Ethnic Markets in Burlington VT

[Margo]

I've whined about this elsewhere, but in truth there are at least four places in and around Burlington, VT, to find specialty foods...

The first one, I don't know the name, a Thai market on North Avenue in Burlington. They have fresh produce and myriad canned goods, including coconut milk at 1/3 the supermarket price.

Gagan Asian Grocery Store, Williston Rd., South Burlington. Indian food, they have carried fresh curry leaves in the past but I'm not sure business was strong enough to continue.

Balkan Pearls, Main St., Burlington. Eastern European. Sausage and smoked meats, paprika.

European Food, Main St., Winooski. Russian, Ukrainian.

The Vietnamese grocery in Winooski recently burned, but the family intends to re-open at a new location fairly soon.

So where do you go?

[GG Mora]

You might be looking for Burlington-centric, but I have a fave Asian Market in Hadley, MA: Tran's Asian Supermarket on Route 9 just over the Coolidge Bridge from Northampton. It's got everything you could possibly want in an Asian market, including fresh produce (I've gotten fresh durian there) and cookware. I got a nice flat-bottom spun-steel wok for about $16 and a bamboo steamer very cheap. They have a huge selection of packaged Asian groceries. For example, there must be 20 varieties of fish sauce, as many or more of soy sauce, all kinds of dried noodles. Fresh lo-mein, many varieties of tofu and miso. Fresh lime-leaf, long beans, Thai eggplant, rau ram, etc. Best prices anywhere on little bottles of ginseng extract. Coolers full of Viet and Thai soft-drinks. Jars of fermented fish, pickled garlic, all manner of curry pastes, dried spices and herbs. It's tiny, but warrants at least a few hours to take in its treasures.

Worth a long trip for provisioning.

Edit: punctuation.

Edited May 4, 2004 by GG Mora (log)

[Margo]

That's great to know. I didn't mean to imply Burlington-centricity (horrors)--I'm really interested in a list of places in northern New England and western MA. Boston of course has a plethora of options, and Montreal is a stand-by. But if I'm, say, driving to Hanover, NH or Williamstown/Pittsfield, MA: what might be found?

Thanks!

[johnnyd]

Margo,

What about the old Cheese Outlet on Pine Street? I know the guy with the cheese-colored porsche sold it (he was a riot), so it's called something else now. I never fail to drop in for an hour before returning to Portland. They have a terrific european deli-style service for spectacular mortadella, olives, etc. Local artisnal cheeses, and a reasonable wine dept. 12yr old modena balsamic, a host of oils... you get the picture.

I'm at a loss on the asian side of things, it's been a while since I lived there.

[amytraverso]

I love Store 88 and Super 88 in Boston/Brighton for Asian food. I could lose an entire afternoon in there just exploring.

There's a decent Indian market in Central Square in Cambridge called Shalimar.

Salumeria Italiana in the North End of Boston is fabulous, but avoid going on a Saturday. Gets very busy with tourists.

Just visited a fun Portuguese market in Cambridge -- Fernandes Fish Market on Cambridge Street -- where I bought some fabulous Portuguese butter, olive oil, and "Portuguese allspice," which seems to be a Portuguese-American thing, rather than a true Portuguese staple.

In Connecticut, I love going to Scott's West Indian bakery in Hartford, which really is more of a bakery than a market, but they do have some Jamaican ingredients.

Amy