Vinegar Factory

03/03/09

Um...There's a Recession, People...

by hungrycouple at Citysearch

The look of this warehouse-like facility is slightly weird and slightly cool. Even those who know what's behind the industrial 'meat locker' style doors might pause for a second to be sure. Another pause as you enter to wonder why it's so empty. A check of your watch to see if they're about to close. Hmm. While we can't argue with the quality of the gourmet goodies or the selection of fresh produce or the tastiness of the various tid-bits - oh, those prices! We'll confess a weakness for Eli's hard-to-find-elsewhere almond macaroons so severe that they don't always make it all the way home with us. But otherwise, everything here can be had at Agata & Valentina or Citarella for far less money. Come to think of it - maybe that's why it's so empty.

12/16/07

Good food, obscene prices

by nlm522 at Citysearch

I really want to like Vinegar Factory because it has the potential to be so incredible. The food is top quality and the warehouse location is very cool. Plus the greenhouse on top of the building is awesome.

Unfortunately, I cannot like Vinegar Factory because it is so shockingly expensive. Obviously everything in Manhattan comes at a premium but the prices at Vinegar Factory are simply obscene. I don?t care if it?s the best wild salmon in the world, $50 a pound is ridiculous. Italian parmesan for $29 a pound? Mixed nuts for $20 a pound? Milk for $12 a gallon? Are these year 2050 dollars or 2007?

Plus Eli (the founder/owner) is kind of an unsavory fellow, to put it politely. He tried to stop the Greenmarket Farmers Market from opening up on 82nd street and first because he thought it would compete with his other overpriced store Eli?s on 82nd and third.

Do your self a favor and go to Agata on 79th and first instead. The food is identical quality (and often brands) while substantially cheaper. It seems like that?s what everyone else in the neighborhood has figured out. Agata is always packed and Vinegar Factory and Eli?s is always empty. I really don't even know how Eli's stays in business.

Eli Zabar extends his empire--to the immense delight of Upper East Siders.

by Contributor at Citysearch

The Scene
It's 7pm. The friends you invited over for hors d'oeuvres are arriving at 8pm. You've got a flawless hosting rep to uphold, but while you're hearing the siren call of Fairway's cheese cave and Citarella's smoked fish counter, you've neither the time nor the wherewithal to schlep over and battle the hordes. What's an East Side Martha Stewart to do?

The Goods
God bless Eli Zabar, the grocery mogul whose lifelong mission is making all corners of Manhattan safe for upscale food nuts. His Upper East Side outpost is stocked with a vast and tummy-rumbling array of intelligently curated cheeses, breads, spreads, coffees, sausages, prepared foods and other edible treasures, many seldom seen outside of specialty stores. You can even try before you buy, as the store supplies weekend brunch for the upstairs cafe and the restaurant across the street.