Farm Boy is a local Ottawa grocery store, and it is this week’s recipient of the Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence.
Farm Boy “makes me want to be a better person.” They have a large produce department that is fresher, has more variety, and is usually cheaper than the big chains. Their meat department is bursting with goodness, including Alberta beef, excellent sausages, and whole rabbits (much to Shannen’s chagrin). They have a cheese and deli section that I could spend hours in, requesting free sample after free sample. A newly added “take home meals” section near the entrance has a dozen mouthwatering temptations available every day in an attempt to halt your trip right there and not bother choosing ingredients for your own creation. And their bakery has choices like “Belgian Farmer Loaf” and “Walnut Rye Bread”.
High praise, right? Well, there are two items at Farm Boy that, if they sold only these two, I would still visit once a week.
- Bulk-packed sour jubes. A bargain at $5.50 per kg, and worth three times that. Each of the five colors is a different flavour explosion. My favourite is red, but I would never pick through the bag and eat all the red ones before anyone else could get to them. 😐
- Farm Boy brand pitas. We are pita connoisseurs, enjoying them often as after work snacks with some nice hummus. Farm Boy’s pitas are always soft-tear fresh, taste great, and come in a zip-loc bag to keep them happy longer!
We are ecstatic that our new house will be 2.4 kms away from the nearest Farm Boy, down from 11.1 kms.
If you’re in Ottawa and haven’t checked it out – this is your chance!
Shan - I eat so many of those ju-jubes (though, as you may now be aware, very few of the red variety)that I sometimes feel like my head will suddenly explode into a giant ju-jube, much like the kids in the Saturday morning candy commercials. Or was that giant glasses of Kool-Aid? No matter, you get the picture.
And Dan forgot to mention that the hummus we are eating/enjoying is also from Farm Boy. We can rarely buy it anywhere else because we find that all the others taste a little like body odour would, that is, if you could taste body odour. My favourite is the Herb Hummus and Dan usually reaches for the Extra Spicy. Mmmmm.
Kris - You both make Farm Boy sound so delightful that I think I’ll buy my tomatoes there from now on. I will give them the “Tomato Test” – which is the ultimate produce-seller test, in my opinion. If they have no taste, it’s out. If they’re sweet and delish, it’s in.
Mmmm..hummus…
Jen - Sour jubes from FB is high on the list of things that I miss about Ottawa. I think of them often.
Jen