Verdello is one of those specialty food shops with various Italian pastas, sauces, and the like, but probably has the big draw of flavored olive oils and vinegars.
Sampling is easy here, small cubes of bread, a box of toothpicks and small bowls of product spread throughout the store makes it easy to try before making a commitment. And they're near everything in addition to the oils and vinegars. You can spend a lot of time browsing here, looking at the options, checking out the recipes and letting your culinary imagination go crazy.
Half the store has the oils, vinegars, various salts, and sauces of every kind, the other half is a cheese shop along with hard-to-find condiments to complement the cheeses.
Verdello also has cooking classes for both adults and kids, with small class sizes and comes with the recipes to take home. In looking at the upcoming schedule, many of the classes fill quickly, so it's best not to wait if something catches your eye.
With all the good here (4+ stars), I struggled to justify even a three-star rating based on the service. Maybe because it was early, maybe because it was a weekend, but when I asked for assistance in getting some product, the barely concealed resentment was palpable: from the eye-rolling to the deep sighs, to the terse sentences. At the usual questions during checkout, be assured that when I said I likely wouldn't be coming back, it wasn't because I'm not from the area.
Customer service must be foreign concept here. That's too bad, because I otherwise liked this place. read more