Elizabeth and Michel Visit the Spice Shop

We spend a lot of time in Lincoln Square.  It's a wonderful little small town square in a big city.  So when we realized that there was yet another charming little shop that we had not explored, we decided to pay it a visit on Small Business Saturday.  It was the Savory Spice Shop, and I just happened to need some spices to make gingerbread. 

It's a cute little shop with beautiful hardwood floors and painted wood shelving, warm and inviting with an incredibly friendly and helpful staff.  We've been back twice now, and they recognized us each time. 

That Saturday the shop was fairly busy, but they still made time to show us around the store and explain how it worked.  It's a spice shop.  What more do you need to know, you might ask.  Well, it is a spice shop where you can taste everything!  How cool is that?  So basically, you can walk around the store, tasting whatever spice, salt, rub, herb, curry, or pepper you like and then you just dump what's left of your taste test on the floor.  You might think that the floor was filthy, then, but it's not.  They are meticulous about keeping it swept and clean.  Once you have found your chosen item, you can then take the large jar (in my case ground Madagascan cloves and ground Jamaican allspice) to the center table, and they will measure and weigh your spice for you.  Everything is freshly ground in the morning, and it smells heavenly!

Additionally, they don't just carry traditional spices.  They carry anything you might need from freshly dried cilantro and Hawaiian volcanic sea salt to lavender vanilla bean sugar and ground ghost pepper, the second hottest pepper in the world.  And to top it off, there is always a large pot of hot apple cider with fresh cinnamon sticks for anyone who wants it.  Lest you think spices and herbs are all they sell, they have a wide selection of cookbooks and other cooking related gift items. 

I secretly want to work there.  Michel says it's because then I will be working in a spice shop like Rosalie on my favorite TV show, Grimm (check it out...best show ever!!!), and that is probably true.  But it's also such a cool little store with some of the nicest people in the square.  It's definitely one of our favorite shops now!