Good reads

SATURDAYS AT SID'S
It's not just a shop, it's an adventure.
© Lydia Walshin (Rhode Island Monthly, June 2003)

On a typical Saturday at Sid Wainer & Son, New Bedford's grocer di tutti grocers, my true love sampled his way through squid ink fettucine puttanesca, mini latkes, vegetable frittata, couscous salad, buffalo mozzarella with tomatoes and basil, giant strawberries, roasted peppers, vegetable soup, risotto, figs in puree and compote and syrup, five kinds of honey, four types of sausage, three balsamic vinegars, two plates of smoked fish, and one cheese aged in a well in Tuscany. If there'd been a partridge in a pear tree, he gladly would have tried that, too.

Monday through Friday, the Gourmet Outlet at 2301 Purchase Street (the only retail venue of the wholesale business everyone calls Sid's) is just a fabulous store offering the very best quality fruits and vegetables, condiments, cheeses, beans, spices, breads, chocolates, and pastas. This is the good stuff, the stuff chefs all over the country order, the stuff third-generation owner Henry Wainer personally travels the world to find, the stuff you can't get anywhere else.

Saturdays at Sid's are another experience entirely. The store becomes a gathering place for those in the know, a lifestyle choice for many who make the pilgrimage every week. "If you're interested in food," says chef Jim Maxwell, "this is the most exciting place to be on Saturday."

THE STORE OPENS at 9:00 on Saturday mornings; by 8:30, the kitchens are cranking. Prime time starts around 11:00, so for the next two hours the chefs work to create a mind-boggling array of sample dishes.

Resident chef Joyce Costa rules the smaller kitchen and supervises three Johnson & Wales students who are doing an internship at Sid's. Her crew makes a vat of vegetable or bean soup every day, plus pastas, risotto and more on Saturdays. Two of Joyce's recent inventions ­ scallion pancakes topped with potatoes and bleu cheese, and maple-cured, cornmeal-encrusted bacon glazed with fig puree ­ typify her easy style with over-the-top flavor.

In the large, open demo kitchen, three chefs are firing up their countertop cook stations. Each works full-time for Sid's in the marketing department. During the week, they contact chefs around the country, consulting on menu development, and promoting new products on site and at trade shows. On Saturdays, they come to cook in the store.

Chef John Verrier worked for 11 years at The Four Seasons in Boston and owned Café Lucia in Wareham. "People are going to a more rustic style of cooking now," he explains as he prepares an earthy dish of couscous with dried fruits. "Rustic is easy to make. You don't have to worry as much about presentation. It's all about the flavors. And the flavors of what we sell here are phenomenal."

Formerly executive chef at The Gatehouse in Providence and the Cheeky Monkey in Newport, Jim Maxwell cooked in kitchens for 20 years before joining Sid's wholesale operation four months ago. "It's really exciting to work here and be the first in the country to see some of these products. I'm often on the road during the week, but I love to do the demos here on Saturdays to familiarize myself with our products. People come here to get ideas for putting together gourmet-quality meals for their friends, and it's fantastic for us to be able to interact with the customers."

YOUNG, HIP, AND LEARNING TO COOK, Jennifer Neuguth and David Riordan, owners of OOP! Contemporary Craft Gallery on the East Side and Providence Place, make the hour-plus drive from their home in Foster to New Bedford every Saturday with two-year-old son Annan and sometimes Jennifer's mom, Laverne.

Jennifer comes armed with a notebook, cookbook, and questions, and she makes a beeline for the demo kitchen. "I never come here with a shopping list," she explains, "but I always leave with one. I buy whatever looks good, and if I don't know how to use it, I ask one of the chefs for ideas."

She greets the chefs by name, and reports on her cooking efforts of the previous week. "Hey, John, I made that mushroom thing and it tasted awful, but when I had it here it was yum. What did I do wrong?" The chef reviews the recipe with her.

Next she finds Jim Maxwell. "I bought the quince paste last week. What can I do with it?" she wants to know. He gives her one of the mini-latkes he's made, topped with crème fraiche and the paste. She pulls out her notebook. "Okay, what's the recipe for this?"

"The first time I came here, which was just last year, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven," Jennifer explains. "I'm not a great cook, and a lot of the things here I've never seen before. But everyone here is amazing; they're friendly, they answer my questions and give me great ideas for new things to try. Everyone here has a real passion for food."

NOBODY IS MORE PASSIONATE than Henry Wainer, whose grandfather started the wholesale grocery business in 1914. "I travel around the world sourcing great foods. I can tell you about the farmer who produced each vegetable, each piece of cheese. I would never buy anything if I couldn't taste it," Henry explains. And how did Saturdays at Sid's get started? "My mom always made sure we had plenty to eat, and we want our children to feel the same way. It's in that spirit that the Gourmet Outlet really happened. One day we put a register in the warehouse, so our friends and the local community could come and shop. And now Saturdays have really become a bit of a party."

Henry's latest passion isn't, as you might expect, a new food discovery. He's bought a farm in nearby Dartmouth. And his whole face lights up when he talks about it.

"My wife Marian found it, and we've named it Jansal Valley Farm, after our signature product line. We really want to be a local producer, and we'll use the farm as a prototype to test different crops. It will be a place where chefs from around the world can come to learn about farming, and to connect where the food comes from."

Henry ran an ad for a farmer to run the place, and 22 people responded. So the idea got bigger; after visiting many of these local farmers, he put 1,200 acres under contract to produce for Sid Wainer & Son. "That's a bevy of farmland!" Henry says with pride. "We're saving family farms."

Born and raised in New Bedford, Henry claims he never thought about working anywhere else. "I wake up every morning and do what I dream."

WHEN SHE WAS 16, Lori Cormier started working at Sid's as a cashier in what was then more like a supermarket. Today she manages the retail store as well as the gift basket division. She's there every Saturday, greeting customers, pointing out what's new (organic produce, luscious frozen ravioli), making sure people can find what they need. If you don't see it, ask Lori. Whether it's asparagus in October, or edible flowers, or fresh porcini mushrooms or Anasazi beans, chances are good that Sid's has it.

Be warned: all of this abundance doesn't come cheap. While there are a few bargains and occasional items on sale, Sid's is all about quality, at whatever price.

As it gets closer to noon, Jim Maxwell whips up a vegetable frittata with farmhouse cheddar. Tiffany Ogburn, another marketing rep and Saturday chef, sautés smoked scallops with anise honey. John Verrier heads into the store for inspiration and ingredients; a customer stops him and asks for advice. In the demo kitchen, Jennifer Neuguth exchanges recipe ideas with other Sid's devotees. Her son wields a sippy cup in one hand and a marinated artichoke heart in the other.

It's a typical Saturday at Sid Wainer & Son. Everyone's eating, everyone's having a blast. No one goes home empty-handed. ^ top