A little local 'flavor'

Anyone checked out

Alwan's

new digs on War Drive yet?

While out running errands yesterday, I stopped in. The exterior of the building rocks...new businesses moving into Peoria and existing ones who are planning a facelift should look up the architect. It's clean-lined, yet has a distinct vintage flavor. Were it not quite so spiffy, you'd think it had been there for years. The extended parking rocks, too. That was one of the reasons that I rarely shopped there...the old, cramped parking lot had maybe 6 spaces...all of which were filled every time I tried to stop.

The interior is spacious, clean and well-lighted (lit?) with lots of friendly, helpful employees. No dicks behind the deli counter like Kroger, that's for sure. They have a wide variety of stuff...nearly everything you'd find in a big box store...only on a smaller scale.

What a radical idea...a neighborhood grocery store! Whod'a thunkit?

The real star of Alwan's show, though, is the meat counter. Oooo, my gawd. I stood and drooled over the 1 1/2 inch ribeyes, porterhouses, t-bones and hotels. Since I already had a few steaks in the freezer, I didn't buy any. But you can bet the next time I need some steaks, Kroger can kiss my big ass.

But the main reason I stopped yesterday was for their natural-casing hot dogs. I've had like a major jones goin on for the last several months for some of those babies. Ooooo...they're huge, juicy and they pop when ya bite into 'em.

I bought five pounds.

What can I say? I'm just a sucker for a big, juicy weenie.

I do love me some nice hard salami, too...but was a little disappointed in that area. (Doncha hate it when that happens?) The only hard salami they had was some ho-hum, run-of-the-mill brand...can't even remember the name. In fact, it wasn't quite as good as what Kroger has. But I bought a pound, anyway.

I'd like to see a little more variety in their deli area...maybe some nice Genoa salami...a few more 'specialty' items as far as deli meat and cheeses go. But hey...ya can't please everybody, right? As long as they continue to carry my weenies, I'll continue to shop there.

Oh, and I also picked up a bottle of their 'tangy' barbecue sauce. Yea, "Alwan's" brand. Though the gal at the register didn't know if it was truly "theirs"...if they created the recipe themselves...she assured me that it was "really good".

Not unimportant to me is the fact that they're locally owned and operated and have been for years. They also used local union contractors for the construction. Given the choice, I'll choose the local, independent guy over a big corporation any day.

All in all, the joint gets a major thumbs-up from me.