Big John’s Pacific Food Importers

its my secret spot to acquire canned Italian tomatoes i use to make red sauces. Largest cheese counter in seattle/​Ive ever seen. check out their cured meats! They sell bulk spices, which i use to make rubs and «secret seasonings»

Review from 2009, updated: I’d go on and on about cheese, but really, I think 44 other people have that taken care of. If you 1) are going to cook for any large quantity of people soon, 2) use any particular cheese a LOT, 3) are running low on balsamic vinegar, olive oil or other cooking components & want GREAT quality at normal costs (admittedly some are more but SO BUTTERY), 4) want dried versions of meats, grains-​local einkorn&farro&pasta galore, 50 shades of beans, SPICES inc. tea components (custom blends! OK, maybe it’s just ME that does that),&more 5) want to browse a selection of Euro-​centric cookies, candies, syrups and the like, 6) contemplating economic revival via blood (down payment), sweat, tears (lease charge), and a sticky, often stinky mobile metal box you affectionately call Carck for its cart-​truck hybrid nomenclature AND the carcasses of both your (sacrificed to obtain Carck)&of nomsources purveyed in it, or 7) just need a optometric foodgasm-don’t bring the wallet if it’s just to browse or you WILL buy a pound when you bite into that incredible sheep-​cow blend of cheesy wowwwww,
THIS is where to go.
I first came here in April 2006, then in May 2009 (between times 1&2, it took me forever and an email to figure out where the bleep it was, this warehousey garden of eden for people who LOVELOVELOVE spices & balsamics & oils & cheese & chocolate) and have gone ~10x/​yr ever since. So anyway, the first visit was during a 3 week journey here;I met up with a chef friend, then a student who worked for a caterer&slacked off a good solid week from both to REALLY pursue his career w/​a real foodie! This mesmerizing spot, where my reverence turned laugh-​rich chatter to a hush more dramatic than a Dali painting, welcomed us sometime between art galleries&parks&lunches&dinners&music shows. Chef friend (then working for the degree to formally get the title+cha-ching) knew this was the go-​to for making things from scratch for any local spot that didn’t want Sysco crap going into their deliciousness, ESPECIALLY hot w/​destinations marked by cheese courses, gourmet ingredients&non-chain sizing.
While adoring the place, seeing the drab building lit up by its product, which to me is perfection, I saw a SWEET place to covet… it was a place of discounts, mwah BigJohn, mwah! The broken chocolate, which I was all too happy to consider a hundred uses for (including twirling around in my mouth with a tickled-​happy tongue), was accompanied by a few less pretty packages, dinged massive canisters and battered up labels and such, along with some random last-​fews or expiring-​soons and things that just weren’t selling so well. The only sad thing=more and more are aware of it so you’d better hustle!
Rantgent (rant tangent): I read the rather critical «knowing they’re less than fresh» early review and wish I’d been on here to explain that those barrels – much of it now in reused pickled pepper jars for aesthetics?-are SMALL and unlike many, those spices aren’t literally sitting in exposed warehouse bins (or on its filthy floor, cough, ohhh ask me sometime, I DARE ya!) collecting all manner of dust, insects, and more (like just about EVERYthing in jars, including Penzey’s ground FrouFrouJokez0nEwe). What I initially peeked into was generally Spice Islands to Penzey’s quality (by that, neither is better/​worse; Spice Islands has superior [smoked omg-​yum] paprika, Saigon[lush, deep red speckled] cinnamon and dill; Penzey’s has superior sage, nutmeg& cumin). I don’t see that being a problem, honestly. If you’ve ever had a loose tea that you just say «huh… this is good but I’d love more [lavender, hibiscus for the tangy fruity burst from a flower, chamomile, peppermint, etc],» then this is a very logical spot to check before braving tehwebz (then, if failed, scoot to Angelina’s online, whose prices are kinda ridiculously good for TOP quality teastuff). Anyway, they source locally when available, but save Sequim lavender, few spices GROW well here :)
Remember, this hasn’t always been open to all, so before you mouth off that it’s SO impractical or think it’s so ridiculous that everything’s so huge, THINK! The place is mega-​successful w/​out charging a fortune; success requires high product turnover speed; low turnover=stop selling it! Now be glad it’s not STILL exclusively for restaurants like 40 years ago or even only open to the public once a week like many butchers or Seattle farmer’s markets (complain about THAT like me, someone whose size-​of-​10-​costcos hometown farmer’s market runs 7am-​6pm 363 days a year). Spices being far less handled, far more quickly sold than the stuff in jars,&far more affordable (without having to worry about getting a costly jar to use a few times) is something I’m GRATEFUL for; I’d rather reuse my OWN jars; when’s the last time you could literally scoop the exact amount of spices for mulling wine for the holiday or coming home w/(if you make your own like I do) your super secret jerk seasoning/​49curries? :)

Way overrated. A bit random and dingy. At one time this was probably a real treasure trove of international novelties. But you can get better selections of spices in modern ethnic markets (and probably fresher due to higher turn-​over). Disappointing.

The friendly staff is another plus for Big Johns pfim. With the great assortment of cheeses and olives, that you are invited to sample before purchase, plus the ability to bring in your own container for olives which is weighed before being filled with olives, weighed again and then the brine is added is another winner.
The olives are superior to Whole Foods where I just bought a variety, sadly unable to take the time to drive to Seattle and pfi.
I buy my spices and herbs, that I do not grow, at pfi. The turnover is quick from the five gallon buckets so I feel comfortable buying amounts for six months and then replenish them so I always have the freshest in my pantry.

I love this place. The cheeses, the olives, the cured meats… but I just spent the twenty minutes straining about a hundred beetles out of my pasta. Terrible way to begin dinner, and now I can’t eat it. You guys are great, but come on. A romantic dinner turned into a gross fest.

A necessary evil. If you need access to a large selection of flours, olive oil, bulk spices, sardines, anchovies, bulk cheese, & cured meats, this is the only game in town besides DeLaurenti. The staff clearly recognize the fact that they have a monopoly on the market, and their attitudes reflect this. I spend thousands of dollars at PFI annually, yet I always feel like a second-​class citizen when I’m there, they are so rude. Once I asked for a standard-​sized bulk bag to fill up with 5# of flour and an employee told me to «just use those tiny spice bags, I don’t have any big bags.» I would have had to fill 50 bags, so it was a completely useless suggestion. Another time I noticed they were giving away reusable grocery bags to customers spending over $ 75. When I asked for one, the lady behind the counter told me «those are only for big spenders.» I had spent $ 300, guess that wasn’t enough. They won’t slice meats or cheeses and you have to buy minimum one pound. They quit carrying my favorite flour & when I told them I’d commit to buying x amount per year they replied with «we just don’t want to order it for you– we have other choices.» Customer service goes a long way these days, and these folks could sorely use some.

Fun place! Imported goodies from Italy.

This is our first stop for olives, cheeses and other specialty deli items. The selection and prices are the best in the city. I sometimes can only find the odd things that my dad needs in order to make our sentimental holiday favorites and I always find things I never knew I needed or wanted when I’m there. But let there be no misunderstanding: this place is set up for restaurants. It’s not a nice/​finished storeroom. It’s a bit grungy and you have to walk around and look in order to find things. It’s not a regular retail type location. So don’t let expectations ruin your experience. Or do, I won’t mind if the lines are shorter when I go for my holiday load of cheeses and olives.

Reducing my rating because I keep seeing items on the shelf that are past their expiration date. They also only had one flavour of the French mints I love during my most recent visit in September 2015 and I came back specifically because I wanted to buy more of them. Bummer!
Big John’s PFI is unique but I really need them to put a little effort into it and make the store feel less grimey and clear out the expired goods. Until then, I’ll be buying my specialty/​imported foods at the Metropolitan Market in Queen Anne.

if you love food and you love strolling around getting ideas and inspiration from various cuisines of the world, pfi is the place to go. it’s tucked away in a section of the city that people often overlook but it’s well worth a visit.
i’ve been going there for years but
i make it a habit to only go on week days because weekends it’s a madhouse. there are a lot of people who don’t know that cheese is sold by the pound or that you can bring your own containers for the olives or other pickled goods that are sold in bulk from behind the counter. this makes for a longer wait when there are a lot of people but the positive part about going on weekends (if you dare) is that there’s a fabulous mingling of different cultures coming through the doors. at any one time you can hear probably ten different languages which makes people like me appreciate the place even more! having traveled and lived outside the country i appreciate that i can go to pfi and find ingredients for recipes i’m replicating here but that hail from far, far away.
if you’re a foodie, prepare to start dedicating a portion of your monthly earnings to this place. you’ll never be the same but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing!

Not crazy about this place. They do have an excellent variety of cheeses and olives. If you’re coming here, this is what you should focus on. Good luck figuring out the pricing for the cheeses because it isn’t clearly marked. Also, I believe the minimum order for most cheeses and olives is 1 pound. I would steer clear of their dry goods. Some things I picked up were expired, and in general the prices on most items seemed quite steep compared to any other grocery store in the Seattle area. I walked in looking for Callebaut chocolate but their selection looked like it had been around for awhile. No expiration date on any of the bulk chocolate and I wasn’t willing to risk it — just felt that it had been sitting around for a long time. Not impressed with their prices or their dusty selection of merchandise.

This is a niche place but the inside is a bit ratty. Yes they have a crazy good supply of cheese but i wanted pancetta and they had a severely overpriced chunk in the freezer. Went to QFC and got a fresh section sliced much much cheaper. Bonne maman preserves are 7+ a jar, but only 5 at QFC. This seems to be the norm that everything here has a 25% surcharge. I was disappointed and bought a few things but over all pretty underwhelmed for this being a specialty market. Could use some cleaning up as well.

What a cool specialty market. I took a cooking class in Seattle and the lead chef highly recommended this place. Before leaving Seattle, I decided to walk through the market. It’s definitely a chefs paradise and if I wasn’t jumping on an airplane, I would have left the store with a cart full of groceries.

The affordable essentials to good Mediterranean cooking are found here.

If you’re a serious cook you’ll have fun here.
I figure if you don’t know about Big John’s Pacific Food Importers (I call them «Puffy’s») you probably don’t cook too many interesting things.
Not that they have everything mind you.
«Puffy’s» specializes in meats, cheeses, dried, and canned goods imported from Europe and to some degree the Middle East. With «Ewi’s» (my nickname for Uwajimaya) less than two blocks away, between the two stores you can probably cook any cuisine in the world.

I don’t know what I was expecting, but I was actually pretty disappointed with PFI.
This place is pretty hard to find, when you look it up on Google while you’re on the road, it initially directed us to their warehouse in SODO. That was NOT correct. We finally found this place near the stadium, and with the helpful tips from other Unilocalers, we actually found this tiny little place that was tucked away inside of a parking lot.
There are designated PFI parking spots, and if you do not park in these spots — you risk being towed. When you finally get inside the place is 1. A lot smaller than you would imagine, but still managing to have a warehouse feel and 2. A lot darker than you would hope for in a grocery store, reminding me of the DK Market out in Kent, except without the extra space that DK offers.
There is a wonderful selection of spices, imported dry pastas, cheeses, and even a variety of salts — which I love.
Unfortunately, it’s dim, it’s not very clean, a lot of the dry pastas that we were looking at were shattered (which was tragic because we wanted lasagna sheets), their checkout process (with their one cashier) took about almost 20 minutes alone, the cheese line was 30 people deep (and none of their prices are clearly listed, so we didn’t get any), and I found a few items on their few shelves that had already expired…
This place is fine. I might be back for their selection of bulk spices and grains, but the whole experience was lackluster after reading all of these glowing reviews. It just served as an example that one persons’ fantastic experience has no contextualization when it comes to Unilocal

If I were to die in this store, please know that I died happy. Also, please know that I won’t need to worry about going to heaven, because I died in a foodie heaven!
It seemed like they had practically everything from Europe! I didn’t find many Mexican/​Texas imports, but that’s just not their specialty. It only made me a little sad, but everyone knows there’s not much room for sadness in food heaven! They do however have things like bulk dried gigante beans, clotted cream, frozen mini-​pie crusts in little tins, cheese galore, olives galore, a wide variety of salts, bulk specialty flours, specialty honey, European candies, specialty pasta, fruit spreads, offshoot vinegars, salami’s (no Salumi’s salamis — they don’t have to be imported!), and SO much more!
Their prices are a little bit higher than regular grocery stores, but that’s because you can’t find practically any of their items in grocery stores! Still, their prices are much cheaper than they would be if you were to find these products online and have them shipped to your home. For example, I purchased 6.76 lbs of bulk gigante beans. It came to $ 33.74 ($ 4.99 per pound). If I purchased them by the 1 lb bag on Amazon, it is $ 5.99 per pound plus $ 5.95 shipping. Plus I was able to choose exactly how many pounds I wanted!
I noticed a sign saying if you are there to purchase feta or olives, it is best to bring your own jar. If you bring your own jar, they will provide brine with your purchase for free. They also have a few recipes available on their website.
This location can be a bit difficult to find. It is off 6^th Ave South, and it is in the last large brick building before you reach Charles St/​Airportway. It is on the left hand side of the road if you’re going northbound on 6^th Ave, and it is on the right (north) side of the building way in the back. They do have several parking spaces reserved close to their entrance, so be sure to park in a spot marked for «PFI,» otherwise you will get a parking ticket.

I was on a quest for carnaroli. No luck at the major supermarkets. Somebody told me about this hidden cache of Mediterranean cooking supplies buried somewhere in the southern end of the International District, so off I went on a treasure hunt.
I found the place without much trouble. I didn’t bother picking up a basket — I knew what I wanted, so I’d be in and out in two minutes.
Twenty-​five minutes later, I deposited an armful of groceries on the checkout counter. I found my carnaroli, and a bunch of other odds and ends. They have a big selection of dried pastas, and jars and cans of everything that can be jarred or canned. Mostly European products, but also the odd jar of Lebanese tahini, Moroccan Harissa, South Asian spice mixes and so on. Lots of confections, jams, tinned fish, oils, vinegars, pickles; you get the idea. They also have a few snack foods clearly targeted at homesick expats; I resisted buying a pack of McVitie’s chocolate digestives for six bucks. Most of the products are pretty reasonably priced, though; if you can find it anywhere else in town, it’ll probably cost about the same or less here. They’ve got little employee recommendation cards pasted on some of the shelves, like they do at bookstores. Nice touch.
I did not explore the cheese and olive counter, but I did walk around the bulk spice section. I don’t know how long that stuff has been sitting there unsealed. I found a couple of bags of extremely stale coffee from 7 Roasters*, which made me wary. If they are leaving locally roasted coffee on the shelves for 2 – 3 months, I bet that bucket of ras el hanout has been there since the ‘90s. I wouldn’t buy spices here unless I absolutely couldn’t find them elsewhere. For shelf-​stable stuff, though, PFI is an excellent place to forage and stock up.
—–
* That’s one roaster named ‘7’, not seven roasters named ‘1’. Does that make sense? Look, don’t worry about it.

Bottom Line — I absolutely love this grocery store and come here to buy non-​GMO Italian 00 + semolina to make my fresh pastas. There is a large selection of olive oils and balsamic, as well as a big case of imported cheeses. Prices are very reasonable.
I discovered this place after returning from a food trip to Italy and wanting to source ingredients to recreate my favorutie Italian dishes. I previously had been mixing my own pasta flour, but Big John’s has imported pasta flour that’s already mixed!!! I’ve been using this ever since.
The other main reason I come here is to stock up on olive oils. There are two that I get from here; the Atlas olive oil from Greece, which is unfiltered and is delicious drizzled on almost all foods (especially fish and pastas). I don’t use the Atlas olive oil to cook… for that, I use the Maestri olive oil from Italy. If I’m cooking anything at high temperatures, I use grape seed oil.
The place can be hard to find, so watch for the PFI sign.

Balls. Holy. Mu’f****n’. Balls.
I had heard about the cheese. GO for that. Seriously. And for the Dutch/​German chocolate. Holy Jesus. I think I’m now a type 2 diabetic. Damn you, chocolate! I also found some awesome eucalyptus honey– where the f**k else carries eucalyptus honey??? The general rule of the cheese counter is one pound minimum, but the nice cheese dude explained that if they have a wheel/​section of something cut up already, they can cut you part of that or sell you half a wheel/​part of whatever already cut chunk they have. I scored a quarter wheel of double cream brie– at QFC, it would have been $ 12+, at PFI, it was $ 4 and change.
The bulk spice section is also awesome. This joint also has two different kinds of bulk pink salt (one fine, one course) and a red Hawaiian salt as well. Plus, theres salted licorice, which my Dad and stepmom are nuts for. Stocking stuffers much? Just go.