February 17, 2009
The Fairsley Difference
Posted by pete at February 17, 2009 12:45 AM
Dear Greater Heights Neighborhood,
Please build a real fucking grocery store.
Signed,
The Guy Who Just Stood in Line 20 Minutes to Buy Dairy-Free Ice Cream At The Crappy 11th Street Kroger Because He Can't Find It At the Shitty HEB on 18th or the Creepy Ass Fiesta on Studewood
We're moving back into our house in two weeks after living in an apartment off T.C Jester for almost six months (thanks, Ike!), which means we'll once again be next to the halfway decent Kroger on 43rd. But seriously, where do you people in 77007/77008 get your food?
Say what you will about the suburbs, but at least we have the good dairy free ice cream at every store. (You know, by the time the twins are out of diapers, my kids will be babysitting. Just saying.)
We either go to your Kroger on 43rd, the one on 11th, or we drive into the Randall’s at Shepherd and Westheimer. There’s a Kroger’s closer to us (Westview at Wirt), but its meat department never smells clean. It either has a long-dead-meat-rot smell, or inordinate-amounts-of-bleach smell. Regardless we only go there for veggies and things in boxes.
If you think the Kroger’s on 11th is bad, you should try the one at 20th and Taft. Its craptastic.
I’m in 77007. I get up to go to Central Market right at 8 a.m. on Sundays when it opens. The Randalls on Westheimer just off Shepard is my bulk-item store. I’m back at the house by 9 at the latest, even with the 2 stops (and, as there is a Kolache Factory in the same complex as the Randalls, often 3 stops).
Turn to the Inner-Loop-Snobbery side of the Force, Pete: Whole Foods on Kirby.
You know, I confused your lamentation about the 11th St Flagship Kroger with the Garbage Scow Kroger on 20th.
If you think 11th St is bad…
The 20th St reeks of nursing homes, solvent, and Rascal scooter oil, with a delicate hint of hobo-in-the-sun.
Avoid.
We go to Central Market, Whole Foods, Costco, and Central City Co-Op for fruits and veggies. Tiffany hates the 11th Street Kroger and only goes there in dire emergencies.
We’ll go to the Kroger on West Gray if we *have* to (although the whole store just baffles us and is always full of hostile rich people) but for real, planned shopping, we go out to the HEB on Bunker Hill. It’s worth it.
The Woman loves both the Fiesta on Shepherd and the Hasn’t-Changed-Since-1977-But-Is-Chock-Full-O’-Wondrous-Meats Foodarama on TC Jester. And there’s the fancy Kroger at 11th and Shepherd, too.
Yeah, stay away from that Fiesta on Studewood. It gives off bad (of the “Indian Burial Ground” variety) vibes.