Imagine my surprise when I discovered that National Geographic Traveler writer Emily Haile prominently mentioned San Diego Foodstuff in her 48 Hours San Diego Destination Guide for January/February 2008.
Check it out!
The Carlsbad Farmers Market was cancelled last Wednesday and is cancelled again tomorrow, Oct. 27, according to Christy Johnson, the market’s manager. “Not only are some of our vendors recovering, but the air quality is still too bad to spend a day out in it,” she says. She’s relatively sure that they’ll reopen Wednesday, Oct. 31.
The Hillcrest Farmers Market will be open on Sunday, according to manager David Larson (drlinbaja@hotmail.com) . I’m trying to find out if he’s also opening the North Park Market on Thursday, but he didn’t respond to that question.
The Tierrasanta Farmers Market was closed on Thursday. I believe they’re reopening next Thursday.
Margo Baughman intends to open the Vista Farmers Market this Saturday.
And, I've just heard from Mike Manchor of the Rancho Bernardo Farmers market. The good news is that no one from his market lost any farms and they'll resume market at the Bernardo Winery parking lot next Friday -- only a block away from the burn area.
I’ve heard from a couple of farmers, including Paul Smit of Smit Orchards. They’re fine, he says, but tells me that Rancho Chico has been wiped out and others are severely damaged. He also says that the
Cunningham Organic Farms in De Luz, which raises avocados, exotic citrus (meiwa, nagami, kumquats and buddha's hand citron), nine kinds of tangerines, cocktail fruit, guavas and cherimoyas, is currently picking fuyu persimmons. Gale Cunningham, who also manages the Temecula Farmers Market, says all their crops are fine. All the calls she has received from participating farmers have been with good news. She is opening the market on Saturday. She also says that they’re a very tight group and eager to help, so if any farmers do need help, let her know (gcfarm123@aol.com).
If anyone knows the status of other markets or farms/orchards, please let me know. Post a comment or drop me a line.
So, I scoured the stories for any hints on where to buy good decaf beans in
At the time, I told the saga of my frustrating quest to one of the baristas, who called over owner Arne Holt. He stopped what he was doing and showed me around the premises, which are far more than a mere coffeehouse storefront. It’s a full on coffee mecca with 22- and 45-kilo roasters, the latter a restored 1958 German machine with gleaming stainless steel.
In a back room, he was preparing to set up a retail space for selling home brewing equipment and accessories. Upstairs are the business offices. In the basement, bags and burlap bags of coffee beans. He told me about his plans to add an authentic Italian pizza oven. All this, and I was just a person who had walked in off the street looking for a good cup of coffee.
I stopped back a couple of days ago to buy some more coffee and the first thing I noticed was the blue-and-white tiled beehive-shaped pizza oven, still a work in progress, but a formidable presence in the coffeehouse.
Holt was in, having just returned at 5:30 that morning from a trip to Italy where he had bought a coffee bar that will be the centerpiece of a remodeling aimed, as he says, “to bring the culture of Italy to our front door.
“We’ll serve coffee and panini during the day, and five nights a week we’ll shut down at 3 p.m. and re-open at 5 p.m. as an enoteca, or wine bar, and serve pizza,” he says. “And, it will be verra pizza Napoletana,” he emphasizes, “authentic, true Neapolitan pizza."
In fact, the oven is being constructed out of materials from
In the meantime, however, there’s always the coffee. Caffé
And, for tea lovers, the back room, still in transition mode for the retail space, has endless canisters of teas, blended by the staff and sold under the name Sochi Teas.
In the coffeehouse, I noticed a stack of burlap bags below a cup with the lettering, “Get Smart,” and asked Holt what this was all about. Before I knew it, we were heavy into a discussion on Fair Trade issues. He explained that for years, they regularly piled the bags there for people to take, but that they have started a donation project, Get Smart, to raise money to help pay for children in Matagalpa, Nicaragua, to attend school. Take a bag, put a little money for it into the cup and help provide an education, with Caffé
More than that, though, it represents a larger effort spurred by a profound skepticism Holt has with the Fair Trade certification program. “I don’t think the money’s going to the right people,” he says. Concerned about abuses in the program, he has decided to visit the farms he buys beans from to determine for himself if they meet his criteria, which includes using organic fertilizers and compost, maintaining the land and trees and treating the people who work on the farm with respect. “I want to see that they’re growing coffee with the earth, making sure everything is sustainable, whether they are ‘certified’ or not,” he says. “It’s a matter of treating the land with love and the people who work on the farm with love.
“The goal is to have all our coffee purchased under this criteria,” he notes. “The larger goal is buying consciously.” His first farm visit was to Matagalpa, where he’ll be returning soon. Hence, the burlap bag donations.
While buying sustainably is commendable, ultimately, the coffee has to taste good or there are no customers. Monday through Friday, Caffé
“Coffee is so volatile,” says Holt. “It’s always changing. It can start out with a fruity flavor, then develop more citrus tones. We need to cup it out everyday to make sure we’ve got a good product.”
As if the pizza and sustainable buying projects aren’t enough, Holt has one more novel twist to add to the business, a Clover bar.
If you haven’t heard of this, it may be because
Caffé
Oh, and if you go in to buy coffee beans at lunchtime, pick up the grilled vegetable panini (a wonderful melding of eggplant, zuccini, red onions and tomatoes on crunchy foccacia) and have the barista make you a Café Viennese. This (decaf, for me) espresso concoction made with steamed milk, honey and cinnamon is layered with so many delicious, complementary flavors, it made me weak in the knees with pleasure.
Caffé
Have some thoughts about Caffé
I’m often nostalgic for
Of course, all this nostalgia is completely intertwined with food—the bagels, lox and cream cheese, hot pastrami sandwiches, kreplach (think Jewish won-tons), kugel (sweet noodle pudding), corn rye and egg creams (a milk, chocolate syrup and selzer concoction) of my childhood. Every cholesterol-laden, high-calorie bite. And, it’s what I miss in
So, you can imagine how startled I was to discover Aaron’s on Convoy at Balboa several years ago. No, it’s not strictly a deli; it’s a little (tiny, really) glatt kosher* market with a deli section in a little strip mall that also houses a checking cashing store, dentist’s office and bait and tackle shop. But, I live in a neighborhood where if I’m really, really lucky, the local Albertson’s will have a rickety card table set up for Passover with a few boxes of matzo, and not always kosher for Passover. That makes Aaron’s a huge find.
Tomorrow evening (Monday) marks the beginning of Passover (or Pesach), which commemorates the travail of Ancient Egyptian Jews, who having been slaves of Pharaoh, fled and wandered for 40 years in the desert, led by Moses. On the first and second evenings of Passover, a Seder is held. This large meal is structured around the reading of the Haggadah, which tells the story of the Exodus and orchestrates how the meal is conducted, rather like stage directions. Those who strictly observe Passover for its eight days require special foods that are kosher for the holiday (even using separate dishes and utensils). No leavened bread can be eaten, hence the flat cracker-like matzo, made of just flour and water, which can be ground into a meal and used for baking. Matzo symbolizes the haste in which the Jews fled that left no time to let bread rise and bake. And, it's not just bread or other leavened foodstuff (referred to as "chametz") that's forbidden. All foods must be "kosher for Passover" and packaging is always marked either kosher or not kosher for Passover. In cities like New York and LA, with large Jewish populations, kosher-for-Passover foods are pretty easy to find, even in the chain supermarkets. However, it can be a challenge here, especially outside of La Jolla. I don't keep kosher, but I do try to keep with the spirit of Passover by eating matzo and other traditional foods.
When I walked into Aaron's on Friday before lunch, owner Aaron Hutman, a long-time grocery man originally from Montreal, was uttering a frazzled mantra, “I love Pesach; I love Pesach” as he cheerfully kibitzed (chatted) with and rang up orders for customers from around San Diego County coming in to pick up Passover provisions. Hutman has owned the market for eight years and in the past, he has been able to find nearby storefronts to set up as temporary Pesach staging quarters to sell kosher-for-Passover necessities like matzo, matzo meal, wine, potato starch, gefilte fish (small ovals of deboned, ground fish, eaten chilled with horseradish) and macaroons. This year, however, he couldn’t locate a spot so the market is swept up in a Passover frenzy. My Friday visit, pre-Passover and, more immediately, pre-Shabbat (Sabbath), was probably not the best time to try to speak with him, but he was good natured about answering questions, all the while, stocking food from an unending stream of boxes he had picked up in LA before dawn that morning.
I was wowed by the solid chocolate Seder plate, something I had never seen before. Traditional seder plates have a spot for each of the symbolic items featured in the telling of the Passover story while reading the Haggadah (maror, or bitter herbs in the form of horseradish; charosets, made of chopped apples and walnuts, cinnamon and sweet wine; a roasted lamb shank; a hard-boiled egg; parsley and salt water to dip it in). So, a chocolate seder plate? It's got to be Manishewitz's answer to chocolate Easter bunnies!
Hutman has brought in a variety of baked goods from Eilat Bakery in
Along with the Pesadic foods, Aaron’s has a wide variety of kosher meat and dairy products he carries year round, as well as products from Israel, including a range of wines from Efrat Winery (Merlot, Petite Syrah, Muscat, Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz), vibrantly colored bottles of fruit nectars and cans of stuffed cabbage leaves, eggplant and peppers and Syrian cracked olives.
I got a kick out of the beers—He'Brew, the Chosen Beer, comes in two varieties, Genesis Ale and Messiah Bold.
Up at the front of the store is where, to me, the real treasures are—pastrami and corned beef, and containers filled with old-fashioned delicacies like chopped liver, cole slaw and egg salad. Jacob Dashevsky, a student at
These days, there’s no extended family around for a Passover seder, but my parents and I will be celebrating the holiday together Monday night and thinking of relatives around the country who will be doing the same. I always associate the holiday with my now late grandparents, Tillie and Abe Gould, who loved to host Seders for the entire family. Poppa’s job was to mark up the Haggadah with everyone’s names to establish reading parts. After all, Passover is nothing if not participatory theater. And, of course, he hid the Afikoman for us eight grandkids to find. The Afikoman is the middle matzo from a stack of three special ones placed on the Seder table. As a game to keep the children interested, the Seder leader sneaks it out at the beginning of the meal to hide it somewhere in the house, wrapping it in a special embroidered Afikoman cover or a dinner napkin. I think the winner got a dollar back then. Nana cooked for weeks in anticipation of at least a dozen guests and usually more. Chicken soup with matzo balls (dumplings made with matzo meal), homemade horseradish, roasted chicken or brisket, potato kugel (a potato pudding), charosets and flourless cakes served with strawberries. She was a fabulous cook and baker and fortunately, when I was in my 20s I hounded her to make me a cookbook of her recipes, which she did. Here is one, for matzo meal popovers, which I doubt you’ll find anywhere else. People never believe these are made without yeast, but they are. They are the Madeleines of my life.
Nana Tillie’s Passover Popovers
Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees.
Bring to a boil: 2 cups of water, 2 tablespoons of sugar, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 stick of butter. Take off the heat and add 2 cups of matzo meal. Let cool.
Beat in 6 extra large eggs, one at a time. Cool in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
Spoon onto greased cookie sheets or into muffin tins.
Bake at 450 degrees for 13 minutes, then turn down the temperature to 350 degrees and bake an additional 30 minutes. They should sound hollow inside when you tap the bottom. Makes about 15. Don’t double the recipe!
Aaron’s is located at
* Glatt means smooth in Yiddish. If the lungs of a kosher animal slaughtered in a kosher way are found to be smooth, then the animal's meat is considered to be "glatt kosher," a higher standard than kosher. However, it's come to refer to a store's reliable kosher supervision.
Have some thoughts about Aaron’s or other Jewish delis and markets in
I’ve long been a fan of Mitsuwa, formerly Yaohan, on Mercury, off of Balboa in Kearny Mesa. Okay, their produce department is modest, but I enjoy their wide variety of teas, sake, sashimi-grade fish, frozen delicacies and, most of all, the fresh sushi. I’d never really thought about shopping for Japanese products elsewhere until I decided to follow Mineko Takane Moreno around on her tour of Nijiya Market. Years ago, I’d taken a beginning sushi class from Mineko at Great News (alright, I promise to check out other cooking schools in town!) and learned more than the basics from this petite, elegant woman. She is extremely knowledgeable (she’s the co-author, with my old friend Judi Strada, of Sushi for Dummies) and could probably spend days in the market, explaining what’s in various mysterious jars, bottles and plastic bags and how they can be used. In fact, if she’s game, I’d do it again to hit all the things time constraints forced us to miss.
And, I’ll definitely be returning on my own to Nijiya Market. First of all, their produce department is a delight, especially because they sell what they grow on their own organic farm. Here were the standouts:
Be sure to investigate the various mushrooms, taro root, lotus root and Naga-imo, or long mountain yam. Long, straight and a light beige color, they’re displayed surrounded by sawdust. It can be crunchy like jicama, but peel it and it’s a bit slimy. Eat it raw or cooked but just peel the skin first.
I didn’t even mention fruit, but there’s plenty—kumquats,
Okay, moving on. If you enjoy pickled fruits and vegetables, Nijiya Market has a great selection (although Mitsuwa, with its own little room for their pickles, wins this competition). Alongside pickled plums (often placed on top of a mound of white rice to imitate the Japanese flag), there were bottles of Neriume, which Mineko explained is a paste made of Japanese apricot and used like mustard on salmon or in a vinaigrette.
There is a huge selection of different misos—white, dark, saikyo (sweet compared to regular white miso) and even an organic miso. Next to them is a variety of tofu and soy products. 
You’ll find bags upon bags of rice—avoid the mochi gome, or sweet rice if you’re looking for something for a daily meal. It’s simply too sticky. Mineko enjoys shorter grain Kagayaki
Like at 99 Ranch Market and Mitsuwa, I was overwhelmed by the selections of soy sauces, ponzu sauces, rice wines and rice vinegars (not to mention the various spices, noris and other packaged products). All I can say is take a tour with someone like Mineko to learn the distinctions. The choices here are amazing and picking just the right type, whether it's light or dark soy sauce or light or dark rice vinegar, can make a big difference in the dishes you prepare.
I was delighted to find a gorgeous display of meats and fish, although naively I was shocked at some of the prices. Sashimi-grade toro goes for $80 a pound as do geoduck clams; blue fin tuna for $70. They sell a long, iridescent fish called sanma, which I’ll try in the summer so I can grill it whole. The market has a wonderful display of freshly made sushi and bento boxes, as well as fish cakes, spring rolls, croquettes and tempura and they have an in-store bakery that sells large boxy loaves of white bread.
While my idea of the perfect day touring Nijiya would end with a return to someone’s home to go cook up our purchases, we did the next best thing—ate a homestyle lunch at nearby Sakura Restaurant. Our group of 20 enjoyed shrimp and assorted vegetable tempura, miso-marinated grilled salmon with grated dikon, tofu and wakame miso soup, sweet and salty root vegetables, a salad and mochi ice cream. I recommend Sakura so out of kindness, here’s how you find this unmarked eatery: It’s located on Convoy in the same strip mall as the Original Pancake House. Look for the doorway under the brown awning next to the Army recruiting office. That’s it. Why there’s no sign, I’ve no clue, but people know it’s there because it was packed on Sunday afternoon. I plan to return on an evening when owner and chef Kazuya Maeda serves sake with “tapas”-style treats.
Finally, at lunch I asked Mineko to recommend the best Japanese cookbooks around. She offered three, which I found available on Amazon.com:
Nijiya Market is located at
Sakura Restaurant is located at
Have some thoughts about Nijiya Market or other Japanese markets in
My criteria for taking a cooking class is to make sure I’ll learn either new techniques or the mysteries of an unfamiliar cuisine—or, even better, both. Shital taught me how to make ghee (clarified butter), a staple of Indian cooking, and a variety of lovely dishes, like Khamman, a savory steamed yellow cake made with besan flour; Kadhi Chutney, made with yogurt, besan flour and spices and Massor Dal, a red lentil soup combining onions, tomatoes, ginger and spices. I was intrigued by Asofetida powder (which smells strongly of garlic and onion), black mustard seeds and pappad, a flat dry spicy tortilla-like bread that can be roasted or fried.
All this is by way of saying that while I’ve always enjoyed the occasional Indian meal, Shital enticed me into exploring Indian food in a way I’d never much considered—and sent me off the following day to Ker & Little India on Black Mountain Road, just north of Miramar. Ker & Little India is one of several markets and restaurants that make up the Little India Center. It’s a huge warehouse, a grocery store, but with the added attraction of video, clothing and toiletry sections. And, a vegetarian restaurant that also does catering. This is where Indian ex-pats come to shop from all over
And, no wonder. I imagine that anyone from 
You can find a variety of teas, masoor and other lentils, beans and a variety of produce, including tiny round purple eggplants, cucumbers, okra and bitter gourd.
I had a long list of ingredients I was searching for, based on Shital’s recipes. I found those and more. Like the packaged fresh methi tepla, which looks like a thick yellowish tortilla. All you need to do is heat them up in the microwave. With no ingredients listed on the label, I had to guess what they were made of and was convinced they were based on chickpea flour but Shital later told me they are a combination of whole wheat flour, turmeric, salt, sugar, sesame seeds, garlic, ginger, methi (from the fresh leaves of the fenugreek plant—often used as a digestive aid and to fight infection). I figured they'd be good with yogurt, so I mixed about a cup of yogurt with a couple of tablespoons of a spicy red garlic chutney I found on the shelves. That was delicious, but Shital sent me a recipe for Cucumber Raita to accompany methi tepla that she has kindly allowed me to publish here:
CUCUMBER RAITA
Cool and soothing yogurt that complements spicy Indian food.
About this dish: Yogurt is used in the daily diet almost all over
Difficulty level: Beginner
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Mixing time: 5 minutes
Serves as a side dish in a meal for 6
INGREDIENTS
Plain Yogurt - 1 cup, whipped
English cucumber grated – 1 cup packed. Peel and grate.
Roasted Cumin powder – ¼ tsp
Pepper powder – 1/8th tsp
Yellow Mustard powder – 1/8th tsp
Sugar – 2 tsp
Salt – ¾ tsp or to taste
METHOD
Mix all the ingredients. Refrigerate until serving.
OPTIONAL HOT SEASONING
INGREDIENTS
Canola Oil – 1 tsp
Fresh curry leaves – 4
Serrano Chili – ¼ , sliced into thin rounds
Black Mustard seeds – ¼ tsp
METHOD
Heat the oil in a small pan. Add the black mustard seeds when the oil is hot. They will start to crackle and fly about. Turn off the gas. Add the Serrano Chilies and curry leaves. Restart the gas to a low flame. Cook for a minute or until you can smell the flavor of the chili and the leaves. Add to the cucumber yogurt mixture and refrigerate until serving.
Serve cold. Refrigerate until serving.
Reprinted courtesy of Shital Parikh
I also discovered the snack section. The choices were astonishing, but I selected a bag of Charkri/Muruku made by Surati. This is an extruded flour twist, coiled into a crunchy round the size of a dollar coin, made with flour, green chilli, sesame seeds, ginger, salt, chilli powder, turmeric and caraway seeds. It’s got a bit of kick to it—always a plus for me.
When I wandered over to the produce, I was struck by the unfamiliar—to me—bitter gourd, long and bumpy with a little twirling string at one end. Fortunately, I found someone to ask about this strangely shaped fruit.
Nita, with her adorable little girl Parishi, stopped to explain that bitter gourd—also known as Karela, Balsam pear or bitter melon—is native to 
learned that the gourd should be peeled lightly, have the ends trimmed and a deep slit sliced into it lengthwise. Sprinkle it generously with salt and let it exude the bitter juices for an hour or two before rinsing it thoroughly and drying before cutting. Then, they can be fried as chips, made into pickles, stuffed or stir-fried. A good resource for bitter gourd recipes is bawarchi.com.
All this marketing can lead to a grumbling stomach. I purposely didn’t buy anything that would spoil so I could walk over to Ashoka for their buffet lunch. Buffets can be a disappointment, but Ashoka offers flavorful food on the line. I had a taste of a dark, rich lamb curry, heavenly Tandoori chicken, a mushroom masala and for dessert, a bowl of kheer, a sweet rice pudding. With that comes a large basket of nan.
So, now to check on the next class Shital teaches…
Ker & Little India is located at
Ashoka is located at
Both are in the Little India Center on the west side of
Have some thoughts about Ker & Little India or other Indian markets in San Diego? Add to the conversation by clicking on comments below:
There's dough and then there’s dough, and Catherine Perez is an expert at both. An
She regularly checked out artisan breads on her travels and studied baking with a French master baker in
Con Pane opened in June 1999. Perez lured her best buddy, Emanuel Burgin, from
Con Pane now has five bakers who produce more than two dozen varieties of bread—everything from traditional French baguettes to olive bread, challah, ciabatta and Cranberry Orange Walnut.
Among the favorites are the Gruyere & Chive bread (made Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday), the daily-baked Point Loma Sourdough, and her Portuguese Sweet Bread (made on Sunday). But, she also bakes hamburger buns and pastries like scones, brioche cinnamon rolls and outrageous Milk Chocolate Chunk and Walnut, and Butter Toffee Peanut Butter cookies. Con Pane also makes and sells luscious sandwiches, and coffee. The space is filled with tables and chairs for dining in, but everything, including box lunches for concerts or picnics, is available for taking out.
The breads are Perez’s own recipes. “I’ve taken the European way of baking bread, and added American taste,” she explains. “We like to add things like cheese and herbs and nuts.” And, she adds, she even makes her own yeast.
Recently, Con Pane has started selling their breads wholesale. So, if you dine at 1500 Ocean at the Hotel Del Coronado,
Yesterday, I picked up a big bagful of baked goods, starting, of course with the Gruyere & Chive bread. I went home and used it in a veggie sandwich with home-roasted red peppers, romaine lettuce and a slathering of roasted garlic humus. With the idea of eating more healthfully, I also bought a loaf of the Artisan Multi-Grain. A good choice since the bread has a deep, rich flavor, both nutty and earthy, completely unlike the processed whole wheat breads you find in the supermarket. It will be perfect for a turkey sandwich or simply toasted with a little honey spread on top. 
I can’t wait to try the Gorgonzola, Red Onion & Walnut Focaccia that was fixedly staring me in the face on the top of the counter.
I admit, I also picked up a couple of the cookies and an Apricot Spice scone. The scone is moist with bursts of plump dried apricot; the sanding sugar topping provides a nice crunch. The cookies speak for themselves. Chocolate chips and walnuts are my perfect combination for a cookie and Perez does it more than justice with a very sophisticated milk chocolate. The sweet butter toffee in the peanut butter cookie is the perfect foil for its salty nuttiness.
By the way, a nice end note for Peres that customers should know is that all of the breads that are unsold at the end of the night are donated to
Con Pane is located in the
Have some thoughts about Con Pane or other artisan bakeries in San Diego? Add to the conversation by clicking on comments below:
It’s the Chinese New Year and I thought it would be a perfect time to tool around 99 Ranch Market on Clairemont Mesa Blvd. for the makings of a robust stir fry and pick up some of my favorite treats. Okay, I’m not especially fond of larger supermarkets—and 99 Ranch Market is certainly that—but it offers an entirely different selection of products than you’d find at your local Ralphs or Vons. In fact, it’s one of the largest Asian-American supermarket chains in the
On this trip, I met my parents for a leisurely lunch at 168, the little restaurant that fronts the market. Then we found a green cart and headed for the produce department. My mother has initiated a new game there. She stands in front of a bin of fruit or veggies unfamiliar to her and then engages a fellow shopper to explain what it is and how to prepare it.
Yesterday, her first stop was in front of delicately wrapped pale yellow yali pears. Unsure of the rules of engagement with this fruit, she discovered a willing translator, a middle-aged woman who explained that while they need to ripen, yali pears should be eaten when they get just a little yellow. My mom excitedly passed on the fact that when ripe they have the texture of juicy watermelon.
Taking her cue, I headed over to the bamboo shoots. To be honest, I had a slight advantage over my mom because I’ve taken a fabulous class through Great News. Allison Sherwood, Great News' Cooking School Director, leads a Saturday morning tour of 99 Ranch Market, followed by dim sum at Jasmine over on Convoy near Balboa. Allison is wonderfully knowledgeable and with the help of a handout she’s prepared, you can go fearlessly into 99 Ranch and conquer the produce and condiments without too much trouble. Since my tour, I have never again touched a canned bamboo shoot or water chestnut.
Luckily, water chestnuts were in season when I was there yesterday, so I bagged a batch of them before heading over to the bamboo shoots. All you need to do with water chestnuts is select those that are firm, and then use a sharp peeler to take off the gorgeous mahogany colored skin before popping them in your
mouth or slicing them for a stir fry. If you need to store them for a day or two, fill a bowl with water, place the peeled water chestnuts in the water and then refrigerate. The bamboo shoots, as Alison explained and the young man shopping for them yesterday offered as well, need to have the outer bark peeled off (just grab each layer and yank) and the base and remaining tip cut off. 
After that, preparation depends on the dish you’re making. I’ve been told to boil the peeled shoot for about half an hour until it’s soft, then slice to add to a stir fry. My handsome new friend said that really wasn’t necessary, but I still plan to boil the one I bought yesterday.
Meanwhile, my mother was over at the Chinese broccoli, looking a bit confused. An older man bounded over and asked if she wanted to know how to prepare them the way you get them in restaurants. Mom was giddy. First trim the bottom and peel some of the tough stalk away on thicker pieces. Boil them briefly in water—say, for two minutes or so—and then drain and arrange on a platter. Heat some oyster sauce with oil and drizzle over the broccoli. That’s it. We’ll see. Tonight, my plan is to do a stir fry with chicken, Chinese broccoli (trimmed and briefly blanched) and sliced shitaki mushrooms flavored with garlic, baby ginger and a little sesame oil. At the end of the cooking process I’ll take the wok off the heat and add the bamboo shoots, sliced water chestnuts, sliced green onions and pea shoots, stirring them together. Then a couple of dashes of oyster sauce. This will be great with rice, of course, but an unusual rice combo I found at 99 Ranch Market—8-Blend Whole Grain Rice, produced by Mogami. It comes in a five-pound bag and is embarrassingly expensive. But it’s utterly delicious and filled with nutritious fiber from short and long grain brown rice, black rice, maple rice, red rice, red wheat and barley.
Fresh produce is by no means the only attraction at 99 Ranch Market. Fresh (and by fresh I mean live) fish and seafood is available and can be cleaned on the spot for you.
Prepared fish salads, like salted herring roe and cuttle fish, seasoned webfoot octopus and seasoned chukka salad are packaged nearby.
Packaged fish heads for stews are available and some sashimi grade fish. Snacks are abundant and my new favorite is garlic flavor peanuts both in the shell (Farmer Brand) and in a shelled store-packaged version that you can find on the top of the prepared food counter (in fact, they may go in my stir fry tonight, too). I discovered the in-shell packages a few weeks ago as I was walking by on my way to the fish counter. A woman rolled up her cart behind me and started filling it with bags of the legumes. I turned and gave her a curious look and she exclaimed that they were completely addictive and her husband and sons live on these while watching TV. Good enough for me. I bought a bag, found she was right and returned for more. But, of course, you have to love garlic.
Peanuts not your thing? How about those amazing custard tarts you can get at dim sum? 99 Ranch Market’s bakery sells them—and they’re larger by a third than what you get at Jasmine or Emerald. And really delicious. You can also get birthday cakes, marble cake, elephant ear puff pastry cookies and sesame balls. Next to the bakery is the takeaway food counter, filled with dim sum delights and other tempting dishes.
I haven’t covered the half of it. There’s plenty to discover and I highly recommend touring the market with Allison Sherwood to reduce the intimidation factor. Or, do what my mom does, and chat up a willing shopper. Maybe you’ll even get invited to dinner.
99 Ranch Market is located at
Have an opinion on 99 Ranch Market or other Asian markets in San Diego? You can add it by clicking on comments below:
I moved to Tierrasanta about five years ago after almost a dozen years in a tiny Hillcrest apartment. Hillcrest, with its amazing Sunday Farmers Market, with Trader Joes and Whole Foods and fabulous restaurants. Tierrasanta had the potential for culinary letdown. However, before I even brought a box into my new house, I found a promising little market just off the 52 at Santo Road. The lettering on the outside just says "The Market." And it says it all. When I first discovered it, the place was filled with inexpensive produce, like the Boneys of old on University. It also had a counter that sold sandwiches, salads, cheese and olives--mostly Mediterranean fare. My first purchase was a tasty Greek salad filled with olives and peperoncini, and some fruit to take with me to the house, where I had to wait for the plumber to install a new water heater. Any doubts I had about moving to my new neighborhood were assuaged by this lovely little market. I still wish we had better restaurants but that's improving too.
Since that first encounter, the deli counter slid next door to what is now the Everyday Heroes sandwich shop. That was a disappointment but never mind. The owners more than made up for that once the grocery store strike began. All of a sudden new products started appearing on the shelves to complement the produce. Along with some dusty old Mexican staples, there were perplexing items from Iran and India. A wine section suddenly showed up. Organic flours. Pies from Julian Pie Company and, oh, the best for a former Hillcrest girl, fresh loaves from Bread and Cie.
So, what's to discover at The Market, or as their business card says, Farmers Outlet? Do shop the produce. It's good quality and a great price. But, grab a package of their Greek pita bread -- it's larger than most, with a lovely fluffiness. This is the kind of pita I brush with olive oil and lightly grill, then smother with humus, garlicky home-roasted red and yellow peppers or my favorite yogurt, Mediterranean cheese-style yogurt from Trader Joe's. A treat I picked up recently was a jar of jalapeno jelly. I'd seen it on the shelves but hadn't quite known what to do with it. Its melding of hot and sweet works well with cheese and crackers for something a little different. But, I discovered that if I thinned it out a little with lime juice, and added a little garlic and olive oil, I had the makings of a wonderful glaze for chicken, pork or fish. I've also started trying the various salsas made by a San Diego company called Oscar's that The Market sells in the refrigerated section. The Salsa Borracha is made with tomatoes, onions, Japanese peppers, water, salt, pepper and garlic. This is very very hot. Tasty but I'm going to have to incorporate it in other food combinations. If you can do intense heat, try it. My current favorite is the Salsa de Chipotle. It, too, is hot but not painfully so. The chipotles, combined with tomatoes, onions, vinegar, cilantro, sesame oil, salt and sugar, create a stunningly bright flavor that goes well with chips or as a condiment for grilled chicken or fish. Blend it with avocados for a unique guacamole.
The Market is at 5950 Santo Road just off the Santo Road exit on the 52 freeway in Tierrasanta.
This coming Monday, the current contract for grocery store union workers expires. You probably remember the four-month strike back in 2003. Reluctant to cross picket lines, we found alternatives in markets like Henry's and Trader Joe's for our regular shopping--and we liked them. We've come to enjoy the diversity of produce available and discovered foodstuff we didn't even know existed. Perhaps since then you've broadened your sights and ventured into the local Asian market or found yourself sampling delicacies at a neighborhood farmers market.
San Diego Foodstuff isn't about the grocery store union workers or their contract. But the issue serves to remind us that while there will probably never be any replacing the major grocery chains, we have a lot of other fascinating choices in and around San Diego. And, that is what San Diego Foodstuff is about. If you love the magic of finding fresh, flavorful food, love cooking and entertaining friends and family or love discovering something locally that you enjoyed in your travels, check in with me here. San Diego Foodstuff will be a guide to foodstuff resources in and around the county. I'll introduce you to neighborhood ethnic markets, specialty shops and farmers markets. We'll check out the products they sell and how we can enjoy them.
If you have favorite places you want to shine a light on, join in the conversation. There is a restaurant truism I've found that can extend to markets and other culinary shops. Years ago, when I lived in New York and Los Angeles, if you found a fabulous restaurant, you made sure you kept it a secret because it could get too popular and you'd never be able to get in. In San Diego, if you find an equally fabulous restaurant, tell everyone. You want to make sure it stays in business. Let's do the same for our other food resources. Let's tell everyone so all of us can support and enjoy these vendors for years to come.
