I heart New Seasons (Portland)

[trillium]

I really love the produce that New Seasons manages to bring in. Right now, in the produce section, besides all the regular good produce they have Seville oranges, regular and buddhahand citrons, limequats, fresh kaffir lime leaves and fresh tumeric. Last year they even had fresh kaffir limes, which I'm still hoping for, even though we still have a few left in the freezer stash. Let's hear it for great neighborhood grocery stores.

Anything else notable going on at people's favorite places to buy produce?

regards,

trillium

Edited January 22, 2004 by trillium (log)

[reesek]

Last year they even had fresh kaffir limes

hey trillium,

what do kaffir limes look like? i've seen some sort of very hard green thing at viet wah in seattle, but couldn't figure out what it was. what are they like inside? do you use the zest in thai cooking?

[trillium]

here's a link to a picture on Gernot's website (which is a great resource, btw). They're golf ball sized and knobby on the outside. The rind is very pungent and is used in a lot of different Thai curry pastes, but we also use them or kalamansi limes in Singaporean stuff too. Their insides are green, like the limes we have here. They don't have much juice, they're very pithy, but I use the juice left over from making curry pastes to make a salted lemonade if I don't use the juice for a sambal or noodle dish. If the hard green things you saw were smaller than a golf ball, smooth skinned and orange inside, then those were probably kalamansi limes. They get used more for juice then rind.

regards,

trillium

[ScorchedPalate]

Hi Trillium:

Where is New Seasons located? I'd love to have a source for Seville oranges (mmm! homemade marmelade) and kaffir limes, and just generally peruse oddball produce.

~Anita

[Human Bean]

Fresh turmeric is avaliable at all the local Indian markets around here (Portland's "boring western 'burbs"), and fresh kaffir lime leaves are available at most/all Asian markets. There's a New Seasons near me in Hillsboro that I've never been to; I'll have to take a look. And I'll probably make a trip to Uwajimaya (Beaverton) this weekend; they have lots of produce, sometimes exotic. I'll report back on any interesting finds.

[DRColby]

The blood oranges now on the market make some great salads and the pink grapefruit are at their best. I missed seeing any Meyer lemons in the Seattle markets this year; bought two in Columbus,OH at $1 each... such a price.

Dave

[trillium]

The nicest thing for me about having them at New Seasons is that they are right here in the neighborhood, within walking distance. The other nice thing for the citrus is that many are organically grown. If you're using the peel, like I do, that's nice, because citrus are something that get treated quite a bit.

Frozen tumeric rhizomes are also usually available at many Asian grocery stores too. Fresh kaffir lime leaves are almost never available at the Asian grocery stores I frequent, but you can find them in the freezer section fairly regularly, however they aren't always there either. For instance, in the last month I looked for them at An Dong, Pacific Supermarket, Uwajimaya, Nam Phuong Market and the big store off 82nd a couple blocks south of Holgate. None to be had. It seems like they run out all at the same time. A cool find for me at Pacific Supermarket was a frozen package of caul fat for $3. I'd been looking for it to make pates and I was going to have to special order it, which sucks because you have to buy a lot. I don't like Uwajimaya for SE Asian groceries because I think they're horridly overpriced, but I do like how they carry all the pig parts that are hard to find at "conventional" grocery stores. They are also the only place in town that carries belecan. My favorite place for East/Southeast produce is usually An Dong.

What South Asian grocery stores int he western 'burbs do you like? The two I went to when I first moved here were very disappointing.

regards,

trillium

[trillium]

Hi Trillium:

Where is New Seasons located? I'd love to have a source for Seville oranges (mmm! homemade marmelade) and kaffir limes, and just generally peruse oddball produce.

~Anita

They have several different spots in town, here's theirwebsite. The Sevilles come and go pretty fast, so you if want them, get them now!

regards,

trillium

[ScorchedPalate]

They have several different spots in town, here's theirwebsite.

Ah, Portland! I was wondering how I could have missed a great produce market in Seattle.

[duckduck]

I enjoy the odd things I find at Whole Foods downtown too. I tend to go there at times because it's easy for me to hop the trolley down to the max to get home. And the seafood counter is always beautiful. I keep saying I'm going to take home a buddha's hand sometime and find a recipe on how to use it. Gernot's... spice dictionary right? A friend at work is always finding things on it for me. I've got to check it out sometime.

[Human Bean]

What South Asian grocery stores in the western 'burbs do you like?  The two I went to when I first moved here were very disappointing.

There aren't really any markets on the west side (apart from perhaps Uwjimaya) that are inherently worth crossing the river for. (I'm willing to go to the east side for visits to An Dong and Pacific Market, but I don't go to either one very often).

Perhaps the largest one is Asia Market (formerly Hong Kong Market), which was used to be a Thriftway, so it's about medium-sized. They used to be a contender for greatness on the west side, but have been in a bit of a decline since being purchased by Anzen awhile ago. It's about 3 - 4 miles from Uwajimaya.

One that I go to fairly often is Manila Market, about 3 blocks from the Beaverton Transit Center. Despite the name, it's run by Vietnamese, and is a reasonable, unspectacular neighborhood market.

The one I go to most often (because it's closest) is a little hole-in-the wall place called New Phnom Penh Market. When I make pho, I usually get the veggies, noodles and beef balls there. There's nothing particularly noteworthy about it, but if you like Cambodian videos, the selection appears to be very good.

There are at least three Indian markets within a 5 - 10 minute drive of my house; the closest is within walking distance (closer even than Fred Meyer, the nearest supermarket). The largest is called India Direct, in a little industrial park close to Sunset Higway. It's not huge, but has a good selection of spices, dry goods, and some fresh veggies. They always (AFAIK) have fresh curry leaves and turmeric, as well as a small vegetarian restaurant in the back, which supposed to have good food (I've never tried it).

[ExtraMSG]

Note that curry (the herb) grows pretty darned well here. I've got a bush that went nuts in front of my house the first year I planted it.

I've done some touring of the Indian markets and compared with Chicago or even Dallas, there's really no good one here that I've found yet.

I really wish we could get an awesome ethnic market here like Fiesta in Texas. I want something as big as a Safeway that is a destination for Mexicans, Central/South Americans, and Asians. Wouldn't that be nice? With high turnover of ingredients because it's such a destination. Will it ever happen in Portland....

[Alberts]

Let's hear it for great neighborhood grocery stores.

I agree wholeheartedly. New Seasons is a treasure, not only for making organic produce practically mainstream, but labelling the site of origin. They also are willing to offer conventional items, in contrast to most of Wild Oats/Natures.

The weekend sample table (at least here in Sellwood) is a lot of fun. The prices put Whole Foods to shame

[trillium]

Note that curry (the herb) grows pretty darned well here. I've got a bush that went nuts in front of my house the first year I planted it.

I've done some touring of the Indian markets and compared with Chicago or even Dallas, there's really no good one here that I've found yet.

I really wish we could get an awesome ethnic market here like Fiesta in Texas. I want something as big as a Safeway that is a destination for Mexicans, Central/South Americans, and Asians. Wouldn't that be nice? With high turnover of ingredients because it's such a destination. Will it ever happen in Portland....

Curry the herb as in curry leaves? Hmmm. I didn't know they could survive the winter.

I would adore a good latino market here, or not even here, but in the 'burbs. We miss Supermercado Cardenas from our old hood in Chicago. For asian, I really, really wish 99 Ranch would open a branch here. I love that place.

regards,

trillium

[thelastsupper]

What an interesting site. Trillium, thanks for sharing the Gernot Katzer Spice Page! A nice little resource there.

[trillium]

Just wanted to bring this thread up again to say that New Seasons has bergamot sour oranges (you know, those things that scent Earl Grey tea). I've only seen them in Sicily and Calabria, I think it's cool they've managed to grow them in California. At the Sellwood location they aren't actually out because they don't have space yet, so if you don't see them, ask someone who works in produce.

regards,

trillium

[Human Bean]

Not really of interest to those outside of Portland's "boring western 'burbs," but anyway...

Looks like it's New Seasons for me now.

I went to the Beaverton Natures (er, Wild Oats) today for some flax oil, vitamins, and hardwood charcoal. Oops; they're going out of business. Not much left there, even though they're supposed to be open until the end of the month.

The assistant manager manning the register said that there was more competition at that site than at any other of their stores. Well, Trader Joes is across the multi-lane highway, but that isn't really the same; he also mentioned GNC, which has lots of vitamins and stuff, but they're grotesquely overpriced. I cannot say whether the Wild Oats buyout of Natures had anything to do with this, but it might be a factor.

This is kind of sad; back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, Natures was semi-militantly organic, and staffed by genuine (ex-)hippies. More recently, employees have tended towards gen-Y people with lots of tattoos, and that's fine. My only complaint is that they were close and had what I wanted, which was either not available or too expensive elsewhere.

So, looks like New Seasons in Hillsboro gets my business now. Interestingly, the assistant manager mentioned that New Seasons was started by ex-Natures people that somehow managed to avoid a no-compete clause when they left.

[andiesenji]

Last year they even had fresh kaffir limes, which I'm still hoping for, even though we still have a few left in the freezer stash. Let's hear it for great neighborhood grocery stores.

trillium

If you use a lot of Kaffir lime leaves you can get the plant itself from Nichols Garden Nursery.

http://www.nicholsgardennursery.com/index.htm

It makes a great container plant. I bought one two years ago and it lives outside in the summer (in the shade) and in the greenhouse in our very short winter because we do get some very cold weather for a brief time. Mine is just 30 inches tall right now. Pinching the tips of the stems makes is bushier so it will produce a lot of leaves.

I also have a Meyer (sweet) lemon and a Calmodin orange (like a Seville, good for marmalade) and they also have to winter indoors. Also from Nichols.