Before we go any further, let me just tell you: that fresh peach Greek yogurt is like fluffy clouds of heaven mixed with a dollop of rainbows and sunshine. You really need to eat some…like, as soon as possible. Today? Today.
The place where I bought the yogurt, Nature’s Gifts Market (a.k.a. Likitsakos Market), is located just a few blocks from me, over on Lex and 87th. I went in today to check it out on the recommendation of the owner’s daughter, Alex, but as it turns out – and I just remembered this moments after stepping through the front door – I’ve been there before. Probably dozens of times, in fact, because they make turkey pinwheels that were quite the rage back in 1999, when I went to high school two blocks away.
The place is a total throwback to old-school markets, and has been an institution on the UES for the past thirty years…but now it’s struggling in the wake of the opening of the brand-new Fairway (yeah, the same one I got all excited about a couple of weeks ago). And…you know, it’s so easy to forget – and so heartbreaking – how local, family-run businesses can suffer just because some Barnes & Noble or Starbucks or Food Emporium decided to open its doors a few blocks away. Of course it’s OK to patronize chains, and they’re great for some things, but it’s also important to continue to support local merchants however possible…and there’s something about them that you just can’t find at a chain. The owner knows your name and what you like when you walk in the door…and what you like is the yogurt that he makes himself, from a recipe passed down through generations of family members.
So I wanted to tell you about this place, because it – and the people who run it – are lovely.
If you were to buy one thing from the market (other than the yogurt; buytheyogurt), it should be this olive oil, produced by a friend of the family: their markup on the price is nearly negligible, because the owner, Dimitri, so genuinely wants his customers to give it a shot.
Another product worth mentioning: the house tomato sauce, which is just a straightforward marinara sauce, but which I hear (from Brigitte, Dimitri’s wife) is absolutely spectacular when combined with the olive oil. She’s sending a family recipe for a turkey meat sauce my way (!), and of course I’ll share it with you once I give it a go (I got her permission, don’t worry).
Nature’s Gifts Market offers tons of amazing house-made dips, salads, sides, and entrees, as well – I know this, because I tasted a bunch of them today, and a bunch more are currently sitting in our refrigerator waiting to be attacked by my husband. To learn more about their catering services, call (212) 289-6283.
