I needed to pick up some spices and stopped by Penzeys Spices in downtown Menlo Park the other day. It’s their only location in all of Northern California and luckily, not too far away from me.
Penzeys is to cooks, what a candy store is to kids. It’s a visual and olfactory treat to step through the door. You can open sample jars and get a good whiff of each spice. Everything smells incredible and oh so fresh. And the variety of some spices is just astounding.
Who knew there was so many different kinds of cinnamon? I thought there was just the one kind (the one in the supermarket labeled brown cinnamon) but no, they have four different ones there. I got the Vietnamese Cinnamon-Extra Fancy, it smelled so strongly of cinnamon, it made me want to run home and bake something. And you know, I’m no baker.
I also got a free jar of Bangkok Blend (sweet peppers, garlic, ginger, black pepper, galangal, hot peppers, lemon grass, basil and cilantro) from the peel-off free gift coupon on their catalog cover. It was my choice of 1 of 3 turkey seasonings, the other two were Poultry Seasoning or Bicentennial Rub. No turkey here, so I’m thinking of trying it out on an unsuspecting block of tofu.
Whoa – I can’t believe you just went to Penzeys and are now torturing me with this post. I was just telling my husband how much I missed Penzys since we left Wisconsin for Seattle. Have you tried their chipotle powder? Great store! And right next door was Vom Fass. Madison. Sigh.
We have a place like this near us called The Spice Merchant. You hit the nail on the head–it is just like a candy store for cooks. They have like 7 curry powders, multitudes of salts, peppers, chili powders, blends…I almost feel a little guilty using some of these, like I didn’t do the “real” work ;)
How much fun to have a spice store to go to. I’m jealous! I only knew of two types of cinnamon, one sweet the other not so sweet. lol!
What perfect timing, I was just planning a trip down to my local Penzey’s this afternoon, too! Can’t wait to stock up on their “exotic” spices and seasonings… they definitely have the best variety of hard-to-find’s!