Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

@ Cass: The items you listed are all refrigerated. Some people appreciate having them all together - and I know this first-hand from working at a Trader Joe's. The meat should be bagged in plastic before going in to prevent leaks, but I can't stand it when I have to dig through every bag to find what goes into my fridge when I get home. When I shop, I prefer self-checkout or lines w/out baggers as I can pack food more quickly, efficiently (space-wise) and correctly than the people working there.

To prepare myself: salmon marinated in teriyaki or soy/ginger sauce and pan-seared or grilled.

To eat: 1) salt-and-pepper lobster from the local Chinese place where I grew up, 2) sushi 3) the miso black cod I had at Gotham

To everyone who has seen a favorite item go missing from the shelves: it is worth calling the customer service number (1800SHOPTJS, I think) and asking them to bring it back. I worked for them from '02 to '05 and saw a (small) handful of items make a comeback after enough customers voiced their displeasure. TJ's will not hesitate to drop a product if sales are slow or their wholesale prices go up too much, but they do listen to customer feedback.

My favs: honey-sesame cashews, peanut butter-filled pretzels, frozen pizzas, bagged spinach and spinach salad, greek yogurt, Joe's O's (sold out at Union Sq. more often than not :-P ), pad thai meal kit, frozen southwestern quesadillas, etc. etc.

Hey Mod! Any way to merge these threads?

bareneed: There is a recently posted video of a fan-made TJs "commercial" on this site. It sums up the store better than I can, but here is a brief overview. TJs sells mostly private-label products, which are often identical to brand name ones, just with different packaging. They sell them at much lower prices than the branded counterparts, but even when they do carry items you can find elsewhere, they are often significantly cheaper. Their basic "philosophy" is to cut out middle-men as much as they can, and buy directly from manufacturers. Other ways they keep prices low are by having a more limited selection (and smaller stores) than most suburban supermarkets, limiting advertising to radio ads they record themselves, getting rid of products that don't sell well, buying from suppliers in large quantities, etc. etc. While they do sell a lot of organic and healthy food, there is also a ton of snack food and other items that are upscale but definitely off-limits to anyone on a diet (witness the bacon spinach salad containing 50 grams of fat). The stores are done up in a mock-maritime decor, with wood paneling, a ship's bell for signaling the crew, Hawaiian shirts for full-time employees, etc. As you can probably tell, people are fanatical about the place. Aside from the food and prices, there is a fun atmosphere to the stores; I worked there for three years, and constantly had people telling me that it was their favorite place to shop (for anything). The company also treats its employees better than just about anyone else does; IMHO, the only reason it never appears on Fortunes Best Companies to Work For is that it is privately held.

Be prepared for a LONG wait at the Corner Bistro if you go on a Friday or Saturday evening. On the upside, the line is alongside the bar, so you can at least get a drink or two while you wait.

Right on dmarina. Everyone knows the most important thing about food is the package it comes in and decor of the place you buy it.

Lasagna. Or roasted butternut squash soup. When I was a kid, sloppy joes.