Markets & Grocers – Page 29

QingDao: Some last minute explorations……

August 24, 2010 mmm-yoso China, Markets & Grocers, QingDao, Travel

Before heading off to Jinan, the capital of Shandong Province, we had a short amount of time. And there would be no lounging around the hotel room for us! So we set out up the various hills in search of anything interesting…. and maybe some breakfast as well.

As we approached the top of one of the avenues, you could here what sounded like incessant buzzing. We walked toward the noise, and soon enough we could make out voices. It was all coming from a large walled lot…… I was pretty sure what was going on as we turned the corner.

It was a morning market of course……. over the years, I've been to many of these, and even though I haven't found anything that quite tops the exoticness of Luang Prabang's Morning Fresh Market, I'm still fascinated by what these markets offer. I think it really teaches you a lot about the people and culture; insight that staring at the world from inside a tour bus could never provide.

Like this machine making sesame paste and sesame oil.

Here are where you get those breakfast staples You Tiao (fried cruller) and Soy Sauce Eggs, among other things.

Fresh vegetables and herbs galore……

Though there's always something interesting and exotic to be found…..

A reader emailed me mentioning that folks in my photos look a lot larger than what he considers typical Chinese in his neck of the woods. I wrote to him saying that the Chinese up North are bigger boned, and many of them like the Missus's Boy Cousin who towers at somewhere around 6'4" are quite tall.

Some folks were surprised when I mentioned that tomatoes are very popular….. they are eaten literally by the truckload……

But are consumed more like a fruit, than a vegetable.

Right down an alleyway from St Michael's Catholic Church, was another street lined with vendors. This one stretched for blocks, literally in the shadows of the downtown skyscrapers.

As always, there were tons of fresh and live seafood……

And other stuff……

Near the bottom of the hill, right across from and next to yet another truck full of tomatoes……

Where a few eating places….

The prices are very reasonable. All the food is cooked outside, and you eat in the cave-like, dark and dingy, and even perhaps a bit scary looking dining areas. I grabbed a seat while the Missus did the ordering…..

Of course there was You Tiao….

Both Millet and Red Bean Porridge……

As you can see; a plastic bag is placed around the bowl, and the porridge is poured into the plastic surrounded bowl. Once you are finished, and the bowl is returned, the plastic bag is removed and discarded, and a new baggie replaces it…. ready for the next customer.

We also had a variety of Baozi……

On the soggy side……

Overall nothing to write home about, but it sure did fill us up…..

We walked back out to the street realizing that we needed to get back to the hotel and head to the train station. Looking down the road, I noticed that we were just two blocks from Zhongshan Lu, one of the main streets, and pretty close to our hotel. It was time to make a beeline for our room, grab our luggage, and walk on over to the train station.

And Jinan was two and a half hours away……

Well, that's it for my QingDao posts. I hope you've enjoyed them, and as always, thanks for reading. Here is a listing of those posts:

Post #1 – Lunch and Dinner at Fifth Aunts

Post #2 – Morning in QingDao, Tianhou Temple, and Zhongshan Park

Post#3 – Our first visit to Pi Chai Yuan, and Banquet #1

Post#4 – St. Michael's Catholic Church and Banquet #2

Post#5 – The original family home and banquet #3

Post#6 – Pi Chai Yuan again

Post#7 – An abundance of seafood

Post#8 – The Wedding Banquet

Post#9 – Beer Street and the Tsingtao Brewery

Post#10 – Dinner at Sixth Aunt's

Post#11 – Donkey and Brain Tofu (Doufu Nao) for breakfast at Pi Chai Yuan

Post#12 – The Children's Park (Chu Shui Shan) and going shopping

Post#13 – Dinner at the Original Family Home

Post#14 – Beer in a Bag

Saturday Stuffs: Goodbye Shanghai City? And updates on Baihe (Lily Bulb) and Guai Wei Can Dou (strange flavor broad beans 怪味蚕豆)

July 31, 2010 mmm-yoso Los Angeles County, Markets & Grocers, Road Trip

Goodbye Shanghai City?

On a recent visit to Nijiya, I noticed that the lettering had been taken off of Shanghai City. This grabbed my attention so I walked on over to find this sign.

It says they are closed for "renovation"……. so maybe it's just a freshening up, which Shanghai City has needed for a while. Of course they'll be opening on 8/8….

Then I saw the Application for Ownership Change.

It seems that the place will be under new ownership. It made me a bit sad, at the least I should have gotten one last bowl of Niu Rou Mein.

3860 Convoy St
San Diego,CA 92111

An update on Guai Wei Can Dou (strange flavor broad beans 怪味蚕豆):

I first wrote about Guai Wei Can Dou in this post. The Missus and I love the stuff, and had been allowing ourselves a ration of two to three pieces a day from the stash we brought back from China. Of course it was just a matter of time before we'd munch on our last Guai Wei Can Dou, which happened all too soon. I soon set out looking for these broad beans around San Diego. I found one brand in Thuan Phat Market, but it looked plain wrong. There was one place that I thought we'd find this snack, and we made sure to drop by on a recent trip to our old neighborhood of Rowland Heights……. T S Emporium.

Emporium is a good name for this large shop which sells just about every kind of bottled and canned food item, snacks, and what they are really well known for, the herbs. It used to be that the smell of Chinese Herbal Medicine would hit you smack in the face when you entered. Nowadays the smells are bit more muted, and the apothecary is gone.

There are still endless aisles of goods, though.

And wouldn't you know they had two different brands of Guai Wei Can Dou.

Including one of the brands we brought back from China.

The strange thing about these "strange flavor" broad beans was they weren't nearly as "Ma" (numbing) as what we brought back from China. We noticed that Sichuan Peppercorn items aren't nearly as numbing as they are in China. I'm wondering if the irradiating of Sichuan Peppercorn affects the numbing aspect. And perhaps they irradiate this as well…. or perhaps it's just a bit of a different formula??? That's ok…. I'll take what I can get until we return to China.

T S Emporium
1457 Nogales St
Rowland Heights, CA 91748

An update on Baihe (Lily Bulb):

The gentleman at Beijing Restaurant in San Gabriel had told the Missus where to get Baihe. He laso gave us some specific instructions for rinsing and soaking to get rid of the sulphides, how to select lily bulb, and to only purchase ones that are labeled to come from Lanzhou. We purchased some from 168 Market in San Gabriel. We also saw the Xiang Chung Ya (salted shoots of the Chinese Toon Tree) that I believe the restaurant uses. It looked terrible, no wonder we weren't impressed……

The funny thing was, the very next morning "Tenjo" mentioned that we could find Baihe at 99 Ranch Market here in San Diego! I thought that I pretty much knew where everything was at 99 Ranch Market…….. but I was wrong. We found the Baihe stacked above the bean sprouts in the produce section.

I trim a little off the top….mostly the brown and discolored stuff, and just enough off the bottom so I can peel the petals of the bulb. I rinse three times, then soak in water for about 5-6 minutes, followed by another good rinse to remove the sulphides used to prevent discoloration. Many of the brown spots are just superficial, and can be rinsed or rubbed off.

If you've noticed a dearth of cooking posts recently; it's because I've been making this five or six times a week.

Don't forget some ginko nuts while you're at it……

Thanks again Tenjo!

QingDao: The Children’s Park (Chu Shui Shan) and going shopping

July 28, 2010 mmm-yoso China, Markets & Grocers, QingDao, Travel

After our breakfast visit to Pi Chai Yuan and a stop at Beer Street, we headed back to the hotel. We had some good 'ol H2O and a bottle of LaoShan Cola in tow. I gotta say, it seems that folks don't drink much water in QingDao. But with fresh beer everywhere, and LaoShan Cola, I can see why. I believe cane sugar is used for LaoShan cola, as it has the same sweetness as Mexican Coca-Cola. There's also a great complex mix of flavors from a variety of herbs and spices. Good stuff…..

After a short break, we headed off to Fifth Aunt's, to visit with the Missus's Mom's cousin and other stuff. Dinner was to take place at the original family home, and Fifth Aunt had mentioned that there was some chicken sold in the market along the way to the family home that somewhat resembled Dezhou Pa Ji (Dezhou Braised Chicken – 德州扒鸡). This was a no-brainer…. we'd pick up some chicken on our walk to the family home.

Fifth Aunt's street ends at the Children's Park (Chu Shui Shan), a place that the Missus had spent many moments at during her youth.

Though the park had changed during the years, there was still the 108 steps up to the walking paths lining the hill.

We meandered around the park a bit……..

We had been told that in this day and age, because of the amount of labor available, Fifty had become the "unofficial" retirement age. Here in the states, it would be a stagnating death sentence for many people. But China is such a social country that activities keep folks busy, like the "Grandmother Drum Teams" that play at weddings. And this group of women were having a great time……..

The Missus cracked up and told me they were "singing really old Communist songs…."

The men occupy themselves as well.

There's an intense card game taking place on every table.

There was one thing the Missus wanted to see. Firmly etched in Her memory is a grand lake, so we walked around searching for it. The best we could find was this pond……

Such is what the eyes of youth sees…… everything seems so much bigger and grander.

We walked down the path, and made our way across the street…..

Something caught the Missus's eye…….

It was something she "just had to have"…… and these weren't named Jimmy Choo or Chanel. They were roasted yams from a cart that very well could have been around when the Missus was a child.

The older gentleman let the Missus pick the one She wanted, weighing it on an old fashioned hand scale.

I forget how much it cost… it was some minuscule amount. To the Missus this was a priceless taste of Her youth.

This street used to be the "open market" when the Missus was a child. And though there are still many vendors along the street……

It seems the city has done its best to move the vendors that could afford a stall indoors.

The walkway is lined with various vendors…..

And in typical savvy marketing fashion, at each entry is a well stocked stand full of snacks. We ended up spending a good deal of time here as the Missus sampled, and eventually bought some goodies. The peanut snacks to the right was a winner, and the Missus bought some Haw Flakes…. which were the best I've ever tasted.

A bit further down the way was the stand selling roasted chickens…..

Unfortunately, the Missus didn't see the kind of chicken She wanted. After talking to the woman who seemed to own the stand, a cloth was lifted on a pan behind the counter…. and there it was!

After purchasing the chicken, the Missus asked if I could go behind the counter to take a photograph of the chicken. At first the woman was a bit suspicious, thinking that we perhaps a government or new agency. But after telling her I was from America…… well, I got my photo.

The woman happily exclaimed, "oh, good! It's free advertising!" And even moved the chickens so they would look more attractive.

And she even asked me to take a photo of her! You gotta love these folks……

When you visit most of the stands like this one that features different breads (sorry "AZ", still no rice!), you watch the folks working hard in the back of the shop making their goods.

Isn't that how it should be????

Like most fresh and open markets (i.e. Mercado Central in Cuzco or Hang Be Market in Hanoi) , the stands are organized together in sections. For instance the sauces and vinegar section.

And of course, this is QingDao, so there's a large seafood section as well.

As we made our way out the door, we ran into Fifth Aunt and the Missus's Mom on the way to the house.

Here are just a few more photos!

Seeing this reminded me that I still hadn't had "Qsingtao in a bag", which Fifth Uncle told the Missus is quite good.

Not to worry… the Missus had that covered!

I'm aware that this was pretty long post. So thanks so much for reading!

QingDao: An abundance of seafood

July 4, 2010 mmm-yoso China, Markets & Grocers, QingDao, Seafood, Travel

I was looking through my QingDao photos, and noticed just how many of them were of tanks of seafood.

Walking around QingDao you just can't avoid the tanks and buckets of seafood. This one is at one end of Pi Chai Yuan, downtown QingDao's food street:

Every large restaurant has tanks of live fish and seafood. Some of which are very large.

The smaller restaurants, like those near to QingDao Bay have tubs of seafood out for potential customers to check out.

There's quite a variety…. want razor clams? No problem.

The Missus did tell me that it's not quite like when She was growing up. She has told me stories of mantis shrimp being sold from giant piles on the street. I was told that there's a greater variety available nowadays.

Locals are very discerning, which is why, for example, you'll always see the crab displayed this way where the locals shop.

The females are much more desirable, since there's the possibility that they'll be carrying eggs. The odds become better during the fall, though there are those who can tell by just one look.

I had wanted to call this post "水果海" but the Missus told me that no one would understand the term "fruits of the sea" in Mandarin. I will say that the waters around QingDao is without a doubt fruitful, it is shellfish heaven. Which takes me back to a quote in my first post on our visit to QingDao, where I was told "Oh, man, you're going to love the seafood…. you're going to looooove the seafood!"

That's all for today………

I hope everyone is having a great Fourth of July long weekend!

Nijiya Market- grab and go for a quick meal

May 24, 2010 Cathy Markets & Grocers, What Cathy Eats!

You are reading mmm-yoso!!! the blog about food. Cathy is blogging again today. Kirk is *still* on vacation, as is ed (from Yuma).

Hi. The other day, The Mister and I had about an hour for lunch at the same time and we were in the same area, so we met at Nijiya Market. The first time I had ever gone to Nijiya, I came home and googled it. The first google item that came up was this blog. I started following Kirk and this blog. Way back in 2005. .
Located in the same mall as Sage French Cake, Okan, Shanghai City and Curry House , this Japanese Market sells healthy (mostly all organic) and gourmet foods. We walked to the wall opposite the entrance door, where prepared foods and sashimi are displayed. Yes. I am doing another post about meals you eat where you shop.
I took a warm vegetable croquette (99¢)- mostly mashed potatoes with carrot and peas, rolled in panko and fried and also a shrimp vegetable tempura pancake ($1.99)- onions, green pepper, carrot, squash and small shrimp dipped in batter and fried until crispy.
The mister grabbed a Saki Nori bento box($5.49) with warm smoked salmon, a piece of tempura shrimp with some karage style chicken all on top of laver (a thick piece of seaweed which has a good mineral content) which was on top of organic rice which had some sort of seasoning sauce (not soy) and bonito flakes on it. The rice ended up being very salty fishy tasting; The Mister likened it to anchovy-like saltiness, which he does not like. Of course, I thought it was wonderful.
I chose the Kaisen Chirashi ($6.99)- organic sushi rice,(Clockwise from top) Squid with salmon roe, salmon, octopus, shrimp, scallop(under the shrimp), cooked egg, yellowtail and tuna. The packing includes organic soy sauce, wasabi and ginger packets. You get chopsticks when you are paying at the cash register. To the far left of the grab and go counters, on top of the counter, is a hot refrigerator and the cans of green tea or coffee are very heated through and only $1. A quick lunch we could eat our front at one the the five set up tables in front.

Nijiya Market 3860 Convoy Street, Suite 109 San Diego 92111 (858)268-3821 Website

Breakfast at Bristol Farms

May 5, 2010 Cathy Breakfast/Brunch, Markets & Grocers, What Cathy Eats!

Welcome back to mmm-yoso!!! the food blog written by a few friends who like to eat and write about their respective meals. Kirk usually writes, but he is on vacation (nobody has guessed where yet). ed (from Yuma) is busy with work. VickyL and a few others are apparently merely eating and not writing and so today, Cathy is sharing a nice breakfast with you.

Hi. The other morning, The Mister and I decided to drive to La Jolla to look for breakfast. We ended up at Bristol Farms, just West of the UTC Mall.
Bristol is a High End grocery store. Very close to La Jolla. Albertsons is its parent company, but nothing in here is like your local Albertsons Store. There is a wide selection of prime and dry aged meats, seafoods, deli meats and cheeses, breads, wines, produce and even the regular grocery aisles have some quite fancy items, as well as everyday groceries. The prices here for the higher end items are not bargain basement, but are fair for the quality of the item. The everyday item prices are similar to what you pay at your regular grocery.

Each location has a cafe. There are some steam trays, a by the pound salad bar, pizza, roasted chicken and in the morning breakfast burritos already made to grab and go. You can have plates or sandwiches made, pay and take them to go, or you can sit down and get a menu and have a nice meal.
Starting with a good coffee ($1.65). You can see there are daily breakfast -and lunch- specials. Those specials are about $4 off of the regular price. There are also wine tastings on some evenings. High end, but accessible. Everyone here is very helpful and explains the foods they sell- in the store and in the Cafe.
The Mister got a bacon, avocado and cheddar omelet ($9.49) with seeded rye toast and a fresh fruit cup. The omelet made of two fresh tasting eggs, a very nice, sharp cheddar cheese and the bacon- those 1/2 slices, crispy and maple flavored…really, really good. Topped with ripe, fresh avocado and a side of a fresh roasted tomato salsa. The toast was a thin sliced seeded rye, also very fresh and good. The fresh fruit cup was only cantaloupe and grapes, but both fruits were very ripe and nice flavored.
I got the smoked salmon scramble ($9.99). Again two eggs mixed with a lot of high quality cold smoked salmon, capers and onions. This was accompanied with a toasted "everything" bagel and whipped cream cheese and those…up there on the top right. I like to call those "Bristol Tots"…cubes of potatoes, deep fried so there is an outer crust and the inside is light and fluffy and lightly seasoned. Heavenly little cubes. Maybe because I have not had French Fries in a very long time, or maybe because of the type of potato used, but those little cubes of goodness are addictive.

A special breakfast inside a special grocery store.

Bristol Farms 8510 Genesee Avenue, San Diego 92122 (858) 558-4180 Website

Vine Ripe Market (and the adjoining restaurant)- La Mesa

April 28, 2010 Cathy Markets & Grocers, Mediterranean Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

Since this post, the adjoining restaurant has changed. I'll link to it once I have something to say.

Hello and welcome back to mmm-yoso!!!, the food blog written by Kirk, ed(from Yuma), VickyL and Cathy. Kirk is still on vacation. ed (from Yuma) is in Yuma. VickyL is in Northern California and cathy is in East San Diego County, blogging today.

Hello again. Vine Ripe Market was around a few years ago, then closed, then opened again in January 2010. I wrote a post about it back in 2006, when Kirk went on his Hawaii vacation. (It was my 5th post. Ever.)
It seems to be a bit cleaner than before, and the bakery, meat, produce, regular aisles, freezer and deli sections are filled with wonderful well priced items.
All Halal meats.
Household items and accessories are sold here also.

Inside there are steam trays with hot food, sandwiches can be made to order or you can go out front and to the Fletcher Parkway side of the building is the restaurant. (I have never seen a name for the restaurant, not even on the menu..)

We started with a Turkish coffee ($2)on this chilly day (all the seating is outdoors).

The Mister ordered the Ghorme Sabzi-Vegetable stew ($9.99) a baby lamb shank cooked with red beans, lime ad fresh herbs. The meat was tender and flavorful as was the accompanying stew. Really good.
I ordered a chicken Shawerma sandwich ($5.99) served on a warm pita bread. Juicy marinated very flavorful chicken cut from the spit then grilled with lettuce, green pepper and onion in the bread. This is served with salad and house made hummus. A nice olive oil with vinegar and herbs dressing is served also.
On another day, we ordered hot tea…
We decided on a Greek side salad ($4.99)to go with the sandwiches we ordered. Lettuce, cucumber, tomato, onion olives, feta and the same house dressing…
A falafel sandwich ($4.99) was OK good. After having the falafel at Mystic Grill , I am spoiled. These were fresh and kind of fried a bit too long. The flavor of the falafel were good. The sandwich had lettuce, tomato, cucumber and onion and a fresh home made (yogurt based) sauce.
My sandwich came wrapped in flatbread…looking like this from the outside.
and was filled with charbroiled boneless chicken. Not Shawerma/marinated, but juicy and good flavored. It must be Halal chicken.
As I said, the prices here are great.
Stop by if you are in the area. Great market, great restaurant.

Vine Ripe Market 8191 Fletcher Parkway (at Jackson-SE corner) La Mesa 91942 (619)462-9900

Harvest Ranch Market and another Pastrami Sandwich

March 19, 2010 Cathy Markets & Grocers, Sandwiches, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is the food blog, written by a few friends. Today, Cathy has written a short post. Kirk and ed (from Yuma) and Vicky are reading. Or something.

The other day, I was out in El Cajon near where Second Street turns into Jamacha Road and decided to stop into what has been an old favorite place to shop.
It wasn't crowded around 1 p.m. so I decided to continue my pursuit of a great pastrami sandwich, for FOY (Friend of Yoso), "H" and dropped in. It's a fancy market, with a few branches around town (including Jonathan's in La Jolla) with Boars Head meats and condiments
as well as all the other items you'd see in a grocery store.
A fancy grocery store anyhow…the wine selection is awesome and they have wine tasting events here pretty regularly (sign up inside the store to be notified). I don't take photos of people, so that is why I don't have too many photos inside the store.
But here's a nicely blurred photo of the Produce area, where I picked up a d'Anjou pear for my dessert ($1.49/lb). Then I paid and walked over to the Starbucks in the same mall.

A full sandwich is $6.99 (half sandwiches are $3.50) and includes cheese, choice of bread, lettuce, tomato, onions, mayo and mustard. I got pastrami and kraut, warmed, with mustard on rye, no cheese. The bread was soft and flavorful and a seeded rye. The meat was not fatty but wonderfully smoky in flavor. A quality pastrami, plenty of it. The kraut was nice and crispy. The pear cost 70 cents, so my whole meal was $7.69 plus $1.50 for the fresh, individually brewed with a drip filter and freshly ground beans coffee at Starbucks (I did not want the Pike's Place brew and asked for the Bold of the day, which is Italian this week and the nice Young Man behind the counter ground some beans, poured hot water into a little gizmo over the coffee cup and made me a nice, fresh, hot cup of coffee at the regular price). It was a great meal, just on the edge of too much food.

I hope everyone has a nice weekend.

Harvest Ranch Market 759 Jamacha Road El Cajon 92019 (619)442-0355

Website

Antigua: Miscellaneous stuff

March 5, 2010 mmm-yoso Guatemala, Guatemalan Food, Markets & Grocers, Travel

I really need to finish up my Guatemala, and for that matter my Thailand posts. After Copan Ruinas we returned to Antigua, to spend our last nights of our trip.

We really loved the colors of Antigua, from the cobblestone streets to the colorfully painted buildings, this is one photogenic town.

After some research I booked our room at the Hotel Casa Florencia. Our usual "M.O." is to book a room for the first night or two and take things from there.

As for how we enjoyed the Casa Florencia…. I ended up booking all our nights on our return trips from Lake Atitlan and Copan Ruinas at the Casa Florencia. The rooms aren't very large, in fact, they are on the small side. Though on our last night, we were given the larger "triple" room on the second floor. I'm guessing that the folks at CF were being nice to us for making the place our base of operations.

What we found most impressive about Casa Florencia, was how clean the place was…..the floor shone and squeaked under our feet. You felt like you could almost eat off that floor.

Hotel Casa Florencia
7a Avenida Norte #100
La Antigua,Guatemala

On many nights, we'd sit on one of the benches outside our room, and have our snack of fried chicken from Pollo Campero, and a cerveza or two. One evening we decided to taste test two of the very popular beers….. Brahva and Gallo.

Brahva is a light lager, very effervescent. Gallo, which is the more popular beer is also a lager, but has a weird "skunkiness" to it, that wasn't very enjoyable. It wasn't just a bad can…. all of them tasted that way. Needless to say, we stuck with Brahva from then on……

On the west edge of Antigua is the market which we only briefly visited. We did spend enough time to take some photos.

If I were to go over all the sights in antigua…. well, I'd have a ton of posts. Instead, here are two of our favorites. On the north side of central Antigua is La Merced, a beautiful church.

And though La Merced is known for what is often called the most impressive fountain in Central America….

And the views from the top of the church…. I found walking the hallways more interesting. The lights and shadows give the place an interesting feel.

La Merced is an interesting way to spend an hour wandering the hallways, checking out the views above, and of course the fountain.

To the Southwest, is one of the oldest churches in Antigua, the Iglesia de San Francisco. Dating back to 1579, the church and the large monastery was destroyed in the great 1773 earthquake.

The church has been rebuilt, but the grounds of the monastery, which once included a library, and even a hospital has not. You can walk and explore the ruins.

And of course, since this is a food blog, I need to include some food. During the evening, you can find vendors outside of La Merced, selling various items that is a good change of pace from all the tourist food.

Where you can get stuff like this….

The Missus always cracked me up when ordering these….. this type of small tamal are called "chuchitos". The term tamale is saved for larger tamals. So the Missus would point and go "tamales…tamales?" And the woman manning the cart would go "no, no, no tamales…. chuchitos!" And the Missus would point again and go, "tamales…." And the woman would go, "no…chuchitos"……. he-he-he….

And of course there was always someone selling tostadas…..

Which always hit the spot……..

Thanks for reading!

Wholesome Choice- Irvine. A Market, and then some.

January 8, 2010 Cathy Markets & Grocers, Mediterranean Restaurants, Orange County, Road Trip, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is a food blog. Just some friends writing about what they ate. Today, it's Cathy writing after she ate.

One Saturday morning, The Mister and I drove North up the 5, took the 405 a few exits, exited at Culver street, went South two lights and stopped here.
Wholesome Choice. The location used to be a Wild Oats (Henry's) Marketplace. It is quite large inside. When you first walk in, there is a line of people waiting for hot Sangak (flatbread) to come out of the oven. I don't take photos of people and so could not get a good one of the ovens. You'll have to go there and see it for yourself.

The bread is four feet long, made from mostly wheat flour, with a starter from the day before, is topped with sesame seeds, costs $2.79, is placed on a piece of brown kraft paper directly from the oven, HOT. I will show you photos later. Here is a story of Sangak .

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It is a regular grocery store, with fruits, vegetables, Halal meats and pretty much the normal Mediterranean stuff. Good prices. Very clean.

Nuts- in all varieties and prices.
Preserved foods and olives from around the world…
Then, at the other end of the store, you notice the cheeses…and what is all that? Looks like steam trays.

Menus above each area (there are Indian, Persian, Chinese, Thai as well as soups, cold deli and bakery sections )
In the soup area, there is Haleem.(a wheat-based porridge)
There is a Gyros and Schawarma area.
A by- the-pound deli area…
So many different Feta cheeses are available…
as well as any other sides you can think of (fresh hummus is $4.49/lb)
…so much more that I haven't shown you.

These are just some of the desserts. There is a fresh baked, by the piece baklava and in house made croissant case…so much.

So anyhow. The Mister and I were hungry and bought some stuff, paid at the cash register and sat down (there are tables inside just past the cash register and also tables out in front of the store).
Here is a photo of one large styrofoam tray, filled with half a baked chicken(with *wonderful* saffron flavor) on top of what must be a pound of Addas Polo (basmati and saffron rice with lentils, currants and dates) ($7.99). The rest of the photo is the Sangak bread we picked up when we walked in. At the midpoint of the Sangak bread…see that hummus in a box…one half pound. The box is 4 inches square…wait.
Here is a photo of the hummus with a normal size plastic fork…the bread is HUGE. It is soft, slightly spongy in the areas where it is not too thin, tears easily tastes so good…the sesame seeds make it more flavorful.
We also got one Koofteh ($3) Ground beef, rice, herbs and yellow split peas in a vegetable stew.

A wonderful place, not that far from here. There is a location in Anaheim Hills also. If you have some free time, take a short drive North. Then stop, shop and eat.

Wholesome Choice Market 18040 Culver Irvine, CA 92612 Open 7-11 daily (Food Court area open 11-8 daily) website

5755 East La Palma Anaheim Hills, CA 92807 Same hours

(The Irvine location is 84 miles from our East County home and the Anaheim location is 106 miles from here. The Anaheim store is about 1/3 larger, formerly had been an Albertsons. That location has a gelato area in the food court. Really good gelato.)