Mekong Market’s daily “specials”

Mekong Market’s a stellar addition to the East Valley’s options in ethnic marketing.

Located at the heart of Mekong Plaza, the market can be a tad more intimidating than mega-store LeeLee’s, just a few miles directly south on Dobson Road.

There must be virtually no warehouse area for this supermarket: Aisles are narrow, and feel cavernous since they’re stocked nearly ten feet high.

But you can be sure you’ll find some real treasures, especially if you take a few minutes and review the produce offerings displayed just in front of the market’s entrance.

These mammoth displays sit just in front of the Plaza’s central entrance, and are clearly intended to lure shoppers with both common and uncommon fruits and vegetables.

Last summer, for instance, among the half-dozen or so usually in place, one immense carton held yams and sweet potatoes, while another had both dark red and Queen Anne cherries at insanely low prices.

More recently, persimmons and dragon fruit have been featured.

And dammit – I wish I’d purchased that dragon fruit. Never had it. Need to sample it – and it’s still available over in the produce section inside the store.

But I waited – so instead of being able to purchase two for a dollar or so, they’re now available for $2.49 a pound.

Well, heck. Now I need to decide if my curiosity outweighs my frugality.

Check back next week.

Shopping surprises

Right, I know. This is supposed to be a blog that helps you understand the best ways to shop at the many terrific ethnic markets throughout the Phoenix region.

(After all, if you’re interested in food and cooking, the very best way to find ingredients for a real Polish bigos or Greek chicken or bang-bang shrimp is to shop at the Polish, Greek or Asian market.)

But one of the coolest things about shopping at ethnic markets is finding incredible foodstuffs that just might make great little food gifts (if, or course, you can bear to see them leave your own pantry).

So it was that the other day I was in Giado’s World Market picking up some Middle Eastern yogurt (I’ve been buying this for more than a decade and really – the rest of the country’s just now figuring out how terrific this yogurt is? Really, Dannon?)

But as I was speeding toward the dairy cases, (Byblos yogurt, creamy Bulgarian feta…) I came to a quick stop near the honey display. The honey shelves always have a wild array, but what grabbed my attention was a round-ish sort of marmalade jar layered with pistachios, walnuts, cashews, almonds, more pistachios…and honey.

It was beautiful and enticing and I could hardly keep my hands from it. This definitely is going in my bags next time I visit my folks in Western Penna. My mother will love it. Even better, this elegant-looking jar of sweet treats is only $7.99.

In fact, this just may turn up as holiday gifts for a few select friends….

…and I think I’m going to need a jar of this for myself.

(next time for sure - what you will find when you enter Mekong Supermarket)

Pan-Asian

Exploring Mekong Plaza

I love Mekong Plaza (Mesa, on Dobson, between Apache and Broadway). I love its cool, pale marble floors and I love the lions near the entrance and I love the soothing splash of water inside.

It is a cool space, scented with the notion of lemongrass and ginger and hot, spicy oil.

And I love Mekong Supermarket.

True, not LeeLee’s, but then, it would be hard to come up to that mammoth. I love LeeLee’s, too, but Mekong is like the cool neighbor down the block, while LeeLee’s is the super-cosmopolitan world traveler. One with a gigantic backpack of goods and groceries.

What I also love about Mekong are the really friendly and chatty Hispanic guys behind the butcher and seafood counters at Mekong. Essay a “Como esta?” after “Hola!” and they will tell you all you want to know about the day’s offerings (they’ll do this in English, by the way, so not to worry you’ll need a translator!).

Mekong features a good array of seafood and fresh fish, much of it cleaned and prepped, more offered in its entirety. There’s also an extensive frozen selection. True – this isn’t an array as boggling as the giant’s, but there’s more than enough to satisfy most kitchen needs and then some.

I’ll be heading toward Mekong later, and will have few more details about the fish and meat counters. Then we’ll move ahead to explore the produce section and all those intriguing aisles stacked 10 or 12 feet high.

Real olives from a Middle Eastern grocery

The other day, I was on my way to pick up some (real) Greek yogurt at Giado World Foods, southeast corner Dobson and Elliott in Chandler, when I remembered that I also wanted to get some olives for a company dinner.

Luckily, I also remembered that Giado’s has a lovely selection of excellent Middle-Eastern style olives.

These olives are not too much like the ones available at the popular supermarket “olive bars.” To me, those seem to be heavy on the extra-marinated olives and olive salad presentations.

Nothing wrong with these (and they are very practical from the supermarket’s view, since the addition of more oil and some vinegar assures nearly unlimited shelf life).

But that little addition of more spices and a little vinegar, tasty as it can be, can sometimes mask less-than-stellar olives.

Not so at Giado’s. There are dried, cured black olives, slightly smoky, a little bitter and a little chewy.

There are large, purple/black kalamatas. There are plain, cracked green olives.

And there are the spiced olives. There were two kinds the day I was there, one with preserved lemon, onion and hot peppers, and the other just with preserved lemon.

I bought kalamatas, and both of the spiced green variety.

They’re wonderful. The kalamatas are tender, fruity, not too salty. The green olives with preserved lemon have a nice, bright citrus note, while those with the hot pepper have the same great citrus hit, seem a little saltier, with a slow heat that comes just at the top of your throat.

Even better? These olives come at just the right price. The kalamatas are $4.99 a pound, while the green olives come in around $3.50 a pound. Compare that with the $8.99 per pound at your local supermarket.