A small convenience store at the corner of 4th and Adams. I've never been sure whether the place…read moreis called "Adams Market" because it's at the intersection with Adams, is called "Adam's Market" after someone named Adam, or is called "Adam Market" as it's sometimes rendered in other online results.
The great thing about this place is the owner, who is jolly and sarcastic and funny, although his wit does tend to run a little absurd and not a little dry. Almost as great, though, is the selection of Middle Eastern foods. It's a great place to stock up on boxes of mahmouls for cheap, or to get tins of stuffed grape leaves, which are a vastly better snack than the paltry selection of heavily-processed junk food. Fresh, but limited, but huge, baklavah.
The real wonder, though, is a small row of sodas in the back. Not the fancy burdock-and-ass English stuff, but the selection of Lebanese fruit sodas by Kazouza, the best of which is the watermelon. None of them are HFCS-loaded crap, but the watermelon nonetheless captures the fanciful watermelon flavor of something like a Jolly Rancher without being too cloying (at least, for the first few bottles.) It's so wonderful. Like, it completely changed my view of carbonated beverages.
It's also a reliable place to get ayran, which is good when the Kazouza gets too sickly-sweet. Also, the brand of ayran they stock is also very useful as a yogurt culture, and at least with the milk from my goats that I tried it with, it resulted in some absurdly-thick and wonderful stuff.
Some of the staff other than the owner can be a bit grumpy or difficult, and some of them are quite sweet and outgoing. Still, it's hard to fault the gruff ones. It's the most centrally-located and only late-night convenience store in downtown Olympia. It's a great place to rub shoulders with people who are drunk at noon and people who are far gone in the middle of the night.
It really functions as Olympia's only Middle Eastern market. International Spice and Halal used to carry much of the same stuff, and since it closed and its owner moved on to other things, this is the best place to go. And it does a good job of that, while also doing a good job of being a convenience store. A very cool place. Near and dear to my heart.
