Trader Joe's Co. Inc.

Diatribe with Dave: A Ribs-Trader Joe's Candied Ginger-Sambal Recipe!

Every second and fourth Wednesday night of the month, legendary bartender/chef/restaurant insider Dave Mau hosts Dinner with Dave at Memphis at the Santora, where he treats drinkers to a free meal and live music as the evening progresses. To remind ustedes of this great night, Dave treats us every W ... More >>

Trader Joe's Now Has Its Own Sriracha

See Also: *Five Signs You May Have A Sriracha Problem *Introducing Sriracha Lip Balm *INFOGRAPHIC: 10 Things You Should Know About Sriracha Trader Joe's has tried its hand at packaged Asian cuisine with varying levels of success. Its Punjab choley? Tasty. Its beef pho? Why?!But its ballsiest creati ... More >>

This Week In Food: Sandwich Earls, Speckled Hens, and the Cutest Damn Toaster You've Ever Seen

Thankfully, this week's food blog didn't have any gross stories to tell. I'm still creeped out every time I think of that KFC drumstick, but alas, we must move on. This week showed us some awesome things to look forward to. Let's take a look. Edwin reviewed the new Earl of Sandwich chain in Downtow ... More >>

Will Fresh & Easy Leave US Market?

We kept noticing a Fresh & Easy that was supposed to open off Valley View in Cypress but never did; now we know why. With at least 200 stores in California, Arizona and Nevada, the chain is likely going to pull out of the US market, leaving upwards of 5,000 employees without jobs.Tesco, the bran ... More >>

Artisan Food & Arts Festival

OC Great Park

Trader Joe's Agrees to Pay More For Tomatoes it Buys from Florida to Help Out Farmworkers

​The Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) does it again! The group of Florida tomato pickers and their supporters who have wrestled down fast-food titans into paying a penny more per pound of pomodoros over the last decade set its sights last year on Trader Joe's, every hipster's favorite supermar ... More >>

Calbee Snacking In San Francisco

​When you're wandering a mall, hunger isn't your friend. It usually means some average meal to temporarily satiate, which you'll forget about as soon as you dump the tray. So to discover something left of center is a welcome treat, especially when your playground is the Bay Area.Their signage was ... More >>

Dad Creates Inspiring Family Meals from a Dumpster

​One man's trash is this man's dinner. Perennial Plate has produced an eye-opening video about a father who gets 75 percent of his family's food from a Trader Joe's dumpster. This isn't moldy, fly-invaded cheese we're talking about. Think fresh fruit and vegetables, challah bread and pies, all tha ... More >>

Five Surprisingly Tasty Asian Dishes at Trader Joe's

​​We'd be the first to tell you, when you want the real stuff, go to Little Saigon, the countless Asian plazas in Irvine, heck, even Little Tokyo, Thai Town or SGV if you've got the time. But if you need a quick Asian-food fix and have just a few minutes to spare, Trader Joe's is a pretty good b ... More >>

Drink of the Week: Lucky Buddha at Capital Seafood

Photo by Meranda Carter​Just as with Target and Trader Joe's, a brand has made it when it populates multiple locations in the same city. Take, for example, the gang at Capital Seafood. As if the Diamond Jamboree hustle and bustle weren't enough, it took over the former Fish Market space at the Irv ... More >>

Hundreds March To Trader Joe's Headquarters In Monrovia To Demand A One Penny Per Pound Raise For Florida Farm Workers

Marisa Gerber/ OCWeekly​Three vans of people -- many from El Centro Cultural de Mexico and others from Justice for Janitors and an inter-faith group -- carpooled from Santa Ana to Monrovia today for a protest at Trader Joe's headquarters. The crew of 30 or so from Santa Ana convened with abou ... More >>

[UPDATE: Protest is THIS FRIDAY] Coalition of Immokalee Workers in Town to Explain Campaign Against Trader Joe's

​UPDATE: Protest is THIS FRIDAY. More information at the CIW's website--see you there!Original post Oct. 10, 10:30 a.m.: Earlier this summer, we reported on an anti-Trader Joe's campaign launched by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, those Florida-based mensches who have done more to combat the f ... More >>

Tavazo Dried Nuts & Fruits Store Opens in Irvine

​Tavazo Dried Nuts and Fruits opened quietly in Irvine last week, or perhaps the week before. Like I said, it was a quiet debut. This outlet of a mostly Ontario, Canada-based Persian goods purveyor can be found next to Smart & Final and Trader Joe's at Culver and Walnut.

Coalition of Immokalee Workers Asks Trader Joe's to Help Exploited Tomato Pickers in Florida, Will Protest Outside Irvine Location TOMORROW

​We at the Weekly have long loved the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, the chingones who have waged a successful decade-long-plus battle to make major food corporations (Taco Bell, Burger King, Subway, Whole Foods) pay a bit more for their tomatoes so that some of that added revenue trickles down t ... More >>

Freegans Ask Trader Joe's to Stop Tossing Food into Dumpsters

Flickr user caterina​Although they've received numerous write-ups in local and national media over the past five years, freegans--people who Dumpster dive as a life philosophy instead of out of necessity--have never really caught on an a bona fide movement. But that doesn't mean those hardy indivi ... More >>

Persian Dried Fruits And Nuts Purveyor To Open First American Store in Irvine

Photo from Tavazo's Facebook Page​Tavazo, a seller of dried fruits and nuts based out of Ontario, Canada, is planning to open its first store in the U.S. this summer in Irvine. The outlet, next to Smart & Final and Trader Joe's at Culver and Walnut, will also boast 300 kind of spices, dried o ... More >>

Trader Joe's Baked Jalapeño Cheese Crunchies Rather Bland

​Trader Joe's is legendary for taking the ideas of other food producers, improving on the product, then selling them at its stores under the Trader Joe's name. So on a rare trip to the store, I figured the above snack would improve on Cheetos, not only in the health arena, but also in the flavor-- ... More >>

Five Things You'd Think Would Be Vegan--But Aren't

​It's not easy to be an observant vegan. None of us here at Fork are vegan, but we all know plenty of vegans, we respect vegans for the most part, and we know it's hard to follow that diet in a meat-centric world. Some foods are obviously not vegan: no tuna salad in the world is vegan, and Thai fo ... More >>

What Can Brown Do For You Today? Battle Brown Ale

Dave Lieberman​After confessing in an earlier article that I am a dévoté of Newcastle; I repeated it on my Facebook page, and there was this moment of palpable, stunned silence, followed by a stream of suggestions both common and esoteric. Since I am never one to turn down an opportunity to drin ... More >>

Gratin On My Nerves: Sweet, Sweet Pot(atoes) and Cheese

Dave Lieberman​I used to dabble in [unlicensed] catering for friends and family, once upon a many moons ago, and like all caterers, I learned which dishes can be used to "cheat" when time is of the essence. Gratins are one of those cheats; people love the flavor, it doesn't matter if they're ugly, ... More >>

Recipe of the Week: Bailey's Chocolate Soufflé

For years, I read of the terror of the soufflé. "Leave the kitchen and be quiet," recipes cautioned, "lest you make the soufflé fall in the oven." Fiction books were full of anecdotes of 1960s-era housewives, their stereotypically tiny waists accentuated by a carefully-tied apron, being subjected ... More >>

Calimocho: Red Wine & Coca-Cola

Jorge Negreros​Calimocho comes from combining two drinks most Americans would never think to mix: seriously cheap red wine and Coca-Cola. This concoction originated in Spain and is enjoyed mostly by younger drinkers because it's inexpensive and easy to make.

Battle Supermarket Sushi

It'd be nice to be able to eat Bluefin or Shibucho every time the sushi urge strikes, but sometimes lunch is grabbed on the way between two meetings; sometimes dinner needs to be a quick pick-up before drinking the bulk of one's daily calories (other people do this, right?) and that precludes a real ... More >>

Overheard at the Farmers' Market

Original image: nataliemaynor @ flickr.com CC BY 2.0​A creature of habit am I: Saturday mornings mean coffee and a roll at Peet's in Campus Plaza in Irvine, the farmers' market and then bits and bobs to round out the week's shopping at Trader Joe's, Wholesome Choice and anywhere else I need to go. ... More >>

This Week in Food

​ Edwin explores the possibilities of "All Purpose Sauce" in Wacky Snacks, lists Five All Time Greatest Food Movies, answers the time-old question of what astronaughts do with taco sauce in space, and announces that it's that time again for tandoori Thanksgiving turkey! Dave gets Santiago Vallejo ... More >>

Dueling Dishes: Walking the Plonk

Dave Lieberman​Remember two weeks ago, when I posted mockingly about 7-Eleven's move into the ultra-budget wine world? I made a snarky comment about not doing one's research about specialty retailers that might also have a decent chunk of the market share for really, really cheap wine, and I threw ... More >>

Life on the Veg: Snack Attack at Trader Joe's

​ Just because you're a vegetarian doesn't mean you have to be good all the time, but that's not an excuse to go reaching for a plate of French fries, either. If you're in between meals and are jonesing for some substantial nosh that doesn't consist of carrot sticks or deep-fried potatoes, there ... More >>

Dueling Dishes--A Brace of Quick Curries

​Suffering through a horrid cold, I thought I'd sample two healthy-ish frozen, microwaveable curries, to try to clear out the sinuses.First up: Trader Joe's Chicken Vindaloo.​Now, as much as I love TJ's, I've had pre-packaged frozen entrées from them before, and, suffice to say, they were not a ... More >>

Recipe of the Week: Nigella's White Chocolate and Raspberry Cheesecake*

​* Dieters look away now!I found some luscious, juicy raspberries at Trader Joe's at the weekend, was but stumped for ideas about what to do with them. Somehow, to me, savory dishes with fruit don't appeal, and a bowl of berries with cream is plain boring.The result is today's recipe, which is cou ... More >>

Crime Time: Stabbings, Curfews, Drunk Marines, Drunk Councilman and Van's a-Rockin'

It's the Weekly's weekly round-up of local police calls--now with more stabbings and [alleged] drunken-driving politicians . . . Courtesy Orange County Sheriff's DepartmentKnew those Trader Joe's bags were good for something . . .​MONDAY, JULY 27Cash and Carry A man walked up with a Trader Joe's b ... More >>

Is Barbara Coe a Slow Food Movement Acolyte?

I've written before about the Slow Food movement, an effort by foodies to buy local, organic produce and food products in order to support our regional farmers and culinary traditions. Now, this mostly-lefty, mostly-wealthy philosophy seems to have found a new acolyte: California Coalition for Immig ... More >>

Good Chicken Tikka Masala at the Olde Ship, But What the Hell is that "Naan"?

The chicken tikka masala at the Olde Ship in SanTana? Two moist, slightly grilled chicken skewers coated with a thick tikka masala sauce. On top of a large mound of succulent jasmine rice with peas. Ramekins of a curry sauce that worked this time and yogurt more sour cream than raita. As good as you ... More >>

On the Wall: Two Wrongs Make a Right

The "Supermarket" show at the Peter Blake Gallery is aptly named, offering more tasty goodies than you'd find on the shelves of a Trader Joe's. You've got everything from the heavy metal furniture of Cheryl Ekstrom to Jeffrey Krueger's luscious landscapes to the glimmery, inexplicably potent planets ... More >>

Trendzilla

"Though Longchamp is advertised as a luxury leather-goods company, the brand has really come to be known for these Le Pliage bags."

OC Dumpster Diving

New York-based website www.Freegan.info hopes to become the craigslist of dumpster diving by providing a forum for refuse eaters all over the country to meet and share tips. With listings of the best places to forage for free discarded goodies in cities all over the country (only a few so far, mos ... More >>

Oscene It?

Laguna Art Museum's annual survey show is the best and worst of Orange County art

It's a Living

Topless Maid

Dangle Participle

Great Without Child

Natural Selection

Survival of the fittest at the Natural Products Expo

A Dosa Heaven

Ripping through edible juggernauts at Dosa Place

How Green Was My Valley?

Tsunamis, bloody abortions, and the Painter Of Light, Thomas Kinkade!

Anti-War, Pissed Off and Read All Over

A primer for budding activists

Letters

Attention Shoppers! Apology on Aisle 7!

Trader Joes customer charges company with slander, keeps shopping

Anti-War Fun

Learn or Burn

Why education really matters

Da Kine Grinds

Marukai Market classes up the hood

Battle of the Strip-Mall Chinese Restaurants

Plowing through the suburban-sprawl experience

Guilty Pleasures

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