That Food Guy
Friday, July 26, 2013
  Albertson's Supermarket Deli - Pocatello, Idaho


Albertson’s Deli - Pocatello, ID  June 23, 2012
330 E Benton St - Pocatello, ID 83201
(208) 233-0455 http://www.albertsons.com/#2


 Our earliest ancestors, the hunter-gatherers of caveman lore, knew it. Food is where you find it. Thankfully conditions have changed since then; as a rule no lions tigers or bears to contend with. However, food is still where you find it even today. Sometimes in surprising places, sometimes in places you may have overlooked before.

We have all seen the deli section in the local supermarkets; in fact may have bought one or two items for a dinner or a lunch. But normally we don’t buy the entire meal across the supermarket deli counter.  My sister, Pattie Sue, and I did just that one late afternoon after a busy day. We were tired, it was getting late and we were hungry. We wanted dinner ready, in a bag, ready to eat when we got home but we didn’t really want something form the local fast food emporiums. On a capricious whim we tried the Albertson’s deli and found the food we wanted (or at least settle for).

Albertson’s offers several varieties of potato salad. We chose the one that looked like it had the least vinegar. The label promised a creamy salad. The counter server was polite and helpful, saying that she did not believe the salad was vinegary.  We ordered a pint. The chicken tenders looked pretty good and we ordered a couple each. The seasoned green beans looked pretty good and we took a half pint of those. Food we found in hand we rushed home to sit down and eat and talk about the grand adventures of the day.

The chicken was tasty; the coating had a nice combination of spices and it tasted very good.  The coating was still crispy but beginning to get soft. The meat was just a bit tough but I would attribute that to being in the deli display for some extended time. Although the chicken was not significantly better than a frozen chicken tender you would heat and eat at home, it certainly wasn’t worse.

My sister and I grew up knowing that a good potato salad was a mixture of potatoes, celery, Bell peppers, green onions, hard boiled eggs and lots of crumbled bacon. It was slathered with a mixture of mayonnaise and mustard and seasoned with a mixture celery seed, paprika, some sweet pickle relish, seasoned salt and pepper (among other things). Albertson’s potato salad was not the potato salad of our youth. Albertson’s version had lots of potatoes, was dressed in a nice thick clinging sauce, and yes, it did have a splash of vinegar. Alas, apparently all deli potato salads have added vinegar. I can only guess that it is to raise the acidity and prolong the shelf life. To my palate, very much used to something else, this was a typical deli potato salad with minimal added goodies if any. Its only saving grace was that it wasn’t quite as vinegary as the others. For persons that have grown up learning to like deli potato salad, I am sorry at their loss of the opportunity to know what a real potato salad tastes like.

The green beans were not seasoned as far as I could tell – just green beans and undercooked at that. Slightly squeaky when chewed they tasted like green beans that needed a good sprinkle of salt. Had they a bit more tender they would have made an excellent vegetable to go with the meat and starch. Yes, you can be al dente and still be tender. As they were tough,  they were more of a distraction rather than a compliment to the meal.

Given the same circumstance, tired and short of time, would I order the same again? Not exactly. The chicken was okay and was satisfactory. I would go with the chicken again. As for the potato salad I would do it differently. That is a lesson that I keep relearning. Deli potato salad is just that, deli potato salad and it won’t get better.  Instead I would try escalloped potatoes or maybe the mac and cheese. For a while I was thinking it wouldn’t take too long to put the beans in the steamer and tenderize them. But if I was going to all that work, it would be better to start with fresh beans and go from there.

In rereading this is sounds much like a pan of the Albertson’s deli. It wasn’t intended to be that, but my personal tastes got in the way. There was nothing wrong with the food we found there and I am sure it was quite wholesome. I would go back to Albertson’s, to the deli counter, and see what else I could find that I might like better.

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