My Obsession with Wegmans, Part 2

So where were we?

Ah, burgers (in my best inner Homer Simpson voice). I almost feel as if I haven’t done the burger bar at Wegman’s justice, but mostly because thinking of that burger makes me almost drool on my keyboard. They actually closed the Burger Bar for a year, and I believe that enough protests brought it back. This year, they’re doing monthly promotions of different sandwiches. In June, they featured a shrimp po’ boy, and I will admit, I had one. I can only close my eyes in remembered bliss. This month, they’re featuring a fried chicken sandwich, and while I very seldom order chicken sandwiches out of anywhere but fast food or Ruby Tuesday’s (the buffalo chicken sandwich), I may give Wegmans the chance to impress me.

But as I was saying yesterday, Wegman’s has cornered the market on the on-the-go person. Say that you want to replicate that home-cooked meal without actually preparing all the ingredients, Wegman’s has you covered. Whereas ordinary grocery stores, hereby probably just referred to as “the others,” have maybe one or two cases a couple yards (or meters for those of you on the metric system) long, Wegman’s has cases the equivalent of a quarter-mile track. You encounter fresh foods that you can mix and match protein and 2 sides for a meal and go home and warm it. You have four different flavors of jumbo shrimp in a case. There are a variety of fish: cleaned, some fileted, and some stuffed with a seafood mixture, again that you can go home and prepare. Then there’s the beef case, where thick succulent steaks are on display. On Valentine’s Day, I’ve even seen ribeyes butterflied and arrange as heart. Again, there are also cuts that are stuffed.

On the opposite side from the cases are the free standing refrigerated items that are prepackaged. This includes the family-style sides that you can pop in the oven and serve. And there is every type of fair from typical American fare that you would see on a Thanksgiving holiday such as mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, seasoned green beans, along with entrée meat choices of chicken turkey. There is also a family style Asian selection of orange chicken and other good things. I’m feel I’m failing in my description or even boring you with myriad lists of foods. You really have to go see for yourself. Admittedly, it might overwhelm your senses. "The Tyranny of Choice" is real folks.

What to talk about next? I could extol the bakery, with its cookies and cakes and pies and donuts, which would do the same thing to this blog that I did in real life and keep me just on one section of the store.

Or I could mention that the store has an artisan cheese section, a freaking Mediterranean olive bar (who likes olives that much?0, a gargantuan organic section, a station where they openly chop and prep vegetables for sides, grilling and stir fry cooking, even peppering in tasting demonstrations (which actually occur in other sections of the store).

Or I could talk about the fact that you can not only get cookware and utensils, but decorate your entire kitchen and dining room in seasonal décor while you’re there, complete with place settings (trust me, every summer, I’ve purchased a new set of placemats from there). I’ve actually also purchased several little novelty items as gifts from there as well, such as this nifty notepad or 3 mini zebra flasks.

I could probably go into more detail and create at least two more posts, but I’m going to stop here. Yes, I do have an obsession with this store. I have yet to venture to the Alexandria location (where they sell booze), but I think it’s on my own personal Zip Trip (me and the hubby with local weatherman Tucker Barnes at National Harbor)..

All I can say is imagine a cross between the others, a big box store, Bed Bath and Beyond, an Amish market and a mall food court and you may be able to grasp just the tip of the iceberg. Seriously, if there’s not one near you, vacation to a location near one.