Ace Endico Corporation

These people are awesome. Free coffee, and a store. No overnight parking and by appointment only for deliveries. Kind of snug for getting into some of the docks.

Fun for the avid cook! Lots of ingredients you won't find in a supermarket, some in larger, most cost-effective sizes. Prices good to very good. Nice staff.

Gluten free selection seems to be improving with a few more items available. Just bought GF cannoli shells!

If I had to identify a negative, I would like to see better quality meats.

You wouldn't expect it from a quick look at the consumer entrance, but Ace Endico is a foodie's paradise. It looks a bit rough, but my oh my, it's oh so tasty....

Ace prepares and packages and distributes over 15,000 food products to restaurants, country clubs, grocery stores, and neighborhood bodegas, stretching from Maine to Pennsylvania. They own many of the companies in their supply chain, produce many of the products on their shelves, and train chefs in creating new recopies.

The retail outlet is located in one corner of its own massive food center in Brewster. If you're mostly indifferent to food, this is not your store and odds are high you'll hate it. But if cooking and eating make your heart & soul sing, you are about to meet your newest best friend.

The current entrance is humble at best. Tucked into a corner of their vast lot, it passes through industrial racks of soda cases, big boxes of heavy-duty cleaners, and lines of paper towels. Not auspicious, but trust me, keep walking. The good stuff is ahead.

Behind its checkout lanes are shelves and racks jammed with pastas and sauces, lines of syrups, stacks of spices and more than eyes can possibly grasp in a single visit. There are no signs, no markings, no clue to move right (toward industrial-sized bags of pastas) or left (to coffee and cookies for peckish customers). (I like to start with coffee and a cookie. Two if Alicia's not looking.

There's a section of fresh fruit and veggies, most priced well below retail. On a recent visit, large plump avocados were $1.25 and heirloom tomatoes $3.25/pound, about half what I pay at my local store. I've never gotten better-priced, fresher, firmer mushrooms anywhere. Except my own back yard.

There are rows of imported olive oils and coffees from Italy. Just ahead is fresh fish, arrayed on crushed ice, changing with the daily catch. A small shelf holds about a dozen imported jars (not cans) of tuna that I'll save for my next time. This trip I got a piece of wild-caught Atlantic salmon and a dozen jumbo shrimp. The fish monger behind the counter seemed to know seafood well and was wonderfully direct about what was good that day, what was not, and what's likely due tomorrow.

Just past the seafood are racks of cakes and imported cookies including at least two dozen varieties of Loacker Quadratini (bite-sized, layered wafers) selling for about 1/3 the price on Amazon. Beyond that, jammed into another corner, are pots and pans and baking sheets, pizza peels, kitchen knives, storage bins, and mountains of take-out containers.

Ahead is a wide array of consumer-size salamis, prosciutto, soppressata, mortadella, and pancetta, many uncured and unprocessed. And gigantic loaves suited for commercial delis or massive family reunions. Don't be surprised if you're standing next to folks from your local bodega buying the same foods you are, at the same price you're about to pay.

There is one long aisle of frozen goods stacked with bags of prepared frozen chicken and fish and fries and dumplings. Across the narrow aisle, more floor to ceiling freezers are jammed with an array of restaurant-quality deserts in both feed-an-army size and just-for-me cups. My single-serve chocolate & coffee mouse, topped with crunchy bits of heaven, was generous and rich. And in its own reusable glass ramakin.

At least a zillion other products from massive slabs of freshly butchered meat to individual vacuum-sealed steaks to rows of imported cheeses, stacks of crackers and breadsticks, even basics like fresh milk and eggs.

There is too much food here for this tightly-packed space. It's well-organized but the variety is vast. No matter how many times I've gone, it's been near impossible to see everything in a single visit. Or to acknowledge more than a tiny portion of the ever-changing stock.

And yet all that isn't too much for foodies like me. This foodie is counting the days till the expansion is completed and there's even more room for even more foods.

Ace is the real deal; a serious destination worth a whole lot of repeat trips.