7 Ethnic Food Markets To Explore In Queens
The home of people, and food, from all over the world — from Latin America to Southeast Asia and the United Kingdom to the Mediterranean — Queens is arguably the most diverse and delicious 109 square miles in New York City, if not all of America. Best of all, each of the borough's many ethnic enclaves features a grocer specializing in foods from back home. Here are seven of our favorites.
Thai Thai Grocery (Thailand)
Noi Sila counts chefs from nearby restaurants as well as Thai cookery demigod Andy Ricker among her customers at shop. She stocks all manner of Thai groceries from such exotica as frozen grasshoppers and Lays Hot and Spicy Crab potato chips to curry pastes and fresh lemon grass and Thai basil. Don't know nam prik from khao soi? Don't worry, Sila's glad to explain any of the many ingredients, and might just send you home with a recipe. On weekends prepared foods including D.I.Y. papaya salad kits and desserts line the counter by the register. What look to be boxes of fried chicken are actually kluay khak — a delectable mixture of fried taro, sweet potato and plantain. If you time it just right and stop by around 11 a.m., the sesame-studded treats, which are made across the street at Thai eateryAyada, will still be warm. 76-13 Woodside Avenue, Elmhurst, NY 11373, 917-769-6168
OK Indo Food Store (Indonesia)
Pungent fermented shrimp blachen, sticky sweet kecap manis, fiery sambals and other staples of the Indonesian kitchen cram the shelves of this tiny store run by Tante Santí Su and her family. There's even tins of H.J.Wijsman Dutch Butter used to bake the dense many-layered cake known as lapis legit. Snack fiends won't want to miss garlicky, sweet kering tempe — a highly addictive brittle that combines tempe, potatoes and peanuts with a goodly amount of chili heat. Come Saturday and Sunday Su offers a taste of home cooking with such prepared dishes as bali daging — a spicy beef tendon with rice, and a funky durian cheese cake. 88-15 Justice Ave., Elmhurst 11373, 718-606-0104
Titan Foods (Greece)
For more than 30 years this colossus of a supermarket has been serving Astoria's Greek community, offering everything from Ouzon (ouzo-flavored soda) and religious incense to fruity Greek olive oil and canned grape leaves. Just inside the door there's an entire counter devoted to flaky cheese and spinach pies, including the spiral skopetiliki spanakopita. Titan's olive bar boasts more than a dozen varieties, including the commonplace kalamata and other lesser known varieties like the pale green, slightly smoky halkidikis from Macedonia. Feta is a mainstay of the kasseri counter, with more than a dozen types, including creamy Bulgarian, salty Arahova, and slightly funky goat feta. Kick it old school and go home with some village-style feta straight from the barrel. The pastry counter features more combinations of honey, phyllo, and nuts than you ever knew existed from several varieties of baklava to custardy galaktoboureko, and touloumbakia, which eats sort of like a syrup-drenched Greek churro. On the way out grab a frappe, a strong Greek iced coffee, that's's frothy and sweet. 25-56 31st St., Astoria, NY 11102, 718-626-7771
Assi Plaza (Korea)
This Costcoesque market just east of Flushing Creek is to Queens and Korean food what Mitsuwa Marketplace is to New Jersey and Japanese food. The kimchi selection is staggering, with at least half a dozen kinds going well beyond the most common whole cabbage (baechu kimchi) in sizes ranging from small jars to family sizes buckets of fermented goodness. On weekends a matronly Korean woman sporting forearm length gloves blends quick kimchies by hand. Meats are butchered for table-top grilling and include thick cut ribbons of pork belly and wonderfully marbled kalbi. There's a broad selection of banchan, including pickled garlic, tiny chili marinated crabs and sweet black beans with sesame. Best of all, there are kits of pre-marinated and pre-cooked meats, so it's possible to turn your apartment into a Korean restaurant after a visit. 131-01 39th Ave., Flushing, NY 11354, 718-321-8000
Butcher Block (Ireland)
There's plenty of meat — steaks, chops and burgers — to be had this Sunnyside market, but the real draw here is Irish fare, including homemade black pudding and corned beef and cabbage, as well as aisle after aisle of goods imported from the Emerald Isle. Customers from County Cork come for Brennans Irish Bread, Barry's Tea and HP Sauce. And then there's the junk food. An entire wall is devoted to potato chips in oddball flavors like prawn cocktail and pickled onion as well as dozens of candy bars, including the slightly misogynistic Yorkie and thoroughly addictive Crunchie. 43-46 41st St., Sunnyside, NY 11104, 718-784-0487
Phil-Am (The Philippines)
This bustling market has been a mainstay of Woodside's Little Manila for more than 20 years. Just inside the door find a mountain of Filipino breads, including the tiny rolls known as pan de sal and sweet jumbo ensaymada, a cheese-topped discus. Chocolate margarine and the stupendously good Lily's Natural Peanut Butter are among the bread spreads on offer here. Condiments include zippy banana ketchup and bagoong, a funky sautéed shrimp paste. Seldom seen ingredients like horseradish leaves, pepper leaves and frozen birch flower line the freezer case along with such treats as turon, a fried banana roll with jackfruit, and purple yam-flavored ice cream. Don't know what to do with Filipino ingredients? Don't worry, there's plenty of prepared food too like pork menudo and chicken caldereta. Really adventurous eaters will want to take home the infamous balut, a fertilized duck egg that contains a miniature embryo. Cook it for 45 minutes and crack open the richest hard-boiled egg ever, complete with its own broth. 70-02 Roosevelt Ave., Woodside, NY 11372, 718-899-1797
Sakura-Ya (Japan)
Hello Kitty chopsticks, Vermont Curry mix, furikake rice seasoning, okonomiyaki sauce and the slimy fermented soybean delicacy known as natto are just a few of the items to be found in this tiny market. Grilled mackerel, sashimi grade tuna and when it's in season creamy steamed ankimo, or monkfish liver, can also be had. Other Japanese delicacies include kanefuku karashi mentaiko, or pollack roe marinated in rice wine, red pepper, and soy sauce. Come early if you want to grab one of their excellent bento boxes. 73-05 Austin St., Forest Hills, NY 11375, 718-268-7220
Joe DiStefano is the Founder of Chopsticks and Marrow. He offers several food tours, including one of Flushing's Chinatown, through the blog.
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