This blog is a bit different as it highlights my trip to Youngstown over the weekend and three different spots...Haus and Whitehouse Market, Jimmie's Italian Store, and the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Festival in Youngstown.
Haus and Whitehouse Market are both in southern Mahoning County and promote farm fresh ingredients. Whitehouse is much bigger, but Haus is kmuch cheaper. We stopped at Haus Market first and I purchases a large zucchini for 50 cents, 3 homegrown garlic heads for 89 cents, 3 bags of popcorn kernals for only $2.25 per bag, apple cider quart and a glass of apple cider slushie. If I did not have my Fresh Fork items I would have also purchased the 6 hot peppers for $2. The prices were amazing and the items had literally just come off the farm. At Whitehouse it is a bit more commercial and you can purchase pies, doughnuts, chese, milk, and honey in addition to the produce. Whitehouse is a favorite in the fall when they have dozens of different varieties of apples and ciders available. The prices at Whitehouse are slightly higher, but still cheaper then anything in Cleveland.
My first stop every time I go to Youngstown is Jimmie's Italian Store. There is nothing in Cleveland that matches the quality or prices at Jimmie's. The bread is amazing and the tarelli with hot pepper or black pepper is a tasty crunchy treat. On my trips to the store I always purchase the hot peppers in oil that are made in house. I could literally eat only bread, hot peppers, and cheese for days. I also purchased a fabulous spinach roll for under $4 and the olive mix to bring to my family. It was stuffed with spinach and cheese inside of a delicious breading. They always run specials on peccorino romano cheese (only $4.99 for a pound) and Olive oil ($14.99 for a large bottle). I could buy everything from the bakery to the deli to the cheese and antipasto cases every time I go down. The meat is fresh and well cured. The cheeses are delicious. The bakery cannot even be described in this blog. They have everything from amazing Italian desserts to cookies to bread and cakes. Every trip to Youngstown should include a stop at this amazing store. Before you leave, you can even purchase a hot meal to eat.
My last food stop while in Y-town was the Our Lady Of Mount Carmel Festival. This is the church my father grew up in and my family belonged to my entire life (Along with St. Anthony). We arrived at the festival and my entire purpose in going to this festival was to eat. So we immediately went to the church hall to choose food from Fusillo Catering, the official caterer of the church. I started with a meatball sandwich ($4) and my friends had polenta with sausage sauce($3). Nothing purchases from the church was over $5 except for the Frazone(which could feed 2) which was $7. The meatballs tasted amazing and the polenta tasted just like my mom;s on New Year's Eve. We then decided to walk around the festival grounds and the disappointment began. I know that my own advice at festivals is to always stick with the church food...I did not heed my own advice and wasted money on sub par food. Some other friends had told me to try food from the Roberto's truck. They have done the festival route for years and just opened a restaurant in the growing downtown Youngstown. My comments on their food...NEVER AGAIN. I purchased a pepperoni roll. The mistakes began from the beginning...to heat it up they placed it in a microwave. Things were even worse when I received the soggy bread wrapped around a tiny amount of pepperoni. To add insult to injury the sauce was sour. I actually tried to pull the bread off and just eat the pepperoni...it was low quality and I ended up throwing away the roll. My friend purchased a sweet red pepper sandwich, it looked delicious. However, his comment was that is was bland and the bread overwhelmed the filling. Many of the other stands at the festival were not even Italian. So while the church food was AMAZING as always from Fusillo Catering, the food outside was not up to Italian food standard in Youngstown.
Trips to Youngstown always include amazing food and next time I might get my friends to take me to someplace new. Happy eating...this week will feature another great meal from Little Italy.
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