Yuma’s Asian Store

Tomorrow this food blog will have an outstanding post by Kirk or Cathy. But they are taking today off so Ed (from Yuma) – who has lots of days off – can write about a little grocery.

About 10 years ago, Kirk came over to Yuma and spent a couple days looking around and taco trucking. While in town, I showed him The Oriental Gift Shop that sells a wide variety of Asian trinkets and wigs and has a cooler and freezer in the back with kimchi and other mostly Korean specialties. A few shelves in that part of the shop offer rices, sauces, spices, and marinades. Kirk called it the 49.5 market, but as far as foodstuffs, it is a 9.9 ranch market at best (still my go to place for kimchi, however).

So I am delighted that Asian Store (not to be confused with Asian Star) now exists in town. From the back of the parking lot at Eddie's Grill, you can get an idea of its general location:

If you look along this strip mall that parallels Catalina Dr, past the location that was once a Staples, past the Dollar Tree, and beyond the Salvation Army thrift store, you will eventually find Asian Store right next to a Little Caesars:

The nondescript market has four aisles. The one on the far right has the carbohydrates. A large supply of various Asian rices:

Look for dried seaweed above the sushi rice:

Across from the rices are the noodles:

Along with such specialties as bean thread vermicelli, an amazing array of Cantonese style noodles:

And I have fallen in love with Thai rice sticks, which add a whole new dimension to my gringo stirfries:

The next aisle contains a miscellaneous assortment:

An area of canned goods including bamboo shoots:

and large jars of sour bamboo shoots: 

You can also find sauce packets and spice mixes: soup bases and spices:

Thai curry pastes:

and Hawaiian spicy chicken seasoning:

The other side of the aisle displays many different teas – Japanese:

or Jasmine if you prefer:

That side also has dried beans and Panko:

The next aisle displays bottled and jarred condiments and sauces on one side and a huge variety of snacks on the other:

You can buy a bag of fried pork skins:

or roasted green peas:

Across the aisle, Kirk could find his Aloha soy or teriyaki sauce:

or pungent shrimp sauce:

Of course there's Sriracha:

an entire area of various vinegars:

and such specialties as Pad Thai Sauce (which is pretty good):

At the backend of that aisle you can find some fresh produce that doesn't need refrigeration, like kabocha squash, lemons, and these shallots (only $1.19 a bag):

Which leads me to my favorite part of the store, the refrigerated produce area at the back of the westernmost aisle. Shelves full of choys:

Or long beans, bitter melon, eggplants:

Or mushrooms:

including my favorite king oyster mushrooms:

Fresh papaya strips, ready to be turned into a salad:

And if you want that salad spicy, plenty of Thai chilies:

And don't forget the time-saving peeled fresh garlic cloves:

Between the fresh foods and the front of the market are shelves filled with frozen goods:

I spend less time in this area, but you can find a wide range of frozen product. Like mochi sherbet or ice cream:

frozen quail:

beef blood:

or even pork paste or fish paste (?):

Though I am puzzled or confused by some of the items for sale, you can understand why I am delighted to shop in a market like Asian Store. Their prices are very competitive and sometimes better than Fry’s or Albertsons. The produce is fresh, seasonal, and various. In so many ways, this little grocery makes me a better and more adventurous cook. And that makes both Tina and me happy.

Comments

[Kevin Mann]

May Yuma's Asian Store thrive and prosper!

[Joan Koblas]

I love that store. Its the best thing to hit Yuma for people who like to do Asian cooking and want AUTHENTIC Asian ingredients, not the fake Asian you can get in an American supermarket. Many of the items in the Asian market here are the same ones my Thai daughter-in-law uses everyday. We are so lucky to have such a store.
Now if we only had the equivalent in an Indian market. I'd be in heaven!

[Ed (from Yuma)]

Gotta agree, Kevin. I suspect you've got a developed taste for Chinese food by now.

You're right, Joanie. I'm glad the store is in town, I go there just about every week, but you probably liked it better when they were out in Foothills.

[Kirk]

10 years Ed! Good lord...... It's good to know that there's more available these days.

[nhbilly]

Gotta love me some of the fine shrimp paste...MMmmmmmm

[Ed (from Yuma)]

Yes, Kirk, 10 years is a long time. I didn't even own a camera back then.

Right, billy, now all we need in Yuma is a Viet restaurant serving bun mam that I could put a little shrimp sauce in.

[Soo @ hungryones]

Nice store! Reminds me of Woo Chee Chong. It was the only Asian store in San Diego back in the old days.

[Ed (from Yuma)]

I think I've heard of Woo Chee Chong; John Gabry– A local legend on Yuma radio for 60 years – loved Chinese food. I would run into him at Yummy Yummy on occasion, and we would talk about Chinese food etc. I remember him going on about the small Chinese market over in San Diego back in the day, how dried squid hung from the rafters and it was full of odd and unusual foodstuffs. That had to be Woo Chee Chong. Thanks for reminding me.

[Soo @ hungryones]

Welcome! That's awesome a Yuma local would make the trek to San Diego for groceries. There was some great stuff that I can't get now or isn't as good. I loved the chow mein and the bbq pork in the deli. They had my favorite brand of shrimp noodles imported from Hong Kong I've never seen since. They had the most awesome rice puff which I have to drive to LA to get now.

[caninecologne]

Here's a tidbit about Woo Chee Chong - the old location in Chula Vista is now Mexican grocer store, Mercado International (on Third near Orange Ave in CV). It changed back in 1995. The building's street signage still has that Asian look. Kirk has posted on the tacos and adobada here before.

My parents used to go to the older (and now defunct) Woo Chee Chong in downtown SD, then to the CV one. It was the only place back in the 70s to buy specialty ingredients.

[Ed (from Yuma)]

John Gabry was a wise and adventurous soul - remember, he was going over to San Diego before I-8 existed. Of course, San Diego has always provided civilization, shopping, entertainments, and beaches for Yumans.

Very interesting, cc. It's hard to appreciate how much San Diego and the country as a whole has become more diverse (and more flavorful) because of the immigration reform of 1965. As Kirk posted recently, San Diego dining has changed and developed a lot over the last couple decades.

[Ed (from Yuma)]

I just wanted to follow-up about John Gabry. A friend of Tina's has known the Gabry family for a long time. She told Tina that most summers John used to pack up his family for a vacation, drive over to San Diego and LA, and do voiceovers and commercials for radio stations in Southern California. Those gigs paid for the trip, but he spent a lot of time in markets like Woo Chee Chong, so when the family returned to Yuma, the car was filled with all sorts of oddities unavailable out here in the desert – so filled that the kids had bags and boxes on their laps for the trip home.

[Didi]

this is fantastic, Ed. wow.