Sprout
Sous Chef
A new privately owned small grocer opened up just down the street from us. Their shelves are filled mostly with cool ethnic foods from around the world. Their produce section has a rotating selection of fruits and veggies that are outside of the norm here, as well as a few basics like tomatoes, cucumbers, bananas, etc. I love trying new things there and their freshly-made pitas are to die for, but I have been wary of their meat section. They have a in-house butcher who butchers whole animals, so they sell a lot of cuts (and parts) that you just don't see at the supermarkets around here. The problem is, their produce isn't always the freshest. I usually only buy it if I'll use it the same day and even so, there have definitely been a few times that I was surprised to see badly overripe items (on the verge of spoiling) still on the shelves. This makes me a bit nervous about trying their meat.
I bought some lamb ribs once when they first opened, before the produce had had time to over-ripen. They were wonderful. Yesterday I bought an in-store packaged container of pepperoni. I opened it today and it was rancid. It was pretty bad. The stuff on the outside looked fine, but I could smell it as soon as I opened it and the pieces in the middle were slimy (yes, I poked around, I'm like that.) I'm not sure what I should do. Should I call? Should I bring it back to show them? I don't really care about getting my money back, so initially I was just going to toss it and avoid their meat, but I really like this place. The problem is, the owner doesn't speak incredible English. I'm worried that he'll misunderstand and think I'm just trying to get my money back. Should I just call? Any opinions?
Also, should I just avoid their meats from now on? I have a nose, so of course I can tell when meat is fully spoiled, like this was, but I don't really know how to tell if it's just plain old, so I'm not sure if it's a good idea to buy meat there. It'll be a shame if I can't, because they're the only place I've found so far that sells things like lamb ribs and goat. I was also hoping to get some good soup bones. If it's not safe, it's definitely not worth it, but don't these guys have to satisfy the same health inspectors that everyone else does? Thanks in advance and sorry about the novel of a post!
I bought some lamb ribs once when they first opened, before the produce had had time to over-ripen. They were wonderful. Yesterday I bought an in-store packaged container of pepperoni. I opened it today and it was rancid. It was pretty bad. The stuff on the outside looked fine, but I could smell it as soon as I opened it and the pieces in the middle were slimy (yes, I poked around, I'm like that.) I'm not sure what I should do. Should I call? Should I bring it back to show them? I don't really care about getting my money back, so initially I was just going to toss it and avoid their meat, but I really like this place. The problem is, the owner doesn't speak incredible English. I'm worried that he'll misunderstand and think I'm just trying to get my money back. Should I just call? Any opinions?
Also, should I just avoid their meats from now on? I have a nose, so of course I can tell when meat is fully spoiled, like this was, but I don't really know how to tell if it's just plain old, so I'm not sure if it's a good idea to buy meat there. It'll be a shame if I can't, because they're the only place I've found so far that sells things like lamb ribs and goat. I was also hoping to get some good soup bones. If it's not safe, it's definitely not worth it, but don't these guys have to satisfy the same health inspectors that everyone else does? Thanks in advance and sorry about the novel of a post!