The Web Is Cooking

If you're looking for a happy medium between getting the ingredients to prepare a feast yourself and ordering from Chili's, then go to CookExpress.com (www.cookexpress.com). The San Francisco - based company, which was launched in January 1999, offers nationwide service, delivering its Mealkits anywhere in the country via FedEx. Mealkits contain everything you need to prepare a meal at home. All the ingredients are fresh (never frozen) and are already sliced, diced, measured, and marinated by the company's chefs. Mealkits have instructions that are nearly foolproof. Ingredients are even labeled with letters that correspond to those in the recipe, so you don't need to know what an ingredient looks like to use it. Meals take anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes to prepare. Kits include everything you need to cook up a gourmet feast, except for some of the basics like salt, pepper, olive oil, and, of course, pots and pans.

Mealkits come in coolers that also contain cold packs and time-temperature indicators, which let you know whether your meal has been kept properly chilled. If it hasn't, you throw the kit away and CookExpress will give you a replacement. Place your order before 1 PM EST Monday through Thursday for next-day delivery. (Monday and weekend deliveries aren't as yet available.)

Specialties Are Their Specialty

Who needs Dean & Deluca when you've got the Web? For regional, seasonal, and exotic specialty items, the Web is like having a neighborhood gourmet shop right around the corner. But most of these sites are small-town operations -- and it shows. If you're looking for sleek designs and flashy ordering processes that rival those found on Amazon.com, you'll be disappointed. What you will find are great products and personalized customer service. It's the digital equivalent of getting extra-thin - sliced roast beef from your neighborhood deli.

Say you grew up in Maine eating lobster, but you now live in Chicago. To satisfy your yen for that crustacean, just surf to The LobsterNet (www.thelobsternet.com). This site ships live lobsters caught off the coast of Maine the morning before they arrive at your door. You can also get all the trappings needed for an authentic lobster bake, including corn on the cob, potatoes, bibs, and even a pot. Prices vary and are updated regularly. This fall, a lobster bake for two costs $95.95, including shipping.

Some other fabulous regional favorites include ice cream from Cincinnati-based Graeter's (www.graeters.com) and delicacies from Zingerman's Deli (www.zingermans.com) in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Graeter's site is extremely easy to navigate. From the home page, you can find a brief description of the company's famous French-pot process, which accounts for the ice cream's texture and richness; the flavor-of-the-month list (cinnamon for November and eggnog for December); and the all-important order form. Make sure you try the flavors with the chocolate chips. Graeter's was a candy manufacturer (you can also order candy from the site) before it was an ice cream maker, and its chocolate chips are incredibly dense -- and huge. Our favorite: black-raspberry chocolate chip.

A minimum order is six pints, which cost $60, including shipping. The ice cream arrives the next day in a styrofoam cooler packed with dry ice to keep the contents frozen. After that, you're on your own.

Zingerman's opened in 1982 as a small deli in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Today, there's Zingerman's Delicatessen, Bakehouse, Practical Produce, Mail Order, Catering, and even training seminars. But it only recently launched a Web site. Although the site is a separate business and is not run by Zingerman's owners, it offers many of the same foods found in Zingerman's catalog, along with its famous Food-of-the-Month clubs, which include bread, pastry, and cheese. The Web site's content is more extensive than the catalog's and has recipes as well as items that are exclusive to the site. If you're into food, this is one site you'll want to sample.

Many seasonal specialties are a snap to find -- when they're in season. Thanks to the Web, you're no longer bound by the seasons in order to get your favorite items. Consider Vidalia onions, grown in Vidalia, Georgia and usually available in your local grocery store only from May through June. After the season ends, most Vidalia-onion lovers are left crying for more. But at Vidalia Onion Bros. (www.vidalia.net), you can get fresh onions shipped to you well into November, along with a slew of other Vidalia products -- salad dressings, salsa, relish, and barbecue sauce -- throughout the year.

Another popular item is Copper River Salmon. These salmon have a high fat content that protects them from the frigid waters of Alaska's Copper River and makes them the best-tasting salmon around. But they are available only between May and August -- and even then they're hard to get.