Inside My Table #88 | Restaurant listings
Local Ethnic Markets
Houston’s transformation from a meat-and-potatoes town to an international culinary city is a fairly recent phenomenon and owes much to the immigrants who have added their influence to the city’s stock pot. The foods and cooking styles from Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and Europe, have resulted in a local food tradition built layer upon delicious layer. Here are excerpts from the Local Flavors chapter of our new guidebook, The Ultimate Food Lover’s Guide to Houston (Lazywood Press, $17.95), spotlighting some of our favorite ethnic markets.
1. ASIA MARKET & CONVENIENCE, 1010 W. Cavalcade bet. Airline & N. Main, 713-863-7074, www.asiamarket-hou.com. This tiny Heights market kept a low profile for years, catering to the Cambodian, Laotian and Thai community. The shelves are stocked with canned goods, such as date palm, dried shrimp, chile pastes, coconut jelly and salted black beans, and the refrigerated section has produce (e.g. huge bags of mung bean sprouts), fresh noodles and seafood. Not long ago, the owners renovated the store a little to take advantage of the growing reputation of their prepared-food counter, which serves up excellent Thai food.
2. BALKAN MARKET, 10928 Westheimer at Lakeside Country Club Dr., 713-953-7237. From the Bosnian family who also own Cafe Pita+ just across the road, Balkan Market stocks mostly imports from the Eastern European peninsula. One wall has goods for preparing a traditional Balkan meal, including pickles and Shokata sodas; toward the back of the shop, there is a refrigerated section that features dried meats and hard sausages, as well as dairy products. Be sure to pick up a loaf of the fresh, yeasty lepinja (it’s baked at the restaurant and brought over to the shop) and a jar of the traditional red-pepper spread, ajvar.
3. DROUBI’S BAKERY & DELI, 7333 Hillcroft bet. Bellaire & Bissonnet, 713-988-5897 and other locations. Droubi’s pita bread is sold citywide — a testament to its quality — but at the source it’s at its warmest and most fresh. There’s a fair chance they’ll have run out by the end of the day, so go early. You should also try the cheese pita or the zatar bread made with wild thyme and other herbs. Besides the groceries (e.g. tea, jams, beans, spices), halal meat counter and corner kitchenware shop, there is a small cafe area serving up fresh hummus, fried-to-order falafel and kabobs.
4. HONG KONG FOOD MARKET, 11205 Bellaire Blvd. bet. Wilcrest & S. Kirkwood, 281-575-7886 and other locations. This gargantuan Chinatown landmark, which opened in 1999 with a vast selection of products, is the most popular grocery in the area and should not be missed. Despite its name, the groceries represent not only China but Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Japan, Korea, India and the Philippines. A tour of the store is a cultural adventure for anyone not raised in the Far East. So pluck up your courage and plunge in. You’ll find an extensive selection of Asian produce (including mushrooms) and seafood.
5. INDIA GROCERS, 6606 US 59 at Hillcroft, 713-266-7717. Clean and well-stocked with South Asian cooking supplies, this small store is fun to browse. Dried pulses, spices, herbs and seasonings of all kinds are available in half-pound and pound bags and are well priced, and rice is sold in canvas bags with handles. There’s also a eat-in chaat corner where you can order a heaping plate of Indian street treats, $3.50 each. We also like the aisle of incense, selection of mukhwas (the Indian after-meal digestive aid and mouth freshener) and ready-to-use ghee.
6. JERUSALEM HALAL MEAT MARKET, 3330 Hillcroft south of Richmond, 713-784-2525. Service is generally chaotic, and the high shelves are so cluttered and over-loaded that they are at risk of becoming a tumbling avalanche at this modest Arab grocery store where customers queue up for halal meat, permissible by Islamic law. Besides the butcher room there are tons of imported foods — snacks, herbs, dried legumes, cooking mixes, bakery goods, canned beans (_foul_) and fresh dates, as well as cookware.
7. KHÔ BÒ, 11209 Bellaire, #C-8, in the Hong Kong City Mall west of Wilcrest, 281-988-6630 and other location, www.vnmetro.com. This store stocks every kind of dried meat and fish conceivable. Prefer beef? We counted at least 15 varieties, including five-spice flavored, fruit flavored and curry flavored. There are also pork jerkies (including mildly spicy pork liver jerky) and deer jerkies. Then the offerings move offshore, with crispy cuttlefish jerky, barbecue-flavored dried shrimp, seasoned baked anchovies, baked baby crabs, fish jerky with sesame and much more.
8. MI TIENDA, 1630 Spencer Hwy. at S. Perez, Pasadena, 713-941-7550. Mi Tienda is HEB’s Latin-themed mega-market, aimed at immigrants from Mexico and Central America. A gringo may well feel like an intruding tourist here, where pesos are accepted and employees approach you with rapid-fire Spanish. The signs, labels and magazines at checkout are all in Spanish, too, but once the staff realizes you can’t speak Spanish — and non-Spanish-speakers are in the minority — they’ll either switch to English or begin to pantomime indulgently. For the true adventure (and mariachi music) go on Sunday and plan to eat in the food court.
9. NIPPON DAIDO, 11146 Westheimer at Wilcrest, 713-785-0815. Quick-knife Benihana-style chef aspirants shop at Nippon Daido where sashimi-grade fish dreams come true. Smelt roe? It’s here. Ditto for octopus tentacles. The store is impeccably clean with no errant fish smells wafting through the air. A small vegetable section is stocked with produce found in traditional Japanese cooking, and packaged goods like noodles, powdered wasabi, nori, miso, dashi and sushi rice are available as well.
10. NUNDINI FOOD MART, 500 N. Shepherd bet. I-10 & W. 6th, 713-861-6331. Driving past on Shepherd you’d likely mistake Nundini’s for just another warehouse, which, technically, it is. The food mart is the retail portion of this Italian food importer, and what it lacks in atmosphere it makes up for in taste. Nundini stocks pastas, meats, cheeses, sweets and other Italian goodies at wholesale prices. Most significantly, Nundini is the source of most gelato found in Houston restaurants, so naturally the dessert counter is where most people stop.
11. PHOENICIA SPECIALTY FOODS, 12141 Westheimer west of Kirkwood, 281-558-8225, www.phoeniciafoods.com. Phoenicia Specialty Foods is an offshoot of Phoenicia Deli, directly across Westheimer, and carries products from countries around the world while specializing in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisine. It’s fun to get lost in the aisles browsing the sundry products like hookahs and Arabic fruit leather, but it’s also not a bad place to do your weekly grocery shopping. The olive bar is one of the best deals in town, and halal beef and whole lamb are available in the meat section.
12. RUSSIAN GENERAL STORE, 9629 Hillcroft south of South Braeswood, 713-721-7595. Located in a part of Southwest Houston where many Soviet immigrants first settled, the store offers nostalgic items such as real Soviet-style Fanta and Soviet-era style table salt, a huge variety of sausages, smoked meats, smoked and pickled fish, Russian-style dairy products, frozen Siberian dumplings, canned condiments and fruits from Russia, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Poland and other Eastern countries of culinary promise, candies, pastries, Russian beers and Georgian wines.
13. SUPER H MART, 1302 Blalock between I-10 and Westview. 713-468-0606. This Asian supermarket chain opened in Houston in May 2008, settling in Spring Branch, an area popular for its Korean restaurants, churches, bookstores and bakeries. There’s an amazing seafood counter (including many kinds of live fish), excellent meat counter where you can order marinated bulgogi and super-thin-sliced beef for shabushabu, kimchee of every kind, well-priced produce, fresh noodles and tofu, and much more — not to mention the sushi bar and counter where you can get a bowl of bibimbap (a Korean soup-like rice specialty).
14. SUPER JORDAN IMPORTED FOOD & BAKERY, 5922 Hillcroft just north of U.S. 59, 713-953-1000. Houston’s Persian community shops at this small tidy market (next door to Bijan, the Persian restaurant) for dry food staples, jams, syrups, tea, canned beans, herb blends and sweets. Fresh roasted nuts are set out for serving yourself, and you may sample before buying. Tea sets and hookahs will tempt, too. There’s always fresh and sometimes warm barbari (long flat bread) and a glass case of beautiful-looking pastries, as well as a few cured charcuterie items.
