Oregon Market

[KatieLoeb]

A couple of days ago I went and explored the new Oregon Market, a giant Asian Market that's opened at 320 Oregon Avenue in South Philadelphia, right next to/behind the Oregon Diner. The place is huge, very clean, well stocked and the prices are excellent. There was a bit of a Mexican/Latino flavor in some of the inventory as well, probably reflecting the local immigrant population. I was pretty impressed with all of the various boxed and canned goods, home wares and the fresh fish and meats all looked really good. Fantastic fresh produce too. In fact I bought some cubes of pork shoulder and marinated them in a packet of Tocino flavored marinade I'd bought and then stir fried them up with some snap peas from the produce aisle. Turned out pretty good and went well over some Trader Joe's whole grain pasta/sous cous mix I'd made the night before.

For those of you that are a little tired or leery of the hygiene at the Washington Avenue or Chinatown markets, this might be your new Holy Grail for Asian shopping.

Oregon Market

320 Oregon Avenue

215.336.5858

[TarteTatin]

I wish the Asian market at 4th and Spring Garden was still clean.

It was, at the beginning.

And the fears of the neighborhood association-I fear have come true.

They were worried, I had heard, about it becoming not as well kept up as it should be.

(Part of another store in northeast Philly, I think).

Unfortunately, the past few times I have been in there to shop, the smell isn't wonderful, nor are the fish tanks as clean as perhaps they should be, etc.

Although you can still get a huge bottle of siracha for $2.99!

[KatieLoeb]

I suppose it is pretty easy for a brand spanking new place to look shiny and, well, NEW. But the help was all over the place, spoke reasonably decent conversational English, seemed to be straightening and restocking quite a bit, etc. Definitely unlike any of the other large scale Asian markets I've seen with the exception of the big H Mart up on Cheltenham Ave. Certainly a step up from what's been available in the greater downtown area. For now.

I'll report back after my next trip there. And I'll try to take some pictures too. Or maybe just get philadining to accompany me with his camera and vastly superior photographic skills.

[Andrew Fenton]

I hate to say it, Katie, but this place is already starting to get a little manky: swarms of fruit flies around the produce and a whiff of that smell. I did get a couple of nice pieces of pork belly for $1.59 a pound (cheap!), but I think in the future I'll stick to the 69th St. H-Mart (bigger, cleaner, and I can head up to Monsieur Chicken afterwards).

[KatieLoeb]

Well that sucks then, doesn't it? Is it possible that all the Asian markets have that smell because of the aisle of dried fish and other unidentifiables? I can't believe a place that was pristine just a short week ago is that manky already.

The Cheltenham Avenue H Mart is my go to, since I tend to be in the 'hood more often than Upper Darby. There's a whole food court in the middle for my post shopping munching.

Edited August 19, 2008 by KatieLoeb (log)

[Andrew Fenton]

Yeah, it could be the dried fish... except that I got the smell on the other side of the store. And H-Mart doesn't seem to have the smell either. (I've never been to the Cheltenham store- 69th St. is on my way home from work, so it's reasonably convenient. And yeah, you gotta love the food court!)

[MarketStEl]

"That smell" -- which I notice more the closer I get to the fish counter at Hung Vuong -- comes from the fish handling area, if my own experience is any guide.

Perhaps we should be glad these places do not sell live poultry. I find "that smell" I smell when I pass the place in the Italian Market that does this even more objectionable.

But this now raises a question. The fishmongers in the Italian Market and at the RTM also handle and display whole fish, though usually not in tanks, as I have seen at Hung Vuong. And while I occasionally notice some fragrant aromas on 9th Street in warmer weather, I attribute those to the fact that the displays are outdoors, and warmer temperatures hasten the decay of fresh food, which is usually the source of the smells. So how do John Yi, the Wans, the folks who run Golden Fish Market, Hmart, Darigo's et al. manage not to have those smells (most of the time, in the 9th Street case), but the big non-chain Asian supermarkets all seem to develop them over time?