I never could quite figure out the half-sour. But somehow, now that it’s impossible to get one, I find myself wanting one with a sandwich. Otherwise, I’m happy with a dill.
Of course, finding a good sandwich around here is its own problem. The last really good one I had required a trip to Santa Fe.
I’m fine with sweet pickles from the supermarket.
But when it comes to dill pickles, the best I ever had were at a New York City deli many years ago, and they kind of spoiled me for any supermarket dill pickle. The closest I’ve come since–outside of real delis, of course–are made by a friend of mine. Every Christmas, she will give me one or two jars of her Kosher dill pickles, and they are wonderful!
Bummed - no pickles in barrels in Oak Park 
Always a jar of Claussen’s Garlic Sandwich slices in the fridge (the crunchiest!). Sometimes I just have a sandwich of those and some aged cheddar. Other than that, we play the field. I think we usually have a jar of Mezzetta pepperoncini and giardinera, Giuliano for New Orleans giardinera (muff olive salad) and Roland brand is decent for other stuff. But we’ll try anything.
Martha Stewart made pickled beets and hard boiled eggs on her tv show years ago, I always remembered how nice they looked. The thing was, she found very small chicken eggs that were the exact size and shape of the beets. I don’t know where to get the little eggs. The grocery salad bar used to sell hard boiled quail eggs, but that was decades ago.
I took a snap for you today at Shop N Save. The front four barrels are two of sauerkraut (one with and one without carrot) and two of herring (one whole fish, one filets). The three in back are the pickles (although they only had two types today, the full sour and the deli/vinegar pickles.)
They are horrible pickles. No flavor at all except vinegar.
Vlasic are no great shakes, but at least they use spices.
I don’t buy the pickles on a shelf of grocery stores. Things like Ba-Tempte and Claussens in the refrigerator case are far better in every respect.
One exception: Mrs. Fanning’s makes the best bread-and-butter pickles. And Vlasic now has a separate line called “Farmer’s Garden” that are quite good.
“I want to go to that place.” <stares longingly>
Who am I quoting?
I love all things pickle. I think one full shelf in our fridge is packed with just about everything mentioned here.
Am about to go julienne some daikon and carrots to pickle.
Can you get Medium eggs in your area? They’re about the size of a small beet.
I always slice the beets for pickling, so the egg size doesn’t matter to me. (And I always buy Jumbo eggs, because I need to maximize my egg pleasure.)
Great - now I have to take a drive to Shop & Save this weekend 
These are all good. But my favorite is one that’s hard to find outside of Minnesota. Gedney’s Norwegian Spicy Dill pickles are the best. Trust me. I’ve tried them all.
This particular batch of pickles was a good deal more sour than usual. I bought about a half dozen to make some Polish pickle soup. You can look it up, but the basic idea is grate a bunch of fermented pickles (or grate and slice some for texture), add them to some chicken broth/stock, some potato chunks or rice, and thicken with a little bit of flour mixed in with sour cream. Here’s a basic recipe. You can also add a little bit of carrot, if you’d like. The one thing I wish they had was a ladle so I could scoop up some of that pickle brine into my bag.
Also, this may be closer to you, but you might want to try Kolatek’s just north of Grand on Harlem: Redirecting...
I’ve never been there, but it looks like the kind of place that would have their own homemade pickles. Looking at the Hungry Hound review of the place, it seems they ferment their own borscht and sauerkraut, so I’d be surprised if there weren’t any pickles there.
Ba-Tampte Garlic Dill are the standard I hold all others to; their half-sours will do in a pinch. Will have to try McClure’s version, and maybe Boar’s Head, which I’m reading good things about.
Right across the street from Caputo’s! Perfect - Thanks!
I’m a traditionalist: pickled spring onions (the small ones) are gorgeous. And Branston’s is a delicious mix of assorted pickled vegetables.
Best pickle I ever had was a horseradish one. It was sweet and hot and very puckery. Of course, it depends on your affection for horseradish, but I love it.
Vlasic Kosher whole dills here. Love them especially a new jar when they are not cold. Bread and butter pickles are good for a change. And pickle juice is to die for. Dill that is.
Pickle lovers: Ever try a pickle back? Shot of whiskey followed immediately with a shot of pickle juice. Indescribably good.
