Granted, carryout foods from Whole Foods Market can’t compete with grab-and-go restaurants that offer drive-through lanes, special meal deals and toy gizmos to keep kids happy. But increasingly, supermarkets are cooking some of the best “fast food” around. Plus, they offer perks no restaurant can match: dish soap, dog chow and dinner, all in one stop.
Whole Foods, embracer of a healthful foods philosophy, has nailed the prepared food challenge pretty well. We sampled the fare at the River Forest store, though there are three other Whole Foods–two in Chicago and one in Evanston. There are similarities between stores, but each location prepares its own food selections.
Hungry shoppers have several avenues open to them. Typically 20 to 30 prepared dishes, attractively arranged in the deli case and sold by the pound, are fresh and inviting. In addition, hot foods are sold during peak lunch and dinner hours. The limited-hours strategy works well, ensuring that the dishes don’t sit around too long. Some of these also show up in prepacked containers, ready for simple reheating. There also are made-to-order sandwiches and a salad bar. Simple pate, cheese and bread meals are another option, and if that’s your route, there aren’t many better places to find exquisite imported cheeses and indulgent pates.
Abiding seasonal dictates, we sampled a dozen salads ($5 to $8 per pound) and found them nicely prepared. Presented with such a wide range of choices, we asked for help and recommendations. Each time we were rewarded with friendly, helpful descriptions and advice.
Sonoma chicken salad, a signature dish, is a big seller and understandably so. Moist chunks of white chicken are tossed with crisp celery, big red grapes and pecans. Poppy seed-studded mayonnaise lightly glosses it. Thai rice salad wowed us with beautifully cooked black japonica rice, mixed with diced vegetables and subtly flavored with sesame and soy sauce. Orzo pasta salad with spinach and feta cheese offers a nice balance of Greek flavors although the spinach is almost in absentia. Lentil and brown rice salad is healthful and appealing, with an exotic blend of spice lurking in the background.
Pasta salads such as penne primavera and pesto chicken with fusilli have a nice mix of ingredients but suffer, as most pasta salads do, from sitting around. At home, a little salt and pepper and a splash of vinegar revive them fairly well. Thai cucumber salad practically glows in the dark with a chartreuse tint. It’s spicy and interesting, although the advertised cilantro had been replaced with flat leaf parsley when we sampled it.
The sandwich combinations are tempting, but they’re best avoided, at least if our experiences were apt. They are poorly constructed, with good quality ingredients added willy-nilly and sauces scantily added in a circle in the middle of the bread. Hot sandwiches are served ice cold, and when we asked that they be heated, they were returned with warm bread and the filling still cold.
Hot foods usually include roast chicken ($4 per pound) of one sort or another–Creole spiced, barbecue, herbed and so on. We sampled a big, moist half bird, slathered with chipotle (smoked hot chili) barbecue sauce. A little more kick to the sauce would have been just fine but it was worth licking off fingers.
With dinner in hand, you can opt to sit at one of the window tables in a seating area at the front of the store and watch the parking lot fill up. A better bet, head home with the ready-made bounty and enjoy a night off.
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Whole Foods Market
(two forks)
7245 W. Lake St., River Forest
708-366-1048
8 a.m.-10 p.m. daily
Wheelchair accessible
Credit cards: A,M,V
RATINGS KEY: 4 forks: Top of the class 3 forks: Better than most 2 forks: Very good fare 1 fork: Middle of the road
