Restaurant Depot Temporarily Open to Public

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Twisted Brick
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Restaurant Depot Temporarily Open to Public

Post by Twisted Brick »

A while back fellow member StuNY (thank you) turned me on to the medium corn meal at Restaurant Depot. $16 for 50lbs and NO milling required!

Due to the pandemic (and flat-lined sales to restaurant customers) they have temporarily opened their doors to the public, so now’s the time to go stock up. Conveniently, no questions asked on large grain/sugar purchases.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ocregi ... demic/amp/
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cranky
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Re: Restaurant Depot Temporarily Open to Public

Post by cranky »

Thank you TB I've been wanting to go there for a long time :D
Last edited by cranky on Thu Apr 09, 2020 4:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Restaurant Depot Temporarily Open to Public

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Nice! Thanks
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Re: Restaurant Depot Temporarily Open to Public

Post by JellybeanCorncob »

Damn, never heard of Restaurant Depot before. There’s one 17mi from me. That’s a good price for cornmeal. I’m going to get down there in a few weeks when we’re passed the hump of the Covid19 shit.
Thanks for this tidbit of info Twisted.
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Re: Restaurant Depot Temporarily Open to Public

Post by StuNY »

Twisted Brick wrote: Thu Apr 09, 2020 11:21 am A while back fellow member StuNY (thank you) turned me on to the medium corn meal at Restaurant Depot. $16 for 50lbs and NO milling required!

Due to the pandemic (and flat-lined sales to restaurant customers) they have temporarily opened their doors to the public, so now’s the time to go stock up. Conveniently, no questions asked on large grain/sugar purchases.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ocregi ... demic/amp/
Great to let everyone know TB! I am drinking bourbons made from this that are 6-9 months old and it is really great stuff! I went out and bought 3 more bags when this hit, figuring if it comes down to bartering for food I would be all set :D I also make a vodka by adding sugar to the spent grains and it is much better than just a sugar wash! No PH crashes etc and great grain flavor. Doing my stripping run on this tomorrow. I ferment on the grain with it, and it is a bit tricky to squeeze out. I put it in a strainer bag and lift each side one at a time to let it move left to right, this gets most of the liquid out, and then I put it in my mop wringer for a final squeeze.
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Twisted Brick
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Re: Restaurant Depot Temporarily Open to Public

Post by Twisted Brick »

JellybeanCorncob wrote: Fri Apr 10, 2020 5:40 am Damn, never heard of Restaurant Depot before. There’s one 17mi from me. That’s a good price for cornmeal. I’m going to get down there in a few weeks when we’re passed the hump of the Covid19 shit.
Thanks for this tidbit of info Twisted.
Don't wait too long, JBC. No telling how long this temporary "open house" is gonna last... Next time I'm up in the bay area maybe we can hook up. My daughter lives in the Marina District. I just hope I have something on oak to bring.
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Re: Restaurant Depot Temporarily Open to Public

Post by greggn »

Twisted Brick wrote: Thu Apr 09, 2020 11:21 am Due to the pandemic (and flat-lined sales to restaurant customers) they have temporarily opened their doors to the public, so now’s the time to go stock up. Conveniently, no questions asked on large grain/sugar purchases.

This was a good tip, thanks. I called my local Restaurant Depot to confirm and they do provide a "single-use day pass." I just came back from a fairly successful run where I picked-up ...

50 lbs jasmine rice
50 lbs buckwheat groats
100 lbs cornmeal

This was a nice local score and will tide me over until I can make the longer trip to my favorite feed store.
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Re: Restaurant Depot Temporarily Open to Public

Post by Twisted Brick »

Nice run. How much was the buckwheat? I don't think the local RD carries it. I've always been interested in mashing up this ancient grain.
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Re: Restaurant Depot Temporarily Open to Public

Post by greggn »

Twisted Brick wrote: Fri Apr 24, 2020 9:29 am How much was the buckwheat?

1.99 / 25 lbs

I only noticed it because it was right next to the empty shelf of yeast and the Bob's Red Mill logo caught my eye.
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Twisted Brick
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Re: Restaurant Depot Temporarily Open to Public

Post by Twisted Brick »

Thanks. I like the BRM grain. I was buying BRM medium cornmeal until RD came up. Now paying $16/50lbs vs $17/25lbs.
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Re: Restaurant Depot Temporarily Open to Public

Post by Hillbilly Popstar »

How much extra conversion and flavor could one expect to get out of this food grade corn vs feed grade cracked corn?

I get 50lbs of cracked corn for $10.
Yeah I have to grind it up. But is the extra $6 (plus shipping I presume...) worth it?
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Re: Restaurant Depot Temporarily Open to Public

Post by zach »

I had an original gravity of 1.082 with Gold Medal Cornmeal with 25 lbs/ 12 gallon using Booner's protocol.

With Tractor Supply cracked corn and a corona mill once through, the best I ever got was 1.065. The flavor improvement and labor saving is such that I've given up on the feed store. Your feed store may have better corn, but I'd pay $6 for someone else to grind a bag.

I too made my first to the Depot this week. I picked up 50 lbs of cornmeal ($17), 50 lbs of rice flour ($21), and 50 lbs of wheat flour ($10).

I haven't tried rice flour, but did an all rice with enzymes last year that turned out great. The 50 lb bag of long grain rice was $19 so I figured the reduction in labor is well worth the extra 2 bucks.
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Twisted Brick
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Re: Restaurant Depot Temporarily Open to Public

Post by Twisted Brick »

Since working with Bob's Red Mill corn meal and other 'organic' (rye and red wheat) berries, I've kind of moved away from the feed store.
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Re: Restaurant Depot Temporarily Open to Public

Post by tombombadil »

Picked up a 20g brute and 100#s of cornmeal myself. Thanks for the tip!
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