SE Michigan Grocery Stores

[jeniac42]

As some of you already know, I recently moved to Adrian, MI from Pittsburgh. I've been having a hard time adapting to my grocery shopping situation here; I can't even buy a tub of Thai curry or fish sauce at a reasonable price ($3 for a 4oz bottle of fish sauce? are you kidding me?). I do plan to stock up on a few things when I go back to Pittsburgh, and when we make it to Chicago, but there has to be a better solution.

We haven't had the time or money to make it up to Ann Arbor, but when we do, I'd like to know where to go shopping. Are there any Asian grocery stores? What about cheesemongers? (Here I can get President brie and that's about it.) Any treasures I should know about?

And in case you find yourself trapped in Adrian, there's a reasonably decent butcher (Rosier's). The meat is good, but I ran into trouble asking them to cut things for me and/or special order things like pork bellies for bacon. Still, better than Meijer or Country Market (which doesn't even have a staffed counter).

Help me not miss the Strip District in Pittsburgh so much!

[goldie]

Zingerman's in Ann Arbor is amazing. Definitely worth a field trip. My parents used to live in Albion and I seem to remember a very fancy Felpausch but that may have been in Battle Creek.

www.zingermans.com

[TJHarris]

Village Corner in Ann Arbor has a very respectable cheese selection. I also do recall a number of Asian (Chinese, Japanese, Indian) Markets around Ann Arbor but can't for the life of me remember details. Busch's Markets are big supermarkets (locally owned) that seem to be a little more quality driven than most.

Edited June 20, 2007 by TJHarris (log)

[CaliPoutine]

There is a huge asian store in Ypsi. I can't remember the name, its on Washtenaw. Last time I was there, I thought it was really cheap.

[annarborfoodie]

I can't remember the name of the huge cheap Asian place in Ypsi either but I can give directions - Go north on US23 - exit at Washtenaw towards Ypsi. The place will be on the right side about a half mile down. It used to be a Mazda/Toyota dealership and it looks like it. There is another one called Tsai Grocery that is near Target at Ann Arbor-Saline Rd. and I-94 but the prices aren't quite as good.

For cheeses you can't beat Morgan & York (formerly Big Ten) on Packard.

For groceries, I give Hiller's a slight edge over Busch's. I used to live across the street from Busch's but would still drive across town to Hiller's sometimes. Hiller's is at the intersection of 23 & Washtenaw in the Arborland shopping mall - get off Washtenaw towards Ann Arbor.

I do my major shopping in Ann Arbor still - even though I live 5.5 hours away in east central Illinois. I can't imagine there's anything you can't find there if you know where to look.

editing to add that I found the name of the huge cheap Asian place in kitchenchick's blog - it's called Hua Xing. Here's a link to her post about it. The address is 2867 Washtenaw in Ypsilanti.

Edited June 20, 2007 by annarborfoodie (log)

[Joe McConnell]

Ann Arbor:

- Kerrytown market inside, esp Sparrow Meats and Monahan's Seafood; Everyday Wines

- Saturday and Wednesday AMs, there's a reasonable farmer's market at Kerrytown

Market, outside

- Morgan and York, cheese, deli, high end wines

- Produce Station, fresh produce

- Tsai Grocery. asian groceries

Ann Arbor is crawling with small, strip-mall located Asian and South Asian markets, of wildly varying quality. Needless to say, avoid all supermarkets.

Village Corner used to be the go-to spot for wine, but they're getting on toward retirement, and it's in the dead center of campus parking hell -- Morgan and York and Every Day Wines are my current recommendations unless you're looking for something very specific that VC alone carries.

FYI, I keep a search engine of some of these recommendations at www.culinaryintelligence.com. It's free.

[Naftal]

Hello- Since you are planning trips to Chicago and Pittsburgh, I will assume you are willing to go as far as Suburban Detroit So I can recommend my favorite places: Cantoro's Market on Middlebelt north of 7 Mile is the absolute best place for anything Italian also, there is a Chinese market in the strip-mall at 14 Mile and Dequindre.

[jeniac42]

Thank you all for the advice. Detroit is at a disadvantage since I don't have friends or family to visit there, but it's certainly not too far away. Perhaps a trip to Ypsi/AA is in order in the next couple of weeks.