Specialty Food Shops
Looking for something specific, something special? Lehigh Valley‘s wide-range of specialty food shops offer everything from handmade chocolates (like Premise Maid Chocolates) to locavore delights and pressed olive oils at Seasons Olive Oil & Vinegar Taproom. Whether you're looking for gourmet grocery stores with gourmet cheeses or the finest meats (meet our Lehigh Valley Butchers) and the freshest pastas from places such as Santisi Imports, new food stores are popping up left and right in Lehigh Valley. Tradition and innovation are often opposing culinary forces—businesses usually require a little bit of both in order to succeed. Culinary specialty shops walk that line well, and no, they’re not all Italian.
At Saylor’s and Company, old-world skills are on fine display. Everything is cut by hand, trimmed, or ground, depending on preference, right in front of you. The lamb, veal, and pork are all antibiotic-free—Saylor’s also sources Pennsylvania-fed and -grown pork and chicken; the latter from Bell & Evans. Both chicken and pork sausages are available for purchase, house made, along with kielbasa, smoked meats, and special offerings such as scrapple. Tucked away up on College Hill in Easton, you’ll find a mecca of Italian delicacies and grocery items at Giacomo’s. The arancini (rice balls) are delicious, but the must-try items here are the five varieties of housemade Italian sausage. Pro tip: Grill the whole sausage rope, intact, and break it up when it’s almost cooked.
If you’re missing your grandmother’s cooking, and she happens to be Italian (or maybe just likes to cook that way), make your way to Stravino's Italian Market in Whitehall. Looking for ravioli with all kinds of fillings, prepared salads or, in case you’re indecisive, 47 varieties of cheese? Stravino’s has you covered where that’s concerned, along with cool imported finds (like anise oil).
Did someone say gourmet grocers Let your inner foodie run wild at Easton Public Market, featuring a passionate group of entrepreneurs and farmers. As an urban grocery store, Radish Republic in downtown Allentown also specializing in local food from small farms and businesses here in Lehigh Valley. And with plenty of farms and farm stands, as well as farmers markets across Lehigh Valley, fresh and locally sourced is always available. Browse our list of specialty food shops for the very freshest and hardest-to-find ingredients and produce.
