish from acme smoked fish corp in brooklyn

5 December 2010

Costco Wholesale Corporation
Attn:  Customer Service
P. O. Box 34331
Seattle, WA 98124

Re: Lack of  Acme Fish Corporation’s smoked whitefish products at your Richmond, California, store

Dear Costco:

It’s me, your biggest fan.

I’m wondering why you pulled the rug out from under my supply of smoked whitefish. Clearly you don’t understand what kind of hardship this presents.

I’ve lost hope in terms of the smoked whitefish salad, which you had for some eighteen glorious months several years ago. Those two-pound tubs for $7.99 made me scoff at local bagel stores hawking the exact same stuff for upwards of $15 a pound. The laugh was on me, though, Costco, when I had to go crawling back to them.

Oh, sure, you sometimes have the whole smoked whitefish, but, like a parochial schoolgirl in a short plaid skirt, you’re a tease.

Costco, you know I love you. I always talk you up to my friends, even when you hurt me. I love you even though I understand you conduct random drug tests on your employees, which I believe to be a violation of Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights—but I’m willing to look past that and dip a toe into the waters of hypocrisy because you carry such excellent cheeses. Your inexpensive Prosciutto di Parma, #10 cans of Rokeach gefilte fish, environmentally-friendly cleaning products and Very Berry Sundae have me all wrapped up.

Why can’t you justify my love with a consistent supply of whole smoked whitefish, at least, if you can’t manage to carry the salad?

Some of us on this side of the bay don’t or can’t drive on freeways or bridges and cannot easily get to the San Francisco Costco. Our friends are tired of being asked to schlep these products to us.

Give an ex-New Yorker with a Jewish husband and German mother a break. Exes from South Florida, La La Land, Northern Europe and other appetizing-rich locations now living in the Oakland-to-Richmond corridor of the East Bay would appreciate it, too.

Costco, I believe you have spies  people in cyberspace keeping track of what is said about you and your products. I think they might even comment now and again to diffuse negative criticism. I can’t prove it, but the analytics for my website, as well as a few suspicious comments, point in that direction.

I know you didn’t like it when I said the dressings provided with some of your in-store prepared wraps are too viscous because you use gums. I don’t think you liked that at all.

I’m hoping the gentle criticism I offer now and then won’t have a negative effect on my smoked whitefish request.

To remind you, these products are marketed under the Blue Hill Bay label and come from Acme Smoked Fish Corporation in Brooklyn. I also provided a photo of a whole smoked whitefish at the top of this post for your convenience.

I won’t be sending this letter through the mail because you’ll be aware of it in very little time anyway.

With best wishes for a wonderful holiday,

The Akitachow household

PS:  I’m assuming you’ll be handing out free cookbooks and samples of your caramel apples and peppermint bark throughout December, but could you possibly have someone there cutting up a whole prosciutto on the afternoon of 9 December?