Ariel E.
Yelp
I am a foodie. I am also a student. This means I am a cheap foodie, with foodie tendencies that tend to be expressed over the BBQ or the gas range instead of a white tablecloth downtown. And Art's Specialties just made that way easier. Let me sing you the song of praise of my people:
1) They have homemade pickles. Real pickles: super sour, half sour, garlic/dill, and two types of spicy pickle. So yeah, the days of half-sour homemade pickles being a treat whenever I pass by Rein's Deli in Connecticut are OVER. Now, they're a treat if I'm feeling fancy when I go get a coffee. And they're like $2-3/lb, which means 3 lbs. for the price of 1lb. from Whole Foods.
2) They have the requisite wall of salami/preserved meats, wall of cheese and butter, wall of BBQ sauce, and wall of chocolate and crackers. I'm pretty sure there's a law somewhere saying specialty food shops must have these things in case of emergency business meetings where the goal is to overwhelm the opposition's daily sodium intake.
However... they also have a wall of tea (real tea, fancy tea, tea-like substances), a wall of dried fruit/nuts, and a wall of spices. Like, the useful stuff. Like, when you're trying to make "hibachi-ish zucchini sticks" and you realized you never bought sesame seeds because they're $10 at the local market. I'm a bit skeptical of the $10 big vials of saffron, but everything else looks pretty good.
3) They have a wall of oils and vinegars, mostly infused olive oils and flavored balsamic vinegars, but there are some other nut oils as well. The price is good on these, so summer salads, here I come!