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The Spice house - Evanston

It took Easter and making homemade Sausage for me to take a trip back after a VERY long time to our local SPICE store. And, what a treat this was. Walking in, the smell of anise/cinnamon/red chile/ welcomes you, with tons of jars alongside the walls, you immediately feel that this is the real deal. I immediately thought this is how an old 1950's pharmacy -where pharmacists literally filled your prescription- must have looked like: Different size glass containers, meticulously labeled and displayed alphabetically, and some by region. They had the Paprika wall of fame, along side the outstanding collection of various kinds of chiles from Mexico and beyond, opposite the green wall of various oreganos, Turkish peppermint, zaatar, cilantro (or coriander),... You order by the bag or by various size jars. We got cumin, coriander and fennel seeds, Paprika, and crystallized ginger (yes - the sausages were ok- that is another topic).

I really enjoyed this place, a temple for spice, and why not, can you eat anything without it? Try.



Comments

Anonymous said…
They are the greatest. They also have a store on Wells in the city and in Milwaukee/Geneva. Check out their website (http://www.thespicehouse.com/)- a TON of great information. Also designed by a friend of mine (Josh Golden for you NU alum)

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