Sid Wainer & Son

My wife and I would notice these Sid Wainer trucks going up and down I-​95 here in RI and even down in NYC, supplying the gourmet shops there. So we decided to visit the market itself. What a fun place! We’ve visited several times now over the last few years (typically after Christmas to stock up for our New Year’s Eve shindig) and walk away impressed with the quality of the foods. Most impressive: the Cheese Room, which is huge and stocks a great variety of domestic and foreign cheeses (the room is cold, so we’re fine in the winter because we already have our coats on … but I think in the summer, they offer complimentary coats to the customers entering the room). We’ve noted that some of the same cheeses that we can find at our local grocery or gourmet food shop (e.g. San Andre which can be found at some grocery stores or on Federal Hill specialty food shops) are not only cheaper at Sid Wainer, but also tastes better. (It must be the storage conditions.) Produce there is also very good, high quality, but somewhat pricey (like a Japanese grocery). There is a charcuterie section with a good selection of cured meats from jamon and prosciutto to head cheese and pâté, as well as pickled mushrooms, olives, artichoke hearts, etc. Best of all are all the free tastings offered: not only do they have many cheeses and charcuterie on display for you to try, they also have many cooked dishes using their retail ingredients that you can sample (as well as the recipes to take home). I’ve seen folks come into Sid Wainer’s and make an impromptu lunch out of all the freebies available!
One tip: Next to Sid Wainer’s is a strip mall with a small produce shop that sells discounted vegetables and fruits. Very cheap and you must use what you buy within a day or two, but my understanding is that it is Sid Wainer’s produce that has gone just past its prime. So if you don’t mind a couple bruises or old leaves to peel off, you can get good produce cheap.

I think the best think here was the selection of fresh produce. Would definitely go here if preparing an upscale meal, I lived a little closer, and I wanted to wow people with the presentation. I had never seen a fresh chick pea before going here.

I moved to New Bedford from Portland, OR where I was used to having lots of stores similar to Sid Wainer closer by.
I lived here for over a year before I discovered this store; I can’t believe it took me so long.
It has become a ritual to stop in here every Saturday with one of the girls from work. I absolutely love the place.
I buy lots of honey there. It is locally made and so it is great for allergies. I love all the flavors they have, gray for mixing with different teas I drink.
I enjoy their produce and am always finding something interesting to buy and try.
It’s not a huge store but it’s not in a huge town either.
Prices are a little up there but I find that is normal when you are shopping at an organic store and I think it is worth it. Plus I like the idea of supporting a local business.
I also like buying gifts here when I take a trip back to the west coast for my patents. Last time I visited I took them cranberry honey, cinnamon honey and maple butter (so yummy on French toast).
I definitely recommend stopping by whether you live in the area or just visiting for the summer.

If you need a soul cleansing or to get some serious retail therapy then this utopia of specialty grocery items will do you some reaaaal good.
There is an entire room devoted to cheese. It’s not a small room. Walls of cheese everywhere. Utterly and gloriously filled with cheese — from normal grocery sized portions to 40 lb blocks bigger than your head.
The produce section is teeming with fresh greens and a very impressive selection of veggies including fiddlehead ferns, daikon radish, and a few veggies I’d never seen before, not even at Whole Foods. I ended up just getting a bunch of mint for a strawberry and mint water infusion — the smell of the leaves were so strong, I couldn’t resist!
The spice selection was varied and interesting — lots of spice blends! I got the Kabsa spice blend (spices, ground chiles, turmeric, saffron powder) — kinda wish they specified which spices! But whatevs, it’ll taste good as a turkey burger rub. $ 4.99 for 2oz to give an idea of prices here. Prices here are generally steep depending on the item but some of the items can be really reasonable, especially on sale! Wait for their cheese sales!
With all the specialty spreads and pestos and jams and cheese you’d expect them to stock more specialty crackers! But alas — I only saw some lavash, butter crackers and table crackers — none too appealing. Other than that minor letdown, this place is absolutely magical. Just walking around this place inspires you to dream of all the wonderful and exotic dishes you can prepare in your own kitchen.
This place is an absolute must on Saturdays because they have free samples and you can get full pretty easily munching on all the goodies — and the samples are portioned out generously! You’d get more here than hor d’oeuvres at a cocktail party. I was impressed by their savory dishes and desserts (banana bread pudding that was out of this world!). Recipe cards are free to take home for all the samples you absolutely love.
The foods are made with love and you can bring the love to your own kitchen by attending one of their cooking demonstrations. Props to the chefs for showing the public how to use all these wonderful specialty items! And for bringing good taste into this town. Make this a Saturday event — it’d be an afternoon well spent!

This place is a real gem, and like other real gems, you should expect to pay more than you would for a cubic zirconia.
The cons:
For those on a budget, this likely isn’t where you’ll shop. Which is fine. Market Basket isn’t far, and it rocks.
The pros:
The staff are knowledgeable and almost eager to share their expertise with you.
Free samples of amazing food with recipe cards.
Top-​shelf products and staff who are glad to share with you different ways to use aforementioned top-​shelf products
Cooking demonstrations that allow limited entry, cost only $ 25, with all proceeds donated to local Neediest Families Charity.

Great selection and price. Enjoy their gifting selections.

Sid’s is long known as one of the top, if not the top produce companies in the world… Haccp certified and basically can get you anything you want If you work with them in the restaurant world… There gourmet outlet is Great. The employees are super friendly and helpful… They practically serve a Free buffet on a Saturday… Yes a lot of the items are quite expensive. With good reason! Many are flown in from around the world etc… Not from a factory hydroponic farm in mexico… If you want a Good tomato in January you can get it at Sid’s. You will pay for it and it still may not be as good as the one you get at the farmers market in August… But its January and No one else is going to get near this quality in January… If they do I promise there a Sid Weiner truck out back… For the home cook look at it this way… If you look closely most of the produce on The food network when you see the packaging its from Sid’s. (if this was a marketing technique it would be a foolish one since they have one small outlet for retail in a less then stellar city) If I was going to have one complaint I wish they could bring more of the products in the ware house into the gourmet outlet… However I realise that it is spoilage and rotational nightmare!

Sid Wainer’s Gourmet Outlet is an outrageously overpriced Trader Joe’s. Don’t be fooled by all the seemingly different brands, ranging from the pastoral-​sounding Jansal Valley to the utterly puerile L’Essence du Fromage. They’re all Sid Wainer private labels. Some interesting and exotic exclusives, but mostly what you can find at any Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, or Venda Ravioli in Providence, for much less. $ 7 for a pound of beans? $ 20 for a half liter of olive oil. No thanks.

45 minutes to buy white balsamic vinegar? Yes, and it was worth the drive! The gourmet outlet is fantastic! Went in looking to buy vinegar, walked out with two bottles of vinegar, five pounds of cornmeal crusted bacon (the nice man behind the counter said we could freeze it, and it was on sale! How could I say no?) and some purple cauliflower. Yes, it’s pricey, but the quality is definitely worth the price.
Also, the samples? Delightful way to make me buy more food. And yes, you can get recipe cards for the meals they are feeding you. At some point, I will be recreating these recipes.
The boyfriend did eventually have to drag me out of there. After all, just how long can you walk around a counter going «Oooh! I could make so much with that!» About an hour. After that, you bore the people you’re with. I hope my return visit is soon!

This place is rare find! If you’re ever in the area you MUST stop and check out the swanyay stuff they got going on here. Best cheese selection I’ve seen since NYC. Beautiful produce and epic jarred speciality items. Only downside is they don’t sell fresh meats/​dairy :(highly recommend this place if you’re looking for quality ingredients. They don’t have everything but what they do have is of ridiculously good quality.

Growing up in Seattle and living in NYC before moving to the area I had high hopes for Sid Wainer’s. However I found their selection to be lacking a repetitive their cheese counter had just about as much variety as stop and shop their produce was of good quality but not great with very little variety and everything else in the store felt generic with very little originality or interest.

Sid Wainer is like a southcoast foodie’s dream. They stock some great gourmet ingredients that can’t be found at your normal grocery store. They have pantry items such as lentils, spices, pastas and grains as well as fresh produce, cheese and frozen/​smoked meat/​seafood items.
They have a room just for cheese and a room just for the produce. (These are COLD so bring a coat!) The produce room is stunning. You can get micro greens, edible flowers, tons of exotic fruits and vegetables as well as the regular staples like potatoes and onions.
You have to come on Saturday. They do a full spread of dishes for sampling. The variety changes every week but they’ve had everything from pulled pork to mac & cheese, to smoked salmon salad with popcorn shoots, so many dips and pestos, seriously tons of items to try out.

If Sid Wainer & Son sold wine, I’d bag groceries for them free of charge.
Because that’s how much I love this place.
Among the many reasons are their selections of fantastic cooking oils, hard to find produce and a cheese room that would surely delight even the most scrutinizing of affineurs.
And call me sentimental, but I discovered Morbier here.
Smoked meat and bacon, foie gras, specialty beans, grain and rice with a diverse array of vinegar, pesto, curd, chutney and fruit keep those in the know coming back here in droves.
If there’s such a place that defines the term «Hidden Gem,» it’s New Beige’s Sid Wainer & Son.

Always a stop on our New Bedford summer trips. Great selection of produce and cheeses. The Saturday morning tasting is always fun and I love how they provide post cards with all the recipes. We definitely don’t have anything like this in Tucson, so I stock up on cheese and sauces to take home.

Sid Wainer’s is the BEST!!! The produce is unbelieveable; the cheeses are great; and the olive bar has some of the freshest olives and other goodies I’ve ever tried (how do they make those dried tomatoes???). They have a wide variety of spices, rices and grains, dried beans, pastas, smoked meats, Italian, Indian and Asian condiments, baking supplies like gorgeous little chocolate cups, chocolate chips, bars, etc.
The samples are pretty good, too! Definitely worth the trip.

If I could give them 6 stars I would. A terrific place to browse for high end food items. Going there on Saturday morning is a must. They have chef’s cooking all types of food that you can sample and discuss.
The food selection is one of the best around especially for hard to find items. They have the most amazing cheese selection, fresh produce, oils and all the other gourmet items.