Our Grocery Department offers you not only everyday necessities at fair prices, but a wide range of flavorful foods that you will rarely find elsewhere. In fact, we are as passionate about good food in our Grocery Department as anywhere else. Following are just a few examples. Make sure your pantry is well stocked!

Olive Oils, Nut Oils, and More
In each store, you will find an abundance of extra-virgin estate olive oils. Our selection includes oils with fruity characteristics, others that are peppery, some light, and some with depth of flavor. Talk to one of us in the store or just read the descriptive signs in the section to find an oil to make your food tastier…as well as healthier. One of our long-standing favorites is Ravida from Sicily, which is a deep, rich oil with a peppery finish. Our best seller by far is our own Vera Jane’s Extra-Virgin Olive Oil from Tuscany, Italy. It is medium bodied with peppery and grassy tones, a superb oil for the price. Choose from these extra-virgin olive oils and dozens more. As for other oils, we also carry outstanding quality LeBlanc Walnut Oil from France, our own Jack’s Grill Grapeseed Oil (great for cooking and making homemade mayo), and the flavorful MacNut macadamia nut oil (excellent over salad greens, and its high flash point makes it ideal for frying and heavier cooking) from Australia.

Preserves, Jams, and Honeys
We give you a bunch of great ways to make your morning toast exciting, including preserves from Michigan, honey from Tuscany, and caramel from Argentina. Indeed, whether it’s our own Michigan Red Tart Cherry Preserve or La Salamandra Dulce de Leche (an incredible caramel spread) from Argentina, you can always find exciting flavor in this section of the store. We are especially proud of our own Dorothy Lane Market Preserves. Produced for us by our friends at Cincinnati’s Clearbrook Farms, these are some of the cleanest, fruitiest, most delicious preserves you will ever taste. Clearbrook uses premium fruit from around the country, and minimally processes them into our irresistible preserves. The rich, clean fruit flavor shines through. Our line has also been awarded the prestigious mark of kosher supervision. Pickup a jar or several today. Available in Michigan Red Tart Cherry, Oregon Red Raspberry, California Apricot, and other mouth-watering flavors.

Coffee and Tea
Whether you are a tea lover or coffee aficionado, we are a one-stop shop. As far as fresh-roasted coffee, our friends at Boston Stoker offer an exciting array of coffees from Central America, Africa, Indonesia, and more, including “free trade” coffees, all expertly roasted fresh locally! In the Grocery Department, we feature some of Boston Stoker’s higher end roasts such as Genuine Hawaii Kona XXF and Jamaican Blue Mountain. We also are pleased to offer a range of other interesting brands you may have grown to love such as Café la Semeuse and a very good line from a small Seattle roaster called Caffé Vita. As for tea, we offer Twinings of London for the traditionalist, and for the more adventurous we have a large range of The Republic of Tea. Another notable line of tea is Numi, which is premium, organic, and comes in several intriguing flavors.

Chocolates and Sweets
We are crazy about good chocolate and candy! A quick visit to our checkout displays is a mini tour de force of some of the world’s best packaged chocolates and candies. Whether you crave the creaminess of classic milk chocolate of Switzerland’s Lindt, or the complex flavor of a bar of dark Scharffen Berger chocolate from California or Valrhona from France, we have what you need. Other favorites include our own refreshing Dorothy Lane Market Mints in a tiny tin that fits easily in your purse or pocket. For an extraordinary chocolate experience, try the two DLM chocolate bars made especially for us by our friend Ghyslain. For both, Ghyslain utilizes high-grade Criollo cacao: 64% dark chocolate made with cacao from Guayaquil, a variety from Ecuador known for its intensity of flavor, and our milk chocolate bar is composed of 38% Maracaïbo, another Criollo, this time from Venezuela.

Exotic Chocolate Bars by Vosges
Funky and fashionable. Fascinating and flavorful. This is chocolate haute couture. At least that’s how we think of Katrina Markoff and her creations at Vosges. Since Katrina started the company, she has taken chocolate to a new and most exotic level. Would you ever think of adding wasabi to chocolate? Or curry powder? Let your palate, rather than preconception, be the judge. Take it from us—you’re in for a tongue tingling experience. To make these exotic bars, every spice is ground fresh and then blended with premium Belgian chocolate.

As Vosges recommends, their bars are not only for eating but for baking too. Break off a few pieces and add it to your chocolate chip cookies, melt it down with cream to make a fondue, or just enjoy one bite at a time. Choose among fascinating flavors such as: Black Pearl, Naga, or Red Fire.

• Black Pearl: East meets west in this fusion of Japanese ginger, wasabi, black sesame seeds and dark chocolate.
• Naga Bar: My favorite. Made with Sweet Indian curry powder, coconut flakes and milk chocolate.
• Red Fire Bar: This one will have you dancing La Bamba. It’s a combination of Mexican, ancho y chipotle chili peppers, Cassia cinnamon and dark chocolate.

Spices and Salts
Nothing adds to the experience of eating well like the intelligent use of spices. With spices, quality does make a difference—a big difference. To see for yourself, open the lid of a any normal supermarket brand, take dill for example, and compare it with our Dorothy Lane Market dill. You will note a marked difference in quality and depth of aroma. That quality directly translates into much better flavor in your food. What makes our own Dorothy Lane brand so good? Our spices are carefully picked from the best sources from around the world and then dried in small batches fresh as we order them. The company that we work with, Vann’s, is a small family-run company and is as fanatical about food and flavor as we are at DLM. Our spices are available in all the traditional varieties as well as several unique ones. One outstanding example is our DLM Brandied Pepper. Sprinkle a little over the next steak or roast you cook; you won’t believe the flavor it adds. We also feature a couple of other high-quality lines such as Golden Fig (eclectic blends for baking) and Morton & Basset Organic Spices.

Even salt is no mundane affair at DLM. Until you’ve experienced it, it’s hard to believe that the type of salt you use could make a difference in your food. But see how Maldon Salt from England makes your pasta taste better, or how Ravida from Sicily enhances a steak, or just sprinkle a little Espirit du Sel Fleur de Sel from France over ripe tomatoes or over a slice of baguette with unsalted butter—oo, la, la! In a short time…make that one bite, you will be using a good sea salt everyday.

Good Things Besides Food
Other than great food, we find products for you that are the best of their kind. Even when it comes to household cleaning products, you will find exceptional choices in our store. For just one example, check out Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day line of household cleansers. They use the finest, plant-derived essential oils and earth-friendly cleaning agents in every bottle. The aroma of lavender is wonderfully relaxing and tranquil and is believed to relieve fatigue. The lemon verbena has a light citrus scent that is refreshing and invigorating. No need to worry about harsh chemicals and synthetic anti-bacterial or antiseptic ingredients. All their liquid products are biodegradable and do not contain ammonia, chlorine, phosphates, or petroleum distillates, and have less than one percent preservatives. The powdered Kitchen Scrub does contain minerals that do not biodegrade, yet it breaks down into non-harmful decomposition products. In addition, they do not test any of their products on animals. Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day rallying cry is Uncomplicated Products for a Clean and Happy Home.