winners-food

Dean & DeLuca is the winner of the Readers' Choice Award for Best Online Gourmet Food.

Though it's now one of America's finest online grocers -- offering a wide array of food, wine and even kitchenware --- the New York-based company got its start well before the information superhighway received its first coat of pavement.

In the 1970's, Joel Dean and Giorgio DeLuca traipsed around the world in search of artisan-produced foods that pleased their customers as well as themselves. They wanted products that fired their imaginations, challenged their tastes and turned dinner into a creative exercise.

When the partners opened the original Dean & DeLuca in Soho in September 1977, the neighborhood wasn't the hopelessly chic shopping enclave it is today; rather, it was an authentically gritty corner of the Big Apple. As such, founding partner, Jack Ceglic, designed the first store to evoke a turn-of-the-century food department. Beneath the whir of ceiling fans, high shelves brimmed with rare artisan foodstuffs from flavored salts to cured meats.

Joel and Giorgio continued to expand their operation, adding another New York shop with four times the space of the original in 1988. Boutiques throughout the city followed, as did locations in Charlotte, Kansas City and Washington, D.C. Demand for the grocer's goods even spawned a store in Tokyo.

Dean & DeLuca's wide array of gourmet offerings range from black truffle barbecue sauce, cilantro lime butter and tapas to Asian inspired delicacies such as green tea truffles, purple sweet potato vinegar and organic sushi rice. It also has an impressive selection of meats, seafood, pates, ready-to-serve appetizers, artisanal cheeses and sweets. In search of a Mediterranean sea salt? How about a Himalayan salt harvested from the beds of ancient seas? Look no further than Dean & DeLuca. The company has also launched a new wine division with knowledgeable staff who can recommend the best food and wine pairings for any event.

Today, website makes the grocer's trademark meats, fish, cheeses, herbs and spices available to those who aren't lucky enough to have a store nearby. Dean & DeLuca also markets its private label products to other retailers and wholesalers throughout the world.

Gallery: More from Dean & DeLuca

Mayne loved good food, and wanted his customers to enjoy the same. He believed the company should be unpretentious and have an inclusive atmosphere in which its customers would be welcome. Today Dorothy Lane Market is a company of well-known gourmet supermarkets in the Dayton area that are recognized for great food and service. Mayne's son, Norman, is now its chief executive officer while grandson Calvin, serves as its general manager. The Mayne family still owns and operates the company.

Dorothy Lane partners with food artisans and others passionate about food. This is evident when browsing its aisles and viewing the impressive selection of gourmet food products from around the world that stock its shelves. They offer an extensive selection of cheese, wine, and chocolate. Its oil selection is impressive, and includes walnut oil from Provence, macadamia oil, and olive oils from all over the world. They feature hard to find premium products in season. In seafood for example, they carry Copper River King Salmon and fresh Alaskan King Red Crab from family co-ops. Produce features golden Aurora apples, long stem artichokes, and jumbo size honeydew melons. The meat department's products are entirely natural, lifetime free of added hormones and antibiotics. Their meats include well marbled pork, free range chicken, and DLM Natural Beef, which almost always grades out as USDA prime.

The company's passion for great food is also reflected in what it manufactures in the store. Their in-store kitchens make staples including chicken salad from free range chicken and lasagna featuring their DLM Natural Beef. They also offer trendier fare such as cous-cous and lentil salads, cedar planked salmon, and asiago encrusted chicken breast. Dorothy Lane Market also employs several artisan bakers who daily bake traditional breads such as sourdough and baguettes entirely from scratch, which they sell in-store as well as online. Their bakery is famous as well for its Killer Brownie® which is sold to other fine food retailers and online at www.shopdlm.com.

Gallery: More from Dorothy Lane Market

Farmstead

The company was founded in 2003 by the husband-and-wife team of Matt and Kate Jennings. They're a well-qualified duo: Matt graduated from culinary school in Vermont in 1995, worked for artisan cheese stores and producers across the country, and studied with master cheesemongers in the U.K, France and Italy. Kate is a classically trained pastry chef.

As co-owners of Providence, R.I.-based Farmstead, Matt and Kate develop close relationships with producers and hand-select fine foodstuffs, specializing in small production, limited release cheeses. As an extension of this hands-on approach, Farmstead aims to educate its customers on the subtleties and history of cheese, offering product tastings, cooking demonstrations, and cheese and beverage pairing classes.

Farmstead's signature cheeses include "Sarabande," co-designed with Dancing Cow Farm of Vermont and boasting hints of hazelnut, sherry, and fresh farm cream at its peak ripeness. Another, called "Drunkin' Providence," is flavorful cheddar washed with Thomas Tew Rum from Rhode Island's Newport Distilling Company.

The Jennings founded Farmstead's sister restaurant, La Laiterie, in 2006 to augment their offerings. Located next to the cheese shop, the bistro serves seasonally influenced meals with fresh ingredients from local sustainable farms; the menu sometimes changes daily. Matt and Kate designed the restaurant themselves, accenting their rustic cuisine with hand-made rust colored paper lights and an interior made from reclaimed barn wood, forged iron and Vermont soapstone.

For those who can't make the trip to Wayland Square, the historical shopping district Providence, to inspect Farmstead's cheeses in person, the company offers a comprehensive website along with speedy delivery options. Rest assured, the cheese will still be just as stinky when it arrives.

Petrossian

Perhaps the most storied of caviar's purveyors, Petrossian traces its roots to a pair of Armenian brothers who brought their love of roe from the shores of the Caspian Sea to the edge of the Atlantic in the 1920s. Melkoum and Mouchegh Petrossian migrated from Eastern Europe to Paris to continue their studies in law and medicine, but found the City of Light woefully devoid of their favorite Russian delicacy.

Since then, Petrossian has grown to become the premier buyer and importer of Russian caviar worldwide. Its Tsar Imperial label graces some of the finest Beluga, Ossetra and Sevruga on the market. To this day, the company insists that members of the Petrossian family personally select the best of every Russian caviar catch.

Fortunately for those whose appetite for adventure doesn't outweigh the appetite for quality caviar, accompanying modern-day Petrossians on a Russian fishing scow isn't the only way to enjoy their caviar. The company offers delivery, as well as restaurant locations in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New York.

Founded in 1984, New York's Petrossian restaurant is a special treat. Ideally located for opera goers of discerning taste, it's housed in the historic Alwyn Court Building on Manhattan's West Side, one block from Carnegie Hall and four blocks from Lincoln Center. Melkoum and Mouchegh would most certainly be proud.

Gallery: More from Petrossian

Best Gourmet Grocer/Food Hall
The Readers Choice nominees for Best Gourmet Grocer/Food Hall include one that started out with a small store in Texas and today, has more than 270 stores in North America and the United Kingdom. An Ohio-based nominee is family-owned and operated that is recognized for its great food and service. Two nominees are New York institutions offering gourmet foods from around the world. Last, but not least, there's an opulent Food Hall in London that is known worldwide for the sheer volume and selection of its international goods all presented in breathtaking displays.

Dean & DeLuca
Dorothy Lane Market
Harrods Food Hall
Whole Foods
Zabar's

Best Online Gourmet Food
The Readers' Choice nominees for the Best Online Gourmet Food include a New York institution with a staff that travel the world in search of great artisan-produced foods. A Seattle-based nominee was launched by a group of passionate food-lovers committed to the best artisan-produced, sustainable foods while another nominee is a family-owned operation that originated from three generations of cheese importers. A Michigan-based nominee is a collection of local businesses, each with its own food specialty. Finally, the Philadelphia-based nominee celebrates the European roots of its two founders with a wide array of gourmet meats, cheeses, oils, and other goods from around the world.

ChefShop.com
Dean & DeLuca
Di Bruno Brothers
iGourmet.com
Zingerman's Mail Order

Best Caviar Retailer
The Readers' Choice nominees for Best Caviar Retailer include award-winning brands from Europe and the United States with each offering the highest of quality. Several offer some of the finest Russian caviar to be found, while one is a proponent of sustainably harvested roe with its own tank-farming system.

Caviarteria
Caviar House & Prunier
Caviar Russe
Petrossian
Tsar Nicoulai Caviar

Best Bread Bakery
The Readers' Choice nominees for Best Bread Bakery include companies that have been producing bread for decades. One opened more than 70 years ago and is now an institution in Paris, while another was launched in Belgium before expanding around the world. A Los Angeles-based nominee has developed more than 100 varieties of award-winning breads. The Philadelphia-based nominee features artisanal breads and the baked goods of the Ann Arbor-based nominee are known throughout the Midwest.

La Brea Bakery
Le Pain Quotidien
Max Poilaine
Metropolitan Bakery
Zingerman's Bakehouse

Best Cheese Shop
The Readers' Choice nominees are among the most respected shops in the world. These cheese shops, offer a full range of both international and domestic artisanal cheeses. They are the destinations for serious cheese lovers and chefs who are in search of the best.

Farmstead
Formaggio Kitchen
Murray's Cheese
Neal's Yard Dairy
Pastoral