Ethnic Groceries in Howard County

You can buy the entire world in Howard County if you can just figure out how to drive around the damn town.

Ethnic groceries sell authentic food from countries from Korean through North Africa, from Mexico through South American, from Jamaica back to West Africa. Some produce. Lots of packaged goods. All the spices that inspired people to sail great oceans in small boats in order to carry flavor home to their shores. At Food Cravings, you can even buy Indian interpretations of Chinese sauces.

But then, we're getting ahead of ourselves.

The key to ethnic shopping in Howard County is a basic map. Nothing is obvious. Very little is advertised. I started HowChow, in part, because it had taken me months to piece together where to buy food when I moved from Virginia. The only players with a large presence are Asian supermarkets -- and I'm going to write a separate overview of H Mart in Catonsville, Lotte in Ellicott City and Grand Mart in Laurel. They're spectacular for Asian products, produce, fish and Mexican food, including cheeses, tortillas and packaged goods.

For other cuisines, the markets are small. They're not on main roads. But they're all reliable with employees who speak English and who have routinely been happy to answer questions. These stores are as modern as anywhere else you shop. You can go for the ingredients that you need to cook these cuisines from "scratch" like corn meal, lentils, and spices, or you can check out convenience foods like frozen samosas, jars of curry sauce, and cans of stuffed grape leaves . You can search my posts by cuisine or by market in the links in the right column, but below is a list of the markets that I recommend:

• For Indian, you have four choices for spices, Indian sauces, frozen naan, boxed Indian lunches, and other ingredients. Check out the candied fennel seeds or buy the basics for pani puri. Mostly, the stores sell Indian or U.S. "import" brands -- from tea to spices to Ching's Red Chili sauce straight from Bombay. The one real advantage is Eastern Market, which has more produce than the others. The four: Food Cravings in Columbia, Desi Market in Columbia, Eastern Bazar in Laurel, and Apna Bazar in Laurel. (Update: In comments below, Hal and anonymous recommend a fifth and sixth: Ganesh Brothers on Rte 40 in the Normany Plaza just east of Rte 29 and Patel Brothers on Rte 40 in Catonsville.) (I have also heard that Food Cravings might be expanding to Elkridge.)
• For Middle Eastern, you drive to Caezar International Market in Elkridge or Aladdin Market on Main Street in Laurel. Both stores sell breads, spices, cheeses like feta or Kashkaval, and packaged basics like lentils, tahini, chick peas and bulgar. Caezar is the larger, expanding at its Elkridge location (with a Persian restaurant next door) after 13 years in Columbia as Sizar's. It moved in 2009 to expand and offer a halal butcher. If you go to Caezar, please try the pistachio nougat.
• For Latin American, you should start at Lily's Mexican Market in Columbia and also consider the Panam Supermarket in Laurel if you want produce or a full butcher. Lily's sits off Dobbin Road. It has a small butcher, a takeout-taco counter, freshly-made corn tortillas, cheeses, dried peppers, and all the packaged goods that you need to cook Mexican food. Not much produce, but the easy exotic fun of cactus for nopales tacos. Panam is off U.S. 1 at Rte 198. This is a supermarket, not a grocery, and it sells all those basics -- along with a huge butcher and a full produce section.
• For West African and Jamaican food, you should check out Afia International in Jessup or Accra Foods in Laurel. Both stores appear to sell Ghanaian and Jamaican brands. I don't know these cuisines, and my explorations have not been successful. I would love any comments if you have suggestions. (Another market -- Julie's International in Elkridge -- closed in 2009.)

Of all these places, Lily's and Caezar's are my favorites. They're pretty comprehensive for someone who needs basic foods. The people have always been helpful, and the butcher and produce make them quite useful. I recommend a visit to any of these markets to anyone interested in trying new food. Federal law requires every bottle and box to list the ingredients, so you can know what you're eating even if the original label isn't in English. Plus, people have been gracious and helpful every time that I had a question to ask.

This is part of the "What I Learned" series of posts. They're organized in rings. See below to continue on the ring about shopping in Howard County. Or click to switch to the posts about different cuisines or posts about areas and ideas.

PREVIOUS: Organic Shopping in Howard County
NEXT: Asian Grocery Stores in Howard County

Super Grand in Laurel

With the new Super Grand in Laurel, Howard County is now bracketed by Korean markets -- a source for fish, vegetables, and Asian or Hispanic groceries.

Super Grand is part of the Virginia-based Grand Mart chain that offers a similar lineup as Lotte in Ellicott City or the H Mart in Catonsville.  As I wrote about "My Favorite Place For Food," these Korean markets offer quality and selection that make them fun for anyone who loves food, and the Super Grand opened in October to offer those benefits for people in Columbia and south.

Right inside the door, Super Grand offers fresh, low-priced fruits and vegetables that run from traditional American items like cukes and peppers through Asian and Latin American specialities.  Pomelos.  Asian pears.  Thai peppers.  Lemongrass.  Tomatillos.  Baby bok choys.  A half-dozen Asian greens.  Fresh jack fruit.  The exotic selection makes this a great place to carry your ethnic cookbook.  Pick a recipe once something catches your eye.  The reasonable prices let you experiment, and the quality makes Korean markets worthwhile even if you only buy items that Safeway normally stocks.  I bought chard last weekend that was twice as large and way fresher than I had seen anywhere outside My Organic Market.

As you circle the other aisles, you will see a great fish section with live and whole offerings on top of the normal fillets and steaks.  You'll see Asian groceries like rice, noodles, sauces, and desserts.  You'll also see Hispanic groceries from fresh tortillas and Salvadoran cheeses to Goya canned goods to an entire aisle of El Chilar brand spices and dried peppers.  (They even have Zambo's plantain chips and a display of Mexican candies.)   On the weekend, Super Grand offers tastings of Asian spice mixtures and stirfry sauces.  They weren't my favorites, but they could make nice fast dinners. 

The Super Grand difference is that it offers more Mexican goods and several aisles of American products -- Herr's potato chips, Nabisco cookies, Pop Secret popcorn, laundry detergent, napkins.  At Lotte and H Mart, those are often a single aisle, and they don't carry all the national brands.  (Update: Super Grand even carries Jamaican, African and Indian products.)  The Laurel store is about the same size, so it must offer fewer Asian products.  Certainly, the vegetable section is smaller than the H Mart, but my first visit found everything that I wanted.

Thanks to Sheri for telling me about the Super Grand in a comment to an earlier post.

If you want to read more about Asian grocery stores, start with my posts about "My Favorite Place For Food" and "Ten Easy Pick-ups."  Those will tell you what kinds of items you should expect to find at the Grand Mart.  On a first trip, I definitely suggest that you look for produce, for some fish, for frozen dumplings, and for the seaweed wrappers mentioned in the "Ten Easy Pick-ups."

In the back, Super Grand does have a selection of prepared food, and last weekend, they were offering samples of beef, chicken and pork cooked with some bottled sauces.  To my eye (because I didn't try anything), Lotte still has the best set-up to try some Korean panchan and marinated meats for a quick cook-at-home dinner.  H Mart has improved its selection, but the Super Grand still seems aimed at Korean shoppers who know exactly what they're buying.

Super Grand

13600 Laurel Bowie Road (Rte 197)

Laurel, MD 20708

301-362-5572

NEAR: This is on Rte 197 about a half-mile south of Rte 198.  It's right off the BW Parkway, so it's an easy drive from I-95 or U.S. 1 via Rte 198.

West African Markets: Accra Foods and Julie's International Market

I don't know West African food, but there are three markets that offer up Ghanaian staples -- along with an eclectic array of other foreign foods -- clustered along eastern Howard County.

Julie's International Market is the newest entrant in the shopping center next to Food Lion right off Rte 108. This is officially Elkridge, but it's right where Columbia, Ellicott City and Elkridge meet near the new Costco and Best Buy.

(Update:  Julie's appears to have closed in May 2009.  I think that Accra and Afia -- discussed below -- are still open.)

All three markets -- including Accra Foods in Laurel and Afia International Market in Jessup -- seem based on the Nina brand of packaged foods. The Ghanaian company sells everything from frozen fish to spices to oils to ukazi leaves. I don't know Ghanaian food so I can't judge or use the markets in the way that I enjoy Sizar's for Middle Eastern food or Desi Bazaar or Apna Bazar for Indian. At Accra, I tried to ask for suggestions. There aren't packaged foods like you see in Indian markets, and the owner either didn't believe I really wanted to cook or didn't have much
experience explaining recipes. He was nice, but I couldn't figure out what to buy.

On the shelves, you'll see staples like canola oil, rice and spices. There are also spiced palm oil, coconut oil, and ground shrimp, and Accra had fufu and corn meal balls called banku. Each market offers a small amount of meat. At Julie's, there was a cooler with smoked turkey wings and fish, along with a freezer that held Nina brand smoked cat fish along with meat stored in Ziploc bags and clearly packaged by hand. Julie's also stocks Jamaican products along with the Mo'pleez brand of Indian snacks (luke aloo lachha, bhel puri, etc.) and the Dominican Country Club brand of raspberry soda.

I'm looking for a cookbook so that I can take advantage of these markets. I'd appreciate any recommendations or advice.

Click here for a comprehensive list of organic and ethnic markets in Howard County. You can't go wrong exploring Sizar's or Lily's Mexican Market.

Julie's International Market (apparently closed)

6520J Old Waterloo Road

Elkridge, MD 21075

410-799-2024

NEAR: Julie's was in a small shopping center near the Food Lion on Rte 108 just up from Rte 175. When you pull into the Food Lion, steer left to the shopping center that also has a Chinese restaurant, a pizza place and a thrift shop.

Accra International Foods

10051 North Second Street

Laurel, MD 20723

301-317-4440

NEAR: This is on the east side of the north-bound U.S. 1 in Laurel. It is about a half mile north of Main Street in Laurel. It is at the end a shopping center next to a paintball store.

H Mart: Ten Easy Pick-ups

Two weeks ago, I wrote about the H Mart, my favorite place for food.

You can enjoy the H Mart even if you don't cook. There are prepared foods and foods that you can just eat off the shelf. Start there. Maybe you'll see other items that you want to try or see something that sparks your fancy. To keep this short, I'll just list th

em here.

1) Lunch: Against the right wall is a Korean takeout place

and a sushi counter. Have lunch. Try the beef soup.

2) Korean melon (right): Slice and eat one of these yellow melons or any other exotic fruit. In produce.

3) Kimchi: Take a refrigerated jar of pickled cabbage or other vegetables from the display in the back near produce.

4) Seaweed wrappers (right): Super-cool item to make dinner right out of the pantry with rice and tuna fish. It's like a sushi wrapper. Just make rice and pour on a little seasoned rice vinegar (also available at H Mart).

Moisten a can of tuna with the vinegar as well. Then, make little rolls with the seasoned rice and a dollop of tuna. Aisle Four near the front.

5) Edamame: Frozen soybeans, steam or microwave for a snack or appetizer.

6) Hai Reum brand dumplings: Delicious dumplings -- veg or meat -- to steam or pan fry. Generally in the open freezer in the middle of the frozen aisle.

7) Azuki ice cream: Red bean ice cream, eat it right from the container. In frozen.

8) Nong Shim potato-flavored snack: It's like an airy potato chip in the shape of a cheeto. Across from the dairy.

9) Choripdong soybean curd (right): Triangle pockets the size of a matchbook that come with a sauce. Season some rice with the enclosed sauce, then stuff in the pockets. In the refrigerated/dairy section.

10) Donut: On the way out, MoMo Bakery is in front. Take a snack for the road. Red bean donuts are spectacular. The "potato salad" donut is a lightly sweet treat -- no mayonnaise or anything gross.

Bonus Item: Check the vinegar aisle for Yoricho cooking vinegar, which turns vegetables into the easiest quick pickles.

If you want to try "ready-to-eat" items at other markets, check out Caezar's for Middle Eastern, Lily's for Mexican, Desi Bazaar for Indian or any of the other markets in Howard County.

H Mart

800 N. Rolling Road

Catonsville, MD 21228

443-612-9020

NEAR: Rte 40 just west of I-695. If you are driving from HoCo, you'll see a Starbucks and a FedEx at the end of the shopping center. Turn right immediately after the Starbucks. If you miss it, just turn right at the next intersection.

Sizar's Food Mart: Middle Eastern Groceries in Columbia

Talk about "Open O'Simsim." Sizar's Food Mart was a magical surprise for me.

I only passed by because I was taking two bikes to Race Pace, already muttering about how Columbia makes you drive a quarter mile to reach a store that faces Snowden River. That was why I was so aware that Sizar's -- which looks like a convenience store from the outside -- was faced away from Snowden River. No one can sell sodas and cigarettes this tucked away from the public, so there must be something inside that draws customers.

Behind Sizar's door is the best ethnic grocery store in Howard County. OK, maybe tied with Lily's Mexican Market. It is a small store, but stock tightly and smartly with everything you

could need for Middle Eastern food and more. Breads like pita, barbarry bread, a sweet Afghan rist loaf, and lavash the size of a small table. Teas. Spices. A dozen varieties of dried peas, beans and lentils. A dozen more varieties in cans. Farina. Bulgar. Forty-pound bags of rice.

This is a 13-year-old store with a staff that answered questions and joked about me taking pictures. The selection is breath-taking, and the place felt friendly from the moment that I walked inside. Check out the refrigerator with halal hot dogs, Greek yogurt, lebni cheese and more. Slide over to the freezers where you can get filo dough or already-made spinach-and-cheese filo appetizers. Or frozen falafel or halal chicken nuggets, or Deep brand samosas, or frozen lavash to take home.

The selections run from India to Greece with an array of Iranian items that I had never seen. Check out the raisins and dates in the fridge at the entrance. Consider the fun that you could have -- either as ice cream toppings or as cocktail mixers -- with the bottles of fruit syrups, including mint, mulberry, blueberry, and sour cherry. Sample the Iranian fruit roll-ups, expensive at $1.49 but adult flavors in sour cherry, plum and "sour curd."

Again, the world comes to Columbia. Then Columbia hides the world in the back of a shopping center. But once you discover it, you can return again and again.

(UPDATE:  Sizar's moved to Elkridge in early 2009 and changed its name to Ceazar's.  They opened a restaurant to go with the retail store.  The address below is for the Elkridge store, which is now open.)

A full list of markets in Howard County -- organic, Indian, Asian, seafood.

Ceazar International Market and Restaurant (formerly Sizar's)

6801 Douglas Legum Drive
Elkridge, MD 21075
443-755-9442

NEAR: Just off Rte 103 east of U.S. 1. This is just south of Rte 100 and less than two miles from I-95. From Rte 100, you take U.S. 1 south, turn left at the first light onto Rte 103 and follow it as it curves twice. Ceazar is in a shopping center on the left.

H Mart: My Favorite Place For Food

If you wanted five reasons to visit the H Mart, Asian food wouldn't make the list.

You can buy any Asian ingredients that I have ever wanted from Thailand to Korea -- wonton wrappers, coconut milk, long beans, three kinds of bok choy, 10 kinds of tofu, 10 kinds of rice, an entire aisle of sauces from soy to fish to chili. I found pickled plums. I discovered Asian pears. I bought bulgogi meat ready to cook.

But H Mart if my favorite place in the world for food because the opportunities are endless even if you don't cook Asian food. To keep this a blog post (and not my novel about supermarkets), these are five, truncated reasons why you have to drive Rte 40 east almost to I-695.

5) The Fruit

Eve wouldn't be able to decide what fruit to pick from the H Mart display. Year-round, I get a selection -- and a price -- that no one else beats. Watermelon, pineapples, berries, baby

bananas. The fruit lasts longer than anywhere else, and the in-season fruit comes in breath-taking arrays -- five kinds of pears, eight apples, six oranges, four plums. It is such a luxury to scoop up bags of fruit, knowing that the bill won't be high and that I can stockpile it even if I won't go grocery shopping again for two weeks. Have an apple taste-off between types. Make pies. Explore the seasonal exotics like rambutan, lychee and Korean melon. Just one transforms a fruit salad into something special. A small plate transports your table to another country.

4) The Frozen Food

You don't even need to cook. Walk down the central aisle and pick from two walls of freezers and the display case between. Dumplings. Shu mai. Ice cream. Bags of edamame

Fillipino pork marinated in 7-Up and skewered for easy grilling. Everything has a US label, so everything lists its ingredients in English. So try a few and come back for what you like.

3) The Mexican Food

No joke. Half the H Mart employees are Hispanic, and the store clearly caters to a Latin market with a mix of American and imported goods. Start in produce with plantains, jicama,

and the standard vegetables that people use across the continent. In Aisle 2, check out the Latin

wall with a full Goya collection of beans, sauces and rice, Coco Rico coconut soda, hominy, etc. In the freezer near the rear, look for fried plantains and blackberry pulp. In the dairy section, round out any Mexican shopping list with queso fresco, crema salvadorena, chorizos, and La Fe brand arepas. (Pass on the refrigerated tamales. The frozen ones at Lily's Mexican Market are better.)

2) The Vegetables

The vegetables just last longer. I don't know why. I have green beans that I bought 10 days ago, and I have been cooking them up in little batches still crisp and fresh. They're also cheap. I shop with a few items that I need, plus roving hands that just grab whatever looks good. Carrots, cukes, eggplant, cauliflower, perfect every time. Cilantro that lasts for weeks. A herb display up front with rosemary, Thai basil, etc. Bring Vegetables Everyday by Jack Bishop, and you can flip to the section for whatever looks good and find five simple recipes. Or bring an Asian cookbook and explore the new world of choy sum, bitter melon, fuzzy squash and banana flower.

1) The Fish
But the fish market is the spot that can't be replicated. They bring the world to you in an endless variation. Start with the absolutely familiar -- precut fillets and steaks of cod, tilapia, salmon and the species that swim on many menus. You order by the fillet or by the pound. Next time, check out the rest. Sushi-grade salmon and tuna for home-made sashimi. Packaged-up fish heads for stock.

The central offering is whole fish, which I have worked through slowly. The sign over the fish mongers shows you the ways that they'll prepare. They weigh the whole fish, then cut out whatever you don't want. Number Four is no head, no guts, no scales. That is the way that most recipes suggest. Whole fish steamed or roasted makes a delicious meal, and the H Mart offers a changing list of fish beyond the basics. Ask for help. People speak English, and they have answered dozens of questions as I watched.

Like every other department, the beauty of the H Mart is that everything is fresh and everything is reasonably price or even cheap. So I experiment. I tried kingfish. I tried a whole snapper. I bought one squid -- cleaning it from diagrams in How To Cook Everything -- to add to soup and to see if I could stomach cooking invertebrates. My friend's new husband loves clam chowder, so I splurged on bags of clams to cook New England chowder for a celebrating table of 10. The chowder was amazing, and I couldn't have even started if I were buying old clams at 50 cents each from the Giant.

There is still a world a fish that I haven't tried. Frozen squids. Live tilapia. Snails. Head-on shrimp. I figure that I have time.

You don't even have to cook! Check here to see that the H Mart offers prepared foods and delicious items that you can just eat off the shelf. Although, I do think that Lotte in Ellicott City has an even-better selection of prepared food because Lotte has a panchan bar that you can sample by the ounce.

If you're interested in exploring the H Mart, check out my review of Kimiko Barber's cookbooks The Japanese Kitchen and The Chopstick Diet. They're great guides to the Japanese aisle of our local Asian grocery stores.

For a full listing of ethnic and organic markets in Howard County, check here.

H Mart

800 N. Rolling Road

Catonsville, MD 21228

443-612-9020

NEAR: Rte 40 just west of I-695. If you are driving from HoCo, you'll see a Starbucks and a FedEx at the end of the shopping center. Turn right immediately after the Starbucks. If you miss it, just turn right at the next intersection.

Ethnic Markets and Cookbooks II

An Indian market was the glaring hole in my February post about local ethnic markets and cookbooks to bring for inspiration. Along with a small Tere's Latin Market on Rte 40, I found friendly, accessible Desi Market in Columbia, and I plan on returning over and over to explore. Also, I found an African market on Rte 175, although that place wasn't accessible on my first visit. I'll go back to try again, but I can't say that I knew what to buy or even to ask.

(Update: Check out a comprehensive list of ethnic markets in Howard County.)

West African: Afia International Market
I would love anyone else's suggestion about Afia International Market in Jessup -- in the shopping center on Rte 175 just east of Rte 1 that My Organic Market calls "Columbia East."

The store seemed filled with dried goods and packages from Nigeria and Ghana, but it wasn't accessible for me. I don't know the cuisine, and, honestly, the smell set me back. More like a butcher in Bangkok than in Columbia, and the smell made the sight of carved goats seem far more off-putting than the same display at Lily's or the Laurel Meat Market. Then, no one said anything as I circled the shelves under the blare of televisions bolted above. The talking stopped as I came near, then started again as I passed. I retreated.

I want to go back. Can you suggest anything? A cookbook? A treat like the samosas that I suggest at the Desi Market? A staple to try? The first time that I went into Aladdin, I had only a few minutes and endured a similarly cold experience. For the second, I brought a recipe and took my time to inspect the shelves and to ask questions. It has been welcoming ever since, although I still haven't finished the pound of roasted watermelon seeds that I bought on the owner's recommendation. (Nice crunch, little flavor other than salt. I can't eat more than a handful at a sitting. Still cheap at $3.49 to connect with the owner.)

Afia International Market
7351 Assateague Drive
Jessup, MD 20794
This is actually the address for My Organic Market in the same shopping center.

NEAR: IT's on Rte 175 just east of I-95. There is a large shopping center on the right just after you cross Rte 1. Look for the Starbucks. Turn right into the shopping center, then turn right and go past the Starbucks and the Rita's Italian Ice. Afia International Market is around the far side next to the Goodwill.

Indian: Desi Market in Columbia
The Desi Market should be a Bhutanese market because it is hidden in a commercial area north of Rte 108. But instead of selling food from the "Hidden Kingdom," the market offers everything that you need to have fun with Indian food. Mangos ready to eat in the car. Samosas ready to be baked tonight for dinner. Frozen foods. Flours, rose water, and spices.

Spices are the bedrock for Indian food and the first reason to visit Desi Market. You'll get a far wider supply than any supermarket. You'll also get a bag of spices for the price of a 1 ounce tube by an American spice company. Start with whole peppercorns, whole mustard seeds, whole cumin, whole coriander, and cardamom -- either whole pods or the tiny seeds already broken from the pods. If you like those, branch out to tumeric, fennel, cloves, or fenugrek. Or ask for tamarind pulp, a tart part of cuisine from India through Thailand that you can store in your pantry.

If you want to start with Indian food, borrow or buy Mangoes & Curry Leaves by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid. They're Western photographers who have travelled in Asia for 20 years and have been writing cookbooks since 1985. Their site. Their book Mangoes & Curry Leaves has recipes that range from simple to complex and that cover almost every Indian food that I have enjoyed. The recipes are clear and written for an American kitchen, using the tools and the ingredients that you could get at Desi Market -- with substitutions that you could get anywhere. It has the most beautiful photos and short writings. By general rule, I discard photo-heavy cookbooks as precious and not useful. This book is the exception that makes me question the rule entirely.

Desi Market is just as friendly as the Mangoes & Curry Leaves. The young couple running the place were friendly and talkative. They answered questions. They suggested a recipe for a refreshing drink. If you walk in with a cookbook, I think they'll help you locate ingredients and even suggest what else you could buy.

Buy spices. Buy a bag of frozen naan. Check out the vegetables or stop somewhere to buy your own. You could be cooking Indian tonight. But while you're there, try a samosa -- either fresh or a box of frozen. Try the papad that I wrote about. Pick a bottle of rose water and Indian-style yogurt for the lassi recipe below. If you have a friend from India, buy a $1 bottle of Limca, the lemon-lime soda that Coca-Cola sells there. The glass bottles were on the floor facing the freezer case, and they're a nostalgic moment for anyone who has stood next to a Bombay vendor drinking soda from a straw.

If you are looking for Indian groceries, also check out Food Cravings a few blocks from Desi Bazaar and Apna Bazar or Eastern Bazaar in Laurel. And in the comments below, check out Askok's comment about Food Cravings.

Sweet Lassi from Mangoes & Curry Leaves
2 c. plain yogurt (full- or reduced-fat)
2 c. plain cold water
pinch of salt
sugar to taste
1/2 tsp. rose water

Whisk the yogurt and water together in a deep bowl until frothy. Add the other ingredients and beat in. Serve cold over ice. (Variation: Replace the rose water with 1 or 2 coarsely chopped bananas and mix all the ingredients in a blender.)

Desi Bazaar
9179 Red Branch Rd # H
Columbia, MD 21045
(410) 997-8400

NEAR: This is in a commercial area off Rte 108 just east of Rte 29. You can't see anything from Rte 108. You turn north on Red Branch Road at a traffic light, and Desi Bazaar is in a commercial building on the right. The parking is actually before the store, so we had to U-turn and go back.

There is another Indian store on Red Branch Road, but it was even harder to find out where to park. I had frozen food in my car, so I didn't go in.

Mexican: Tere's Latin Market
Tere's is a small Mexican market on the south side of Rt 40 in Ellicott City. It has a basic supply of spices, tortillas, and vegetables like plaintains, onions, tomatoes and avocados. It's a great stop if you need dried peppers -- costenos, japones, guajillo, chipotle, arbol, all on the back wall -- and the woman working when I visited was solicituous in fluent English. She would have answered any questions.

But Lily's Mexican Market in Columbia has far broader offerings with extras like the meat counter and larger freezers. Tere's -- with its supply of Mexican pharmacy and cleaning items -- is probably just as useful to a person who grew up with Mexican food and needs the basics. But there is less to explore.

Tere's Latin Market
8525-A Baltimore National Pike
Ellicott City, MD 21043
410-313-8555

NEAR: Tere's is on Rte 40 east of Rte 29. Just east on an Acura dealer is a shopping center that faces Rte 40. Tere's is next to a Quizno's.

Ethnic Markets and Cookbooks

Ethic groceries are a luxury of modern life. For $10, you can walk out with a slice of somewhere far away -- a sauce, a spice, a cheese. For immigrants, that slice can be a taste of home, but for anyone else, it is a chance to explore without paying for an airline ticket.

This is a brief summary of three markets that I have come to like -- Mexican, Middle Eastern and Asian. I hope to return to each in detail and visit an Indian market in Columbia, but for now, I paired some with cookbooks that would help you take advantage of the things that you'll find.

(Update: I profiled three more markets, including an Indian one, in May. Or check out a comprehensive list of organic and ethnic markets.)

Mexican: Lily's Mexican Market in Columbia

Lily's is a small, professional market at the end of the shopping center with the Express DMV and Sushi King. It has well-stocked shelves and a butcher in the back. Although there is a small amount of produce, the shelves are mostly cans, jars and packages labeled in Spanish and English and sold by national or international brands.

Terrific for finding Mexican staples like masa, the soft and crumbling cheeses, and both thin and hand-made tortillas. There are some unique items like fresh cactus, but mostly, it is Mexican brands of things you know -- sodas, cookies, chipotle peppers, beans, etc. There is a broader selection of Goya products, including recaito and several types of refried beans.

Buy a copy of any cookbook by Rick Bayless and see if the butcher can hook you up with something new. In Mexican Everyday, Bayless cooks mostly with fresh vegetables and simple recipes. I prefer it. But in earlier books, he preached an authenticity that probably calls for some visits down Lily's Market's aisles.

(Update: Lily's now sells fresh tortillas. And Lily's sells take-out tacos.)

(Update: I had an old address here. Lily's is at 6490 Dobbin -- in the same shopping center as the DMV.)

Lily's Mexican Market
6490 Dobbin Center Way
Columbia, MD 21045

410-772-5459

NEAR: The DMV off Dobbins Road just south of Rte 175. Look for the intersection with a Blockbuster. The shopping center with DMV, Lily's and Sushi King restaurant is across Dobbins from the Blockbuster.

Blog link to Lily's Mexican Market: http://www.toomanychefs.net/archives/001848.php

Greek and Middle Eastern: Aladdin in Laurel

Start with the bread, olives and yogurt. Aladdin is a small shop steps from Rte 1 in downtown Laurel. The shelves are mostly cans, bottles and bags, but you can start with fresh pita and lavash breads, including a whole wheat lavash that tears into delicious strips to be dipped in Greek-style yogurt or eaten with spicy olives. The yogurt is thicker than American yogurt, mild but somehow more flavorful than Dannon.

I don't have a Middle Eastern cookbook, but the shop is a no-cook dinner party waiting to happen. For $30, you could assemble a feast and unpack it right to the table. Fill bowls with with those olives and yogurt, then faugment the table with feta or Kashkaval cheese, baba ganoush and hummus. You can buy the dips canned, or you can buy the ingredients -- tahini, chick peas, even canned eggplant. Add a can of foul, the Egyptian-style fava beans, and six people could graze with a bag of bread. Dessert could be some figs or baklava (fresh from Canada or refrigerated from a Greek bakery apparently in Cleveland).

On top of the ready-to-eat, you can buy basic ingredients for your own cooking -- lentils, bulgar, lupini beans, rose syrup, pomegranate molasses. There are juices, including a Marco Polo brand pomegranate/sour cherry. There is an entire wall of spices (including black, dried lemons that I want to learn how to use) and a freezer with spanakopita and other heatable treats. Try the spicy samosas. I cooked them over high heat in a Pam-coated frying pan rather than deep-fry them as the package suggested. Spectacular flavor. The type of spiciness so intense that I stopped reading my newspaper, but still full of flavor and not discomfort.

Aladdin Food Mart
308 Main Street
Laurel, MD 20707
301-362-5060

NEAR: Downtown Laurel off U.S. 1. You can take Rte 216 East from I-95, then turn left at the light on Main Street.

Asian: H Mart in Catonsville and Lotte in Ellicott City

These supermarkets -- or at least the H Mart -- are worthy of long posts extolling their value and giving some suggestions. The H Mart is better, but both offer an enormous array of fruits and vegetables, large seafood sections, and an encyclopedic selection of Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese and Thai packaged goods -- sauces, rices, noodles, canned vegetables and fruits, etc. Lotte really excels at prepared food -- marinated meats and panchan -- that you can buy in whatever amounts you want.

Buy Thai Food and Cooking by Judy Bastyra and Becky Johnson. Great recipes that taste like the food I ate in Thailand. Great pictures, and I am often suspect of any cookbook that invests so much in the showing. An opening section describes and shows various rices, noodles, vegetables, etc. You can carry it through the H Mart and pick up everything you need except maybe kaffir lime leaves, which should be available online.

(Update: Why H Mart Is My Favorite Place For Food.)

H Mart

800 N. Rolling Road
Catonsville, MD 21228
443-612-9020

NEAR: Rte 40 just west of I-695. If you are driving from HoCo, you'll see a Starbucks and a FedEx at the end of the shopping center. Turn right immediately after the Starbucks. If you miss it, just turn right at the next intersection.

Lotte Market
8801 Baltimore National Pike
Ellicott City, MD 21043
410-750-9656

NEAR: On Rte 40, just west of Rte 29. From Rte 29 south, you take the Rte 40 East exit, then stay in the left lane on the exit ramp. That takes you into the shopping center.

Delicious: Tamarind Maracas at Lily's Mexican Market

Great fun, but don't give to any children that you actually like.

The Tamarind Maraca is a sweet, tart and spicy candy. Imagine a chewy lollipop with the consistency of gummy bears. It's tart, almost sour, and sweet. But dusted with hot pepper. A treat for an adult. An impolite trick for any child accustomed to taste "Power Berry" or "Cran-Apple-Sugar."

Tamarind is a popular flavor in Mexican food, especially candy and sodas like the "Boing!" soft drink pictured with the Tamarind Maraca to the left. The paste tastes sour to me, but, like lemon, the flavor mixes well with sugar or used in sweet-sour cooking.

The "maracas" are a two-lollipop package sold for $1.69 at Lily's Mexican Market in Columbia. They're named for those "shaker" instruments.

For more about Lily's, check out this profile or read all the posts about Lily's.  Or look through a comprehensive list of Howard County markets.

(Update: I had the wrong address here.  Lily's is in the shopping center with the DMV.)

Lily's Mexican Market

6490 Dobbin Center Way

Columbia, MD 21045

NEAR: The DMV off Dobbins Road just south of Rte 175. Turn into the center at the intersection with a Blockbuster. Sushi King and the DMV are in the same shopping center.

Recipes that use Tamarind pulp that you can also buy at Lily's: http://recipes.epicurean.com/asc_results.jsp?ingredients=Tamarind

Buy The World: Ethnic, Organic and Specialty Groceries

You can buy the world in Howard County. Organic joints sell brands and items left out at supermarkets, and ethnic markets offer foreign -- both the ingredients for cooking and prepared, frozen or canned food that is ready-to-eat.

(Update:  This was published in 2009 or 2010.  The descriptions are still good, although it is not updated to note that Caezar's and others have closed.  Click on the links in the right column for each market to get updates.)

The organic markets are pretty similar to my eyes, and Today's Catch stands alone. Among the others, H Mart stands out as a supermarket and my favorite place for food. But you need to check out JW Treuth and Sons, and you could also spend an hour in Lily's Mexican Market, Sizar's Food Mart or one of the Indian shops making selections and asking questions because they're larger with densely-packed shelves and helpful staff. All the others are recommended except that I couldn't figure out Afia International when I went there. If you want West African ingredients, definitely start at Julie's or Accra.

You can search through the labels -- including "Markets - Ethnic" and "Markets - Organic" -- on the right column of the blog, or you can click on links below.

ASIAN

H Mart in Catonsville

My favorite place in the world for food. A real supermarket with both Asian and Mexican foods and with produce, fruit and fish unmatched by anywhere else in the area. Snack on the fresh popped rice bowls in the back.Why It's My Favorite Place For Food -- Profile -- Search Labels
Lotte in Ellicott City

An H-Mart competitor. Not as good as H-Mart for many things.  But closer to HoCo and offering the best takeout prepared food, including marinated meats, desserts, fried chicken and the panchan that makes Korean food so spectacular.
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BAKERY

Bonaparte's Bread in Savage (and at the Sunday farmers market in Columbia)

The best bread around. Spectacular baguettes, along with other breads. Plus pastries.

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La Bolangarie Bakery in Ellicott City

This Korean-run bakery sells terrific individually-wrapped pastries, including breads and buns filled with sweet red beans and hazelnut cream.  There are formal cakes, plus you can just stop for coffee or a bubble tea to enjoy with a madeleine or a chocolate-filled pastry.

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Momo Bakery inside H Mart in Catonsville

Great Korean bakery with the rice/red bean sweets, plus donuts and sweet-looking cakes.

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BUTCHER
Laurel Meat Market in Laurel

A great source for thick-cut, peppered bacon. They sell other meats and fish, but I haven't been inspired.
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Boarman's Meat Market in Highland

Try the home-made sausages at this small grocery/liquor store south of Clarksville

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JW Treuth and Sons in Oella

 A spectacular butcher near Ellicott City.  Good seafood.  Try the Chesapeake sausage!

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INDIAN
Desi Bazaar in Columbia

A splendid grocery in a commercial park. Essential for Indian foods, including some produce like avocados and mangos and some prepared food like the samosas at the counter. Easy snack to start -- papads. Also has a well-stocked freezer with frozen samosas and breads.
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Apna Bazar in Laurel

10119-C Washington Blvd (U.S. 1)

Laurel, MD 20707

301-498-1233

A super-stocked store just north of Main Street on U.S. 1. All the spices, flours, lentils and rices you need for Indian cooking. Plus, an exceptional variety of frozen prepared food and breads -- a few dozen different types of naan, puri, paratha, etc. Even though Apna is smaller than some other groceries, it has a better selection of many items.

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MEXICAN/CENTRAL AMERICAN
Lily's Mexican Market in Columbia

Absolutely one of the best shops in the county. A fresh tortilla machine. Baked goods. A butcher.  Take-out tacos!  All on top of aisles of Mexican ingredients, sauces, peppers (chipotles!), and spices. Check out the frozen tamales.

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Tere's Latin Market in Ellicott City

Smaller than Lily's, but still nice for Mexican ingredients, especially canned goods, corn meal and similar dry goods.

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El Patio in Jessup

Like Tere's, this is smaller than Lily's. The Argentine empanadas are worth a visit, and the place has both a large stock for its size and really class decor for a converted convenience store -- tile floors, faux-wood shelves, and cigarettes displayed in baskets like a country store.

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Mexican Bazaar in Columbia

This small shop in southern Columbia has the Mexican basics like beans, chipotles, spices, pasta, etc.  It is in the same shopping center as An Loi Vietnamese restaurant, but it doesn't have a sign.  Check it out for Mexican candies and for soccer jerseys.

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MIDDLE EASTERN
Caezar International Market in Elkridge (formerly Sizar's Food Mart in Columbia)

An emporium. Go for any food from Turkey to India -- breads, oils, syrups, beans, meats, pastries. This is a 13-year-old store that stocks and organizes a half-dozen kinds of bread from sweet Afghan rist to table-sized lavash. Dried fruit. Spices and herbs. Pistachio nougat. Jallab syrup. Halal chicken nuggets!

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Aladdin in Laurel

Smaller than Sizar's, but a strong selection of breads, canned goods and well-stocked coolers with Greek yogurt, Lebni cheese and frozen pastries and appetizers.
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Caspian Supermarket in Ellicott City

I haven't visited yet, but on-line reviews describe a supermarket smaller than Sizar's but filled with Middle Eastern supplies. It is on Rte 40 just west of Rte 29. For more information and the address, check out this review.

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ORGANIC
David's Natural Market in Columbia

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My Organic Market in Jessup ("Columbia East")
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Roots in Clarksville
Search LabelsAll three of these offer organic vegetables and meat. They have the national organic brands of cereals, crackers, canned goods, detergent, etc. They have breads, cheese and herbal remedies. They don't differ much to my eyes. I wrote about buying grains and listed the addresses for all three.

SEAFOOD

Today's Catch Seafood in Columbia

Beautiful seafood. A minimal shop with most everything in a single cooler and an ice tray. Go for the quality. Expect to pay for it and expect to enjoy yourself.

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Frank's Seafood in Jessup

The retail outlet inside the wholesale seafood.  Great for crabs, but with many fish on ice.

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WEST AFRICAN
I don't know African food, so I'm not an expert on the stores. The owner at Accra was friendly, but even he didn't have recipes or the lines of prepared food that Indian or Middle Eastern stores offer. I need to find a cookbook. If you know what you want, all three carry the same brand of Ghanian items, including palm nut concentrate for making stew, potato starch, dried okra, and canned goods. Afia had a butcher, but honestly, it also had an odd smell that put me on edge. I'd appreciate any advice.

Accra International Foods in Laurel

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Afia International Market in Jessup ("Columbia East")

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Julie's International Market in Elkridge (really Ellicott City, near the Costco)

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