Friday, November 14, 2008

Need to supply a restaurant?


So, we're a big fan of the show Good Eats on the food network channel and Mr. Alton Brown constantly recommends restaurant supply stores. So we checked out two stores. One is Cash and Carry and the other is A-1 Restaurant Supply (orginal,huh?) and have been pretty impressed. Cash and Carry has been kind of like a mini-Costco except no membership fees! I especially like the equipment section. We got our restaurant style booster seat there...you know, the kind that you can flip over for two different heights.
There's big spatulas, ketchup squirters, giant pots, cafeteria trays, and much, much more! And that's just the non-food stuff. They also have big bags of whatever it is you want to eat. So don't go shopping when you're hungry. You might end up with a 25lb bag of cheese ravioli or a 10lb bag of tootsie rolls (actually, the bags aren't THAT big).

A-1 should be renamed Chinese Restaurant Supply Store. It had quite a few Asian-style dishes and decorations. It's a smaller store than Cash and Carry but still had some good deals. Also, A-1 doesn't sell food, only equipment. Anyway, I highly recommend looking for a restaurant supply store in your area. There's lots of culinary goodies to be found!

3 comments:

Ben said...

In fairness to A1, they did have their name printed in Chinese characters right next to the English one.

Crystal said...

We frequent the local Asian mom and pop shops for ingredients. A-1 may save us some money. I like cash and carry for their food...I never really thought to go there for supplies though!
Thanks for the tip.

Helena said...

Oh, I miss Alton since we canceled cable, and I miss Cash and Carry since that summer I lived w/ my sister and there was one across the street. I especially loved those drink syrups that they have a whole aisle of: amoretto, hazelnut, raspberry...