Posted by Irene Ng in grocery, polish, shops on September 5, 2007 at 8:02 am
Starsky Foods
2040 Dundas Street East, Mississauga
905-279-8889
Being a food geek, I was truly excited when T&T Supermarket decided to expand to Toronto from Vancouver a few years back. I was enthralled by the selection of Asian candies, various tea drinks, sweet and savoury bread varieties and the always fresh produce. Now that I have married into the Polish culture, I am on the lookout for a store that can fulfil my needs of all food items Polish, similar to what T&T has for all things Chinese. My in-laws have promoted and raved about Starsky’s Foods in Mississauga ever since the first time they went last year.
They always managed to come back with tons of groceries and tasty confectionery delights when they made trips there from Peterborough (yes, Peterborough). With its small Polish community, Roncesvalles was always closer and good enough for me to satisfy my Polish food cravings. Plus, making a trip all the way west across the Gardiner and onto the QEW was another reason that made me avoid going to Starsky's. Heck, I already think going to Etobicoke is far, let alone Mississauga. My husband and I finally trekked out there on a holiday weekend to see what the big deal was.
Once I set foot into Starsky’s, I knew I had filled my void of a gold standard Polish (as well as other Eastern European cultures) food store. There were aisles devoted to items I enjoy such as condiments and pickled products. It was an eye-opener to see a whole wall devoted to pickled products, and not only pickles, but sauerkraut, asparagus, chanterelles (a mushroom variety popular in Europe), peppers, beets, etc. As a big fan of mustards, I was in awe at the selection. There were standard flavours like Dijon and honey mustard, but then there were also spicy, Bavarian, garlic, deli style, and horseradish mixed types.
Polish people are serious about their chocolate, as there were not one, but two aisles full of confectionery goodness. Boxed chocolates are abundant, whether one wants alcohol filled, regular milk or dark chocolates, or something known as ‘bird’s milk’, a chocolate enrobed marshmallow-type concoction made with agar (which makes it vegetarian). There was also a huge bulk chocolate section, where one can mix and match different imported chocolates by the kilogram. We managed to get through this area relatively unscathed (i.e. did not overbuy), purchasing only a couple bars of yogurt filled chocolate.
There were two big highlights on this shopping excursion for me, with the first being the gigantic deli counter. When Starsky’s stated that they have the longest deli counter, they really meant it. The deli is in the back of the supermarket, and basically spans the entire width of the store. As I meandered through the deli area, it started with a bacon and pate section, and then moved onto mounds and links of sausages with dozens of varieties. So for those pork lovers out there, this is the place to be! Next were cold cuts, where there were at least thirty different cuts and flavours of hams alone, and then finally the expansive cheese section. Since free samples were available on their weekly specials, I got to try a few different cheeses and some kielbasas – yum!
The other highlight was the bakery, where I spent a great deal of time deciding how to limit myself to only purchase two types of baked goods. Starsky's has different bakeries represented in its cakes windows, and four are of Eastern European background: Anna's Bakery and Pastry, Granowska's, Open Window and their own in-house bakery. We purchased the in-house mocha layered cake and jam filled layered cake, which are cut from large slab cakes to the amount one wants (on special for $1.00/kg). They were both quite tasty and light, as there was not much icing, a definite plus for me.
A hot meal counter was recently added, where we purchased one of the lunch combinations ($5.99 plus taxes) to share. It included a schnitzel, salad (coleslaw or carrot) plus a side of carbohydrates, from which we chose kopytka, the potato dumplings. It obviously does not compare to my mother-in-law's cooking, but it was filling and a good value, although the koptyka was a tad doughier then I’m used to. There were also options of soups, other salads, roasted chicken and pierogie – a substantial amount of choices for the omnivores.
Happy and satisfied shoppers usually spend more... and my receipt from my first visit to Starsky’s can vouch for that. Roncesvalles will always be a hop away for my quick Polish food fixes, but Starsky’s will be frequented when my wallet is ready to take on another shopping blitz.
Great to hear you reporting on the greatness that is Starsky! I was recently introduced to this place and now I can't live without it. They have such a huge selection of ajvar (roasted red pepper spread), chocolate and perogies with paper think pastry and far more interesting fillings than you'd find in a regular grocery store.
I've never heard of this Bird's Milk vegan marshmallow treat. Great, now I have an excuse to make another trip to Starsky asap!
My eyes popped the first time I saw the size of their deli counter. I tend to make once-a-month stock-up trips there on various items, always finding one or two eye-popping discoveries (never imagined I'd like dill-flavoured instant soup!)
Hey Megan,
Closer to downtown you can find the bird's milk candy at Benna's on Roncesvalles. Most of it seems to come in milk chocolate though, so not completely vegan usually.
I went a few months after it first opened and was horrified to see expired chocolates being sold at a discount. Continuing the theme, I saw opened packages (of perogies? I don't remember) in the freezer, also being sold at a discount. Caveat emptor. I haven't been back.
Hi Eric - Sorry you had a bad outing at Starsky's. :(
I didn't see either of those practices you mentioned above, so perhaps they received enough complaints about this?
Eric - while I would have a problem if a place were selling off-dated or slightly damaged goods at full price, selling such things at a discount is quite common at many groceries and shops. So I'm not sure why it "horrified" you to see them doing it at Starsky.
Aside from a bit of blooming on the chocolate or freezer burn on the perogies, I doubt they would do any harm to anyone. It's not like they're pulling an Apu and selling buckets of expired shrimp. ;)
mmmm... expired shrimp.
Expired is not good, but i see it happen at grocery stores. Anytime i see 3 for 1 deal on chocolate bars i assume there is a catch. They don't go bad, but do go stale. Also it's more common practice with small brand import chocolates that don't have large distribution.
Ptasie Mleczko is frequently near expiry date when i see it everywhere. As for damaged packaging, why waste the product. Now when you see the big chains re labeling meat expiry dates, that is scary. But here they are not hiding anything. I love my starsky.
Our whole family had a the worst retail food experience ever at Starsky's this March, 2008... We had purchased pickles which were completely contaminated and had loads of dark mold and dark growth culture around the jar where the lid turns and inside the jar lid..... we first didn't notice it. Upon purchasing the product , we immediately had some in the car where this wasn't noticed right away. One hour later we arrived home to eat some more of the product but soon were horrified when we found out the mold . My wife had complained in the car on the way home of not feeling well at all, she had vomitted in a bag and had severe abdominal cramps. She is currently at the hospital. I went immediately to the manager and explained what happened, where upon she said " sorry all i can give is a refund and perhaps some " chocolates" ?? There was no consideration whatsover , no regard to the customer or the value on human life. Selling such products and then knowing about and doing nothing about it and adopting such an attitude is akin to participating in deliberate criminal negligence. I hope that all who come to this store enter at it their own risk and there is no excuse for this kind of absolute , horrid way of conducting business especially where food is involved, which is the very source of our being here....