Submitted by tasterspoon (not verified) on September 14, 2007 - 12:18pm.
This is a great idea for a list - Trader Joes is so hit and miss - their good things are great, and their bad things are terrible - no way to know without trial and error. I hope you do an "avoid" list as well. They have a frozen salmon with spinach in the middle that turned out awful - which is not to say the chef didn't have something to do with that.
I'm partial to their dark-chocolate covered pretzels.
Their Raw Almond Butter is also really great as a sauce-enriching ingredient in curries and that kind of thing.
Love the Coconut Sorbet (I think it's Sharon's).
I regularly enjoy their frozen Key Lime Pie for breakfast with a spritz of whipped cream. (Though TJ's version of KLP got a thumbs-down in a Cooks Illustrated taste test for, I think, being too tangy, I like the tang.)
Eggplant caponata (in a jar on the shelf) makes great appetizers on crackers or topping over their frozen gnocchi.
Lastly, I've had exceptional experiences with their Bool Kogi (Korean marinated beef)...but also bad experiences where it was all fatty and gristly. You roll the dice, but when it's great it's awesome.
Chocolate covered pretzels, Key Lime Pie, Coconut Sorbet...
This is a great idea for a list - Trader Joes is so hit and miss - their good things are great, and their bad things are terrible - no way to know without trial and error. I hope you do an "avoid" list as well. They have a frozen salmon with spinach in the middle that turned out awful - which is not to say the chef didn't have something to do with that.
I'm partial to their dark-chocolate covered pretzels.
Their Raw Almond Butter is also really great as a sauce-enriching ingredient in curries and that kind of thing.
Love the Coconut Sorbet (I think it's Sharon's).
I regularly enjoy their frozen Key Lime Pie for breakfast with a spritz of whipped cream. (Though TJ's version of KLP got a thumbs-down in a Cooks Illustrated taste test for, I think, being too tangy, I like the tang.)
Eggplant caponata (in a jar on the shelf) makes great appetizers on crackers or topping over their frozen gnocchi.
Lastly, I've had exceptional experiences with their Bool Kogi (Korean marinated beef)...but also bad experiences where it was all fatty and gristly. You roll the dice, but when it's great it's awesome.