In my neighborhood, there are a lot of kosher supermarkets but they all basically carry the same things. How do I choose which one to go to on any particular day? Well, one is huge and has free parking but terrible lines at check-out, one has the most gourmet food but the worst parking lot on the planet and one is easy to navigate but much smaller than the others. So when I had the opportunity to take a personalized tour of the new Fairway Market in Westbury, New York, I jumped at the opportunity to try something new. I really have to thank Shelley from The Kosher Home for setting up the tour! She was shopping in the new Fairway, which recently opened, when an employee at the store came up to her to talk all about the large kosher section. Being the gutsy and outspoken person that she is, Shelley asked the woman if she could set up a personal tour with her blogger friends and the Fairway employee accepted! Hooray for Shelley and hooray for me! On a Sunday evening, we met up with Hannah Howard, one of the authors of On Our Plate, The Fairway Market Blog, and Yitzchok Kaplan, a kosher representative for Fairway. The two of them gave us an incredibly detailed tour of the new Fairway in Westbury and I pretty much drooled through the entire store! I couldn’t believe how much kosher food was there that I’ve never even seen at my local kosher grocery stores! After the tour, Shelley and I got grocery carts and went back through the entire store to buy as much as we could fit in our cars for the drive home! So check out my pictures and get your tush over to Fairway Westbury as soon as humanly possible.
We began the tour in the produce aisles. Not only was I impressed with the size of the aisles, the quality of the fruits and vegetables and the incredibly low prices, but I also loved hearing that Fairway supports sustainable farmers and small business owners by stocking their shelves and bins with produce direct from the farm to the store. It’s like being at an indoor farmer’s market!
Check out the monstrous bin of brussels sprouts! So fresh and crisp. I bought a huge bag of these to bring home and they were as delicious as I thought they would be. Just roast at 350 degrees for 30 minutes with some olive oil (I will be gushing about the olive oil later in this post) and sea salt…perfection!
And the fruit! Oh, that perfect fruit! Are you drooling yet??? And if you’re a sucker for cut up fruit (like I am), Fairway has a shelf full of packaged sliced fruit and almost all of it is kosher. Just make sure to look for the kosher symbol!
We walked through the non-kosher cheese section and I think I shed a tear while dreaming about eating all of that incredible cheese. If you don’t keep kosher, this section is impressive! I took a picture just so I can stare at it all day long…
Oh man…the coffee grinder! Check out this massive coffee roaster and grinder! Basically, there is a man that stands next to this machine made specifically for Fairway and you just pick out your flavor and he roasts and grinds it for you!
And all of those wonderful flavors! All kosher. I want to buy them all.
Right after the coffee came the bakery! Yes, the entire bakery is kosher! I was in heaven walking through boxes of pies, cookies, cupcakes, artisan breads and so much more.
And then to the cookies, cannolis, eclairs, cakes and tarts! Oh my! How could I choose just one item? I went with an eclair and a cannoli on this trip. Both were delicious. I think I will be getting a cannoli every time I come to Fairway.
Remember when I mentioned the olive oil above? Well, now it’s time for over 100 varieties of olive oils! Would you believe we weren’t even half way through the store at this point?!? All of the extra virgin olive oil is kosher. And you can try them all. I did! Every last one of them. I went with an extra virgin olive oil from Italy on this occasion but I plan to buy each flavor eventually.
The Greek Koroneiki was also yummy! Did you know that you can actually taste melted butter and ripe stone fruit in the olive oil? I love that!
Now for one of the most important sections for anyone who keeps kosher…Kosher Corner! First of all, that beautiful sign was actually hand-painted for Fairway and it is even more beautiful in person. You can get everything you need right here! Meat, chicken, veal, turkey, deli, cheese, snacks, frozen items, challah, and more! And the prices are so low.
There’s also a stocked fish market with beautiful fresh fish. Hello whole black sea bass!
So far, we’ve only covered the outside walls of the store. We haven’t even gotten to the inner aisles! Can you believe it?!? Since I can’t cover everything, I’ll just mention quickly that Fairway Westbury has every yogurt you can think of, an entire wall of vegan products and a nut grinder where you can make your own nut butter. Yum! Okay, so now to the kosher aisle, which carries a huge selection of kosher items! So many unique sauces, snacks and more…
I think one of the most excited things for me about Fairway Westbury was the pasta! I didn’t even know there were so many kosher pasta’s out there! I bought a few different options and I can’t wait to go back for more. My kids went crazy for the La Molisana Fusilli!
After the tour with Hannah and Yitzchok, Shelley and I went shopping and now my fridge and pantry are stocked. I can’t wait to go back soon to get even more! A special shout out to my favorite Fairway Westbury fish guy! I got myself two beautiful branzino so look out for a new recipe coming soon.
So get yourself on over to the new Fairway Westbury and enjoy your shopping trip! You’ll probably see me there.Â
