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I thought it was just in my neck of the woods that small ethnic grocery stores were the place to go for the hard to find supplies I need for my multicultural cooking and lifestyle. It seems that all over the country, folks are traveling to seek out small markets to find Sriracha sauce, real leaf lard, weird and tasty candy, black chickens, exotic produce, interesting spices, and Asian condiments. This is the exact opposite of one trend I reported recently where some neighborhood grocery stores are tailoring their wares to fit the local cultural profile. These are stores that focus on specific products, and people seek them out for what they consider traditional foods or for items that are difficult to come by in the more generic supermarkets.
I have a few places I go to and they aren't just smaller places like my local New Golden Village in Scarsdale and Meiji-Ya in Hartsdale, NY. There is Kam Sen Asian Market with locations in Flushing and White Plains, NY and the large, if not enormous purveyor of ethnic foods like Mitsuwa Marketplace in Edgewater, NJ, one of nine locations in three states, primarily CA. So, do you have specialized ethnic markets that you seek out in your area?
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11-07-2006 @11:41AM Abby said... Oddly, the place I lived with the best ethnic grocery stores was Bloomington, IN. IU is a research one university, so the international student population is huge. Bloomington even has 4 Tibetan restaurants. Who knew such a small town would have such great food?
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11-07-2006 @11:54AM Lenka said... I admit, I'm utterly spoiled when it comes to ethnic groceries - Chicago has an enormous number of them, from corner bodegas and fruterias to Devon Avenue's International Marketplace, filled with Indo-Pak groceries, East European and kosher markets. Peterson and Lincoln sport a range of Korean markets and restaurants...that's just a sampling. It would take months to get around to visiting them all. And yes - we also have a splendid Mitsuwa Marketplace in nearby Algonquin Heights!
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11-07-2006 @12:40PM Robyn said... In Ann Arbor and Lansing, MI, we've got a few Chinese and Korean markets--enough to get the basics. And some really good kim chi. I think there are also other ethnic markets, like Indian or Middle-Eastern.
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11-07-2006 @1:47PM Kassie said... Here in Minneapolis we've got ethnic markets galore. I live on a street dubbed "Eat Street" that has tons of ethnic groceries and restaurants. They are mostly Asian, some Latino, and a few Middle Eastern and African. Perpendicular to that street is Lake Street which has tons of Latino, East African, and Asian groceries and restaurants.
Basically, you can get anything you need in terms of speciality foods and cookware along these two streets. Plus a tasty dinner.
It is a beautiful thing, and all in walking distance from my house.
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11-07-2006 @6:28PM Kate said... In Sacramento, California, we have a few wonderful Mexican groceries which have those wonderful bakery sections displaying large, lard-filled rainbow colored cookies that melt in your mouth, as well as freshly grilled street-style tacos and carnitas. There are a number of large Asian markets, and also my favorite ... Oto's Japanese Market, on Freeport, across from the Executive Airport. Quail Eggs, Pocky Sticks, every kind of noodle known to man, and if you dig rice crackers, they have hundreds of varieties. The best place for "brown bag lunch ingredients." It isn't a large store, but it is jam packed. I understand they'll be expanding. I've been meaning to get to some of the Middle Eastern markets, but have not done so, yet.
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11-07-2006 @8:05PM Cheryl said... Don't forget the wonderful Mexican grocery stores in the Lansing area.
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11-07-2006 @8:26PM srah said... I live near Cincinnati so we have Jungle Jim's, which is an enormous international foods market - not specializing in any one area, but with huge offerings from all over the world. Great!
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11-07-2006 @8:43PM Grant said... Thai Binh pictured is a great place, it is about the same size as most other supermarkets in the area. I live about two hours and 15 minutes from Wichita now, the owner of one of the ethnic food stores here( Manhattan, KS) actually goes to Wichita every tuesday to go to Thai Binh. There are some really nice Mexican grocery stores in wichita, as well as a few Indian. Here in manhattan we have a Korean, A general ethnic food store, asian/Indian/Mexican. We also have one other Indian food store.
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11-07-2006 @10:18PM Spitzmaus said... Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, we've an embarrassment of ethnic grocery riches; one can find pretty much anything Asian (including Cambodian, Vietnamese, Japanese, Korean and Filipino), Indian, Persian, Afghani, Mexican, Italian (particularly in the City) Russian, Portuguese, Greek, and Ethiopian. Eastern Europe (Russia excepted) is less represented, and we've precious few kosher establishments.
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11-08-2006 @5:25PM Liz said... Dallas TX and the surrounding suburbs are great for ethnic grocery stores. Within 2 miles of where I live, there are at least 2 Indian groceries, 1 Vietnamese grocery, and a couple carnicerias.
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11-20-2006 @2:28AM Alison Barnes said... I usually seek out Korean stores. I like cooking preparing Korean dishes. But to make it taste like
the real thing, you have to get your ingredients from Korean stores. It just won't work with substitutes.
You really have to get it from Koreans...and follow the recipes as is.
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