MarketBasket: Buy bread alone

Posted: December 04, 2008

Good news if you're fond of the extraordinary baguettes at Parc, the Rittenhouse Square brasserie. You can take them home. By popular demand, the Stephen Starr boite now stocks a basket of the crusty, lightly salted loaves at the hostess desk. They're made on premises (from a "secret recipe," says Starr) by baker Carlos Aparicio. The bread's at its best warmed up, though when Parc's kitchen gets busy it can sometimes forget. - Rick Nichols

"La bonne baguette," $3, Parc Brasserie, 227 S. 18th St., 215-545-2262, www.parc-restaurant.com

Just a hint of lime

I'll admit, when it arrived at the Food desk, I dismissed this popcorn as another stupid brand expansion. Why would anyone want lime on their popcorn? But then I tasted it. The faintest note of citrus plus salt brightens up the popcorn and gives it a rather addictive quality. Warning: One mini bag yielding a few cups may not be enough. - Maureen Fitzgerald

Orville Redenbacher's Gourmet Popping Corn Lime and Salt, $2.69 for 10 mini bags at Wal-Mart.

Nuts about these nuts

Roasted in antique copper pots right here in Frankford, these nuts are sold to catalogs and specialty stores across the country; Bloomingdales carries them under their own label. Locals can pick them up at the Pennsylvania General Store, Reading Terminal Market, or have them shipped the day they are roasted. Our favorites: the Tres Toffee Deluxe Mixed Nuts, a mix of pecans, cashews and almonds coated with a secret buttery toffee, and the sweet heat of Nicely Spiced Almonds, tossed with ginger, cumin and cayenne.

- M.F.

Society Hill Snacks, $10.95 per one-pound bag; at www.societyhillsnacks.com.