I recently learned of this store from the owner of a new Turkish restaurant that opened in my neighborhood (read my review of Effes, should you like) because I noticed that he had an giant bottle of cured sumac. I asked where he got it because I've been looking for some (and by some I mean a lot) and am totally unwilling to spend $12.00 dollars for a little bougie glass bottle. He told me about Vintage Specialty Foods! Listen: once you've used cured sumac you can't go back to powdered sumac. Q: Wait. What?? What is sumac anyway? A: Sumac, from the Arab word summaq, meaning dark red, is a spice made of the dried berries of the rhus coriaria shrub. It grows wild and happy in arid rocky environments; think Sicily and parts of the Middle East like Iran, but also in North America. Sumac berries are ground into powder or chopped and preserved with salt (this is cured sumac) and used to flavor or finish beans, vegetables, meats, poultry and fish. I've even had shortbread flavored with sumac and it was O_o. Sumac has been prized by First Nations ancestors for its medicinal values since wayback days but its tart, floral and fruity taste--kinda like if sour cherries and sunlight plus a garden could be distilled into a moment--is a flavor that we highly prize in our current small plates-make it snacky-but-not-just-tapas zeitgeist. I learned that Vintage Specialty Foods has a small, yet solid Turkish spices section--both bottled and bulk. I grabbed at least half a pound of cured sumac :D I also got some isot or urfa biber https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urfa_biber and nigella seeds (known popularly as black seed or black cumin). Vintage is a lovely, well lit, jewel like specialty grocery, known for its bulk bins of dried fruits & nuts and enormous selection of candies (some which are sugar-free) as well as its teas, coffees and biscuits. (I got some gorgeous dried fruit tisanes and a giant bag of melissa, too!) In the back of the store you'll find a wide selection of olives, Turkish and neighboring nations' cheeses, yogurt and fermented milk products, as well as a small butchery. In the front of the store you'll find sweet buns, Turkish pastries, rusks, breads, and a coffee and tea station. The staff are calm and professional, if not super cuddly. Perhaps this is cultural? No matter, you're here for the goods not necessarily affection! I will say Vintage shoppers are a dedicated, focused bunch so if you're more in the mood to browse and contemplate purchases, you might feel a bit at odds at first, but soon enough you'll get into the opportunity to elevate your kitchen vibe and find yourself the very happy consumer of a number of tasty treats. Covid protocols: Everyone was masked up. It's up to you to be on top of your own six-feet apart measure--which is hard in a small shop--but can be done. read more

Beware, It's a Scam !!! The Staff is absolutely nasty .Today they charge my EBT card two times for the same transaction. I show my online transaction to the Staff they just laugh on me . I already report fraud to USDA Office (202) 869-9984...Most of the customers are older peoples....Who knows what they doing to them ??? read more

Hello, my awesome and powerful new friend in Brighton Beach. You have the power to make me buy things I don't need but that I desperately want. You show me your candies, olives, nuts and dried fruits by the pound, and you know I can't resist. I'm like an alley cat on a fish skelton. I pounce, and then I pick the bones clean, just like I pick your shelves and bins bare. Your dark chocolate covered almonds are bordering on unfair. Do you have to make them glisten so in the lights? Do you have to price them so low? Hey, almonds...you're coming with me, leather. All of you. Get. In. My. Bag. If only you stocked Tupelo honey as well as the many decadent varietals, and if only you'd donate those bottles of "Fat Free" Greek dressing to some pussy store in Park Slope, then you'd rate 5 stars. Stop smelling so good, you damned dirty coffee! read more

Vintage Specialty Food - storefront - Specialty Food Near Me - Brooklyn, New York

Another must-visit place for sweet tooth owners is Vintage Foods. It's amazing how calm and cozy the spacious store is, considering how much pure sugar and caffeine power they're packing! Bins full of every sort of candy line the walls, and there are stands with bisquits, cakes, jams, spreads and chocolates. Vintage carries another substance I am completely addicted to: sunflower seeds. They usually have four or five different kinds - and each comes in salted and unsalted, raw and roasted. I always get strange looks as I fill my 4th plastic bag to the hilt with my roasted, unsalted Israeli seeds. read more

Vintage Specialty Food - Vintage Foods - Specialty Food Near Me - Brooklyn, New York

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A treasure in Brighton beach ! If you are looking to buy quality nuts and dry fruits, this is your place. They sell all kind of dry fruits, chocolates with nuts in them, Turkish halwa, few goods that form the main ingredient in Turkish cuisine. You should try their baklava, placed in the coffee corner, sold by pound. You won't regret taking home a few of them. Crunchy with the right amount of sweetness. Few times you might stumble upon rare nuts, you can try them before buying. Even though a few things might be a little on the higher end on the price, it is worth the quality they provide. read more

Absolutely amazing shop full of Turkish and European goodies. The variety is astronomical. Dried fruits, nuts, huge amounts of candy, Turkish delight, coffee and so much more. I'm from Germany and could not resist some of the pickled items ( pickled kohlrabi) and mushrooms in a glass. Prices are terrific. Highly recommend this shop. read more

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What a well stocked store. I am pretty sure that any nut, seed, dried fruit or berry within the tri-state area that you may be seeking can be found in this store. My friends and I were walking the boardwalk this afternoon and decided to walk into Brighton Beach to explore some of the local shops in the area as we don't often have a chance to do so and figured we might find some things worth taking home with us. I am glad that we came into this shop for sure. Although I have allergies that prohibit me from eating half of the items in the store, I can comment to say that the selections of nuts is INCREDIBLE and impressive. Moving onto the dried fruit the selection there was also beyond compare to what I have seen in most stores. Since we had never seen dried kiwi before, we purchased a few pieces to sample along with the dried banana that was larger and softer in texture than the banana chips, some dried pineapple, the usual wasabi peas, and a chocolate covered marshmallow all for about $5. The staff was helpful and extremely courteous and answered my friends question regarding another item in the store he was unable to locate. If in the area again, I would definitely be back. read more

Vintage Specialty Food - Dried Kiwi - Specialty Food Near Me - Brooklyn, New York

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Ever since I've started eating healthy, I've incorporated nuts into my diet. Although they are typically high in fat, it's a good fat and healthy to have a handful every few days. This place is very well stocked with fresh unsalted options. They have pretty much any nut that you can think of and I can attest that they are fresh. They do also have a large variety of candy, chocolate, dried fruits, teas, and coffee but I haven't tried that yet. It all does look really good though. For now, it's just the nuts for me. read more

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Horrible place to shop!!!! Every time I bought from here the products were old and stale. I got sunflower seeds and they were thrown in the garbage. Don't waste your money here read more

LOVE this place, I'm like a kid in a candy (and olive and nut) store here! They have the best Turkish pistachios which are hard to find. Apart from the pistachios there are all sorts of things to browse through, mostly Russian and Turkish. It definitely feels like a step back in time and into another world. I don't live nearby so it's always a treat when I find myself in Brighton Beach to stop by here and stock up. read more

I have been shopping here for at least 15 years. There really are very few places like this outside of the Middle East. Yes, there are some spots with fresh nuts, but this place has every nut that you can imagine. They are always fresh, and the prices are better than any place that I have been to. Everything you get here is always fresh. The breads, the sweets, the teas, the olive bar, and of course the fresh ground coffee. They used to gift you with a Turkish chocolate bar after a certain charge, and I do miss that. The chocolate was dark and creamy. It gave me an excuse to cheat on my diet and explain it by the fact that it was free and I shouldn't waist food. Jokes aside, this place really is a gem, and it is really worth the trip to Brighton Beach. read more

Interesting place with an assortment of bulk dried fruits and nuts. Reasonable prices. Love shopping at a place like this as I can buy a little of everything to sample new items. read more

I decided to give them another try today. I have not been in here for over 1 1/2 years (see prior review , but today wanted to see if they had a product I needed. I was looking for vegetable chips. I wanted to compare the 'fresh' to the packaged store bought chips that I buy in the supermarket. They had the vegetable chips - They were $ 17.00 per lb. I thought WTF, $ 17.00 per lb. I bought a 1/2 lb. I also bought a 3 lbs of mixed candy from $ 2.99 - $ 3.99 / lb. This is the standard candy mix I used to buy there. When I got out of the store, I opened the bag and tasted a few of the chips. They were large, clean pieces and they were delicious. BUT, as I walked around Brighton Beach I found many other 'nuts n' candy' places selling the same chips for $ 6.99 per lb. At the 'nut house' a place close to my home I bought 3/4 lb at $ 6.00 per lb and lined the two stores chips up next to each other for a visual before a taste test and visually there were identical. When I did the taste test, they were identical too. I gave them 3 stars... better than before because 1) the store clearly was cleaner than I had ever seen it, 2) to my surprise, the cashier saw I had no room in my two hand held shopping bags, and she quite gracefully put my purchases into a brown paper bag never asking me and never charging me. 1st time I ever have encountered a friendly cashier there. Next time I am in this area I'll give them a try again, but at $ 17.00 / lb. I won't be buying my vegetable chips here! read more

Vintage is one of my favorite things about Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, and NYC as a whole! It's so amazing, I bring most of my out-of-town guests here, hoping they will fall in love. Features: -Russian/Polish candies of all varieties (i.e. chocolate, fruit, marzipan, marshmallow, jelly, sugar-free) sold by the pound or boxed for gifting -Every type of nut (i.e almond, cashew, peanut, hazlenut, macadamia, pistachio, pumpkin seed, sunflower seed) in every style imaginable (i.e. raw, salted, roasted, chocolate covered) sold in bulk -All types of dried fruit (i.e. pineapple, peach, necatrine, strawberry, prune, date, fig, apple, sweet cherry, sour cherry, flavored cranberry, blueberry, and strawberry) also sold in bulk -Specialty foods (coffee, tea, pastries, tahini, jam, cheese, olives, snack mixes, and beverages) *All the above are unbelievably cheap, some as little as $1.99/lb* Everytime I go to vintage, I get a little bit more than the time before, operating under the assumption that I will not be back in the near future. My basket usually contains 2 or 3 varieties of chocolates, raw hazlenuts, raw pumpkin seeds, dried sour cherries, dried nectarines, roasted cashews and chocolate covered cashews. A generous scoopful of each has NEVER costs me over $25, even when I am hell-bent on a splurge. Drawbacks: -Due to the cheap prices, this place can get EXTREMELY crowded, especially around the holidays -Sometimes the staff looms over patrons. This is to deter people from snacking out of bins, which I have seen on almost every visit. Overall, Vintage is the definition of a 5 star establishment; great staff, great product and great prices. read more

Every time I'm in the area, I have to take a stop here for some candy and peanuts. This place has everything a fat kid like myself needs for a sweet tooth craving. The prices have gone up for the passed several years, but so does everything else, so I cannot complain about the prices. Love this store read more

There were tons of things to look at and buy at this store. Everything from things that you might know but actually never tasted before. I am surprise that they do speak a little english so come on in when you are close by and look at all of the things people like to buy for the regular russia household. read more

Best place to get coffee in the neighborhood - they have Blueberry coffee that seriously rocks. Also, I'm a huge fan of their chocolate covered espresso beans. read more

Anyone who didn't give this place five stars is off their rocker! My only regret is that I was in a hurry and didn't have time to peruse their offerings completely. The physical store (displays, selection, decor, and cleanliness) was outstanding. I only had time to get a some fresh spanikopita-like phylo pastry w/ spinach-feta inside and some of the dried fruits, sold by the pound... but I wanted to spend at least an hour inside. Will probably be going to Coney Island soon w/ the GF, and will definitely make it a point to come back as a side-trip. read more

5 stars for the coffee here. I love that you can mix and match coffee beans and then grind it all together. The selection of other stuff, from olives to chocolates to dried fruits to semechki (sunflower seeds) is also mind blowing, but the prices have gradually climbed upwards over the years, which is a little annoying. However, it's definitely the best place to get sunflower seeds ever, and Polina, I will definitely not be looking askance at you, unless it's because I'm waiting for the seed scoop! read more

Came to this store many times in past years. Candy and tea selection is always great and somewhat nostalgic. But during the last visit I was verbally attacked by one of the male workers in this store, who managed to scare kids. I guess this is last time for my shopping there, unless staff will change for better. Good luck to the owner. read more

Okay so this place quickly became my morning ritual while I was in town on business. They are friendly, but more importantly they have these cheesy stuffed pastries in the morning that are to die for! They are a cheese stuffed flakey pastry with some sort of seed sprinkled on them! Get there early though because they are amazing hot and they only serve like 10-12 a day! Super yummy!!!! I can't tell you the name of them because I forgot, but they are snail shaped, and they are just inside the door, past the first counter and on the right side in a metal serving pan. You can't miss the snail shape!!!! read more

This place is delightful! Stocked full of goodies with pretty good prices. We picked up some dried fruits and some other candies. Love it!

I've been here a few times to buy nuts, haven't had any problems until my last visit. Last week, came in to buy a big, $55 tray of mixed nuts and dry fruits. I asked twice, two different workers, if the tray was freshly prepared or not. They both answered yes. Brought the tray as a gift to a Christmas party only to discover it was completely stale and tasted horrible. They could have been honest but I guess that's not their policy. read more

I bought several pounds of dried apples there last time, most of which turned out to be bitter. This time I sampled one to make sure they were not as bad as last time and immediately the extremely rude manager told me "NO Sampling" even though there were no visible signs near the foods. I've been a long time customer there but they surely lost my business from now on. Over what? 3 cents worth of product? I was spending on average of $15 per visit there. My pet peeve is businesses that are penny-wise and pound-foolish. read more

A clean, modern and well stocked Turkish store in Brighton Beach. Over the past 10 years Vintage has grown from a small store into one of the premiere stores (and wholesalers) of Turkish foods. I don't like that they sell at retail in their store which undercuts the stores that buy wholesale from them, but I like the prices they offer when they do that :-) read more

The place looks nice. However, almost everything we bought was expired. We talked with the manager and he had a very bad attitude, was rude. We had some hard time just to return what was clearly expired for months according to the label (either by day/month or month/day). Be careful, they don't seem to keep fresh items, they are really vintage! read more

Amazingggg simply amazingg. I see this place as a hidden wonderland into a world of dried nuts, assortment of turkish goods, a defined collection of tea and coffees. Truly a gem! They always are so friendly and helpful. The price is definelty reasonable when you consider the freshness and quality of the products. One of favorite products happend to be Merve branded ayran and cheese. You can never go wrong with Merve, and this is by far the one place in brooklyn that I know sells it. One complaint I have would be that I always buy things I never on planned on purchasing when going in because of how appealing everything is, I cant say I regret it though! read more

Almost everything is expired in store, and despite that fact I used to be their customer on regular basis. Last week I got sunflower seeds in pack and when I went home I realized that the package was opened and stapled back. Yes they literally stapled an opened product to sell it back!! I sent my husband there for an exchange, but forget it...The person who is supposed to be the manager was so rude and began cursing and yelling, he was using F* words...Unbelievable right? Amazing customer relationships, a complete rip off, my first 1 star, Never ever going back!! read more

great selection of turkish foods! meat department is great anything from goat testicles to sheep heads! nuts always fresh baklava is always good! read more

I love this place!!! I appreciate that they try to stop people from touching the dried fruits and nuts with their dirty hands. They have a clear sign that says do not touch with your hands, and they strictly enforce it so i know that the food is sanitary. read more