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| - Exhale and heavy sigh. No questions this is the mac daddy of spice stores. Not that there are many spice stores on the planet. I really had high hopes for my first visit here and left a little flat.
I needed red Hawaiian sea salt for a recipe. Made a special trip to Penzeys because, well, they're a spice store and I needed a unique spice. Didn't have it. The trip across town was salvaged as the Whole Foods in the same parking lot had it.
On the positive side, they have a nice selection of spices, all in "sniffing jars". Which is ok but most are difficult to smell, they need to have a way to taste the spices as well, they add flavor to the food, not just smell. Rumor has it most cooks taste their food before they serve it, not just smell it. If just smelling was required I'd be cooking for Bobby Flay and not the Princess. They had some grey Australian salt. Salt is so important in cooking, let me taste this and there's a great chance I'll buy some. Smelling it? I might as well smell my computer screen and then order from Amazon.
The staff was perfunctory. A word I use when I'd really like to be a little more snarky but it doesn't become me. It was cloudy out and slightly raining, maybe they had a bad case of the Mondays (Office Space reference, ding ding ding).
I did buy some Star Anise, not sure why. It's been listed in some recipes but I've lived without it this long. Probably be just another bottle of spice among the hundreds (it seems) I own.
Buying spices? They can be expensive. My advice, go to Sprouts or Winco and buy them in bulk. Its way cheaper and you only have to buy what you need.
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