THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 27, 1994 TAG: 9410260057
SECTION: FLAVOR PAGE: F3 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: MORSELS
SOURCE: RUTH FANTASIA
LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
FARMER JACK isn't out standing in his fields. He's at the corner of Newtown and Baker roads in Virginia Beach, and it looks as if he brought the fields with him.
One of the first things you'll notice when walking into the new Farmer Jack grocery store is the ``jingle'' from an overhead speaker:
You'll come back to Farmer Jack,
E-I-E-I-O
The second thing likely will be the enormous produce department.
A center island right up front looks like a farmer's market. It's piled high with pumpkins, acorn and butternut squash, bananas and garlic braids. There are papaya and quince in the refrigerated case, along with cherimoya, horn melons and passion fruit.
Keep going and you'll find organic vegetables, 16 types of bagged salad greens (not including the coleslaws), jicama, lemongrass, daikon radishes and gobo root. There are arugula, watercress, black beans and yucca. And don't forget the chilies, six dried varieties and five fresh.
Like most supermarkets, Farmer Jack's produce department leads into the deli case. It's the normal display of bacons and cold cuts. There's little exceptional about the cut-to-order deli, except the large number of side dishes you can pick up by the pound.
A special refrigerated case near the deli holds an impressive selection of heat-and-eat foods. There are burritos, mini quiches, Chinese entrees, casseroles and subs. The cheese shop, also nearby, is relatively mundane. No mascarpone or goat cheeses but lots of flavored cream cheese, fresh Parmesan, Cheddar and havarti.
The meat and seafood departments stock much of what you'll find in other area stores. There's a bigger selection of specialty meats, such as chitterlings, pigs' ears, chicken gizzards and hearts and ham hocks. Check a small space beside the Tyson Roasted chicken offerings in the refrigerated island for marked-down meats. You may be able to pick up something at a good price, if you can cook it right away.
The shelves in the interior of the store are stocked much the same as the local competition, with one notable exception: Ethnic foods get half an aisle. There's an enormous selection of Chinese oils, including chili and sesame and oyster sauce. They go well with all that produce at the front of the store.
The wines, stocked in the back of the store between the meats and the bakery, are generally middle-of-the-road selections. The highest priced bottle we found was a $15.69 Robert Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon. There are a few Virginia vintages and a host of gallon jugs.
Also in the wine department, we found one of those speakers. But this time the Farmer Jack jingle was easy-listening.
E-I-E-I-O.
The bakery features eight soft-crusted breads and 18 hard-crusted loaves. There are baklava, cakes, cream horns, parfait cups, bagels and tarts.
There's also a whole aisle for beer, from microbrews to imports to domestics.
The dairy case doesn't feature anything special - except another speaker above the ice cream. This one played a soul rendition of the Farmer Jack jingle.
E-I-E-I-O.
Farmer Jack was so crowded last week, we couldn't get to the floral department. And the lines were so long that at least one shopper got in line first, then ran around the store bringing stuff back to her basket.
Farmer Jack is celebrating its grand opening, which is reflected in many of the current prices. So we didn't comparison-shop. That wouldn't have been fair to Jack, or the competition.
And the last thing we heard as we left the store:
You'll come back to Farmer Jack,
E-I-E-I-O. by CNB