Duck fat, lamb sausage, bittersweet chocolate at a North Hollywood warehouse sale

The anticipation outside Epicure Imports on Saturday morning was as thick as the French accents inside. Customers of the gourmet warehouse sale, which happens seven times a year, lined up in this industrial part of North Hollywood well before they would be let in, like teens at a rave -- except here, instead of a DJ, it was the late-arriving truffle-butter vendor who cut through the fawning crowd.

A manager came out to apologize for the delay -- it was already 9:35 a.m. -- and invited the crowd inside. Someone at the front shouted “Charge!” and others scrambled for one of the many mismatched carts (Ralphs, Target, 99 Cents Only Store).