Asian grocery stores (NTW article "don't call it an 'ethnic' grocery store" )
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Chicago is rich in cuisine diversity, and that includes grocery stores. We have Patel Brothers, HMart, Mitsuwa, along with any number of independent grocers that carry products from all over Europe. Polish, Russian, Italian, German.
So much food. So little time.
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My wife shops at Oriental Market (yes, that its name) a few miles from us sometimes. She was introduced to it when she was tutoring English as Second Language classes for two Korean ladies. It moved to a larger building a couple of years ago.
She likes what she buys there and much of the produce is very good. I've shopped with her a few times. The most frustrating part is the shelves and shelves of different foodstuffs that I have no idea what they are or what to do with them. I could use a tour guide.
We have a decent variety of Mexican, Indian, and East Asian food stores in our general area, with a bigger choice in the Strip District of Pittsburgh where a lot of food sellers are concentrated. When trains delivered produce in refrigerator cars, it was the focal point of that trade in the region.
Big Al
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I love Uwajimaya; I don’t know if they all have bookstores in them, but the one in Beaverton does. Kinokuniya. I could spend a lot of time in there looking at craft books, pens, paper.
If I want something not quite as refined, I go to Fubonn, which is a very large grocery/everything store in Portland. The produce is great. And where else can I get pig snouts? (I don’t, but they are available.)
