Anyone go to restaurant stores?

[Bogie]

There is a Restaurant Depot and a Gordon's Food Service near work... The stuff is generally priced a bit over Costco/Sam's, but there's a lot of it... And... I'm a lazy bum. So I picked up a large pack of interleaved foil sheets - Really cuts down on the need to clean oven pans. I also go through straws (beverage and coffee) and styrofoam cups. Gordon's has some good frozen pepperoni strombolis, breakfast sausages, and so on...

[K Frame]

I've gone a couple of times, but not recently. Oddly enough, where I live, there's not one really convenient to me.

[zxcvbob]

I shop there mainly for kitchen knives; mostly RH Forschner (I think they are now called Victorinox) and Dexter-Russell brands.  But I have so many knives now I don't really need any more. 

My favorite knife is a Forschner curved boning knife that I bought in the 80s.  I use it all the time; it has never been sharpened (just honed on a steel) and it's still scary sharp.

[grampster]

We go to Gordon for things like large bags of mints, Popsicles, bags of frozen shrimp or fish

[Tuco]

GFS is the only local place to carry bags of Santiago dehydrated refried beans. Those things are a staple over here.

And they sell good spatulas, too.

[K Frame]

Even better, the only full-service restaurant supply store (equipment and food) near me has been bought out by Restaurant Depot, which sells ONLY to service and trade. You have to be a member, and if you're not in the service or trade, you're not getting in the door.

Crap.

[Bogie]

Restaurant Depot near me only cares if you have money...

[K Frame]

Wow. Interesting. I wonder if I could get around that. It would still be a pain in the ass schlep, but it might be fun to visit.

Their website certainly makes it sound like you can't even bother to try if you're not trade.