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19 years ago
Evelyn Thompson is a great tour guide. We decided to stay in the Rogers Park area, but she said that she would do South side tours or Polish and Chinese grocery stores depending on what people were interested in. The tour started with the Rogers Park Fruit Market. This market caters to Jamaican/Caribbean clientele. Here we learned about some of the different types of white breads. They were half-leaven bread since when the bread and yeast was first introduced to the Caribbean the yeast did not do so well in the hot and humid conditions. The bread was pretty heavy and dense. The butcher had different cuts of goat for the locals. We tasted some epizote as well as saw some yucca and cactus pears that seemed to be common theme of all the markets. Two things we bought were a sweet lemon and a sour orange to try later at La Unica Supermercado Chapala was the second stop of the tour. This Mexican grocery store sells fresh produce, memorable guacamole and specialty items such as Mexican sour cream. There is an eating area with about 10 little booths where you can eat some the best carnitas around and roast chicken. They also have a selection of tacos like cabeza tacos. The store was packed when we went in on a Monday morning, it might have been due to the heavy thunderstorm, but people looked pretty happy to be there. The next place was La Unica that has food for all types of Latin cuisine. Some of the unique items I saw were the quince and mango jellies that were sliced and place on crackers with cheese to provide a sweet contrast. Block and cone sugar and chocolate was interesting to see as well as purple corn. People of the Andes make a refreshing drink from purple corn called "chicha morada" which is now recognized as a nutritive powerhouse due to its phenolic content. The interesting thing was the eating area to the side. Walking past the store front, one would never know that it has a restaurant in the back. We took a little break and tried a few foods; yucca (pan fried?) with some picked onions and two types of plantains. The yucca was very starchy and dense. It tasted like a potato, but was a little grainier. I could see how the yucca could make food go a long way because it was filling. We also had a fried sweet yellow plantain that was tender almost creamy. The green plantain was lightly fried and then pounded flat and fried again. It was like a very dense potato chip with just a light hint of sweetness. The sweet lemon and a sour orange we bought from the Rogers Park Fruit Market added a nice amount of acidity to the plantains and cut some of fat. The rest of the menu was pretty varied including Cuban sandwiches and some Peruvian dishes. The next stop was the Devon Market that caters to mainly Eastern Europeans. Here we see a lot of the same fruit and vegetables. They have a wide variety of wines form Eastern European countries such as Romania. The great thing about this market is the freshly baked bread. As you start to approach the bread section, the scent of freshly baked bread begs you to take a look. From what I remember a huge loaf was about $1.59. They also had fresh bread stuffed with cheese, meat, spinach or a combination of the three. Thai Grocery store was next. In the back, they have a place where you can buy freshly fried fish. Other things of note that I saw were Thai eggplant and Luk Chup (fruit-shape desserts made of mung-bean flour with natural coloring). As we were walking out of the store, we saw a stack of the infamous durian. There were quite a few so I wondered who buys this on a regular basis. Middle East Bakery was the next stop. Here we got to see all sorts of interesting grains and lentils. This was the first time I saw red lentils and red rice. We sampled Za'atar which I had only seen on Iron Chef America. They were many interesting desserts like a jar or nuts filled to the brim with honey and raisin and walnut sausage. Yes, I said sausage. They string raisins and walnuts together and dip it in honey to form multiple layers. Lastly the sample of fresh savory pastries stuff with chicken, broccoli, cheese, olives or a combination of the three was great. I hear that he sells these to Whole Foods. So you can actually buy from the source. The next two stops were Fresh Farms and Patel Bros on Devon. As you walk into each of these store you are bombarded with the scent of spices, it almost knocks you over. They had things that I had never seen like fresh red and white (no blue) tumeric, black radishes and fresh dates. From looking at the freezer sections, it seems that you can get just about any For $35 you get to have a fun 4 hour tour, learn some new things, enjoy great company and best of all eat and experience new food. To top it off Evelyn drives so this is a great value. I would highly recommend this experience. read more
More info about Ethnic Grocery Tours
2010 W Chase Ave
Chicago, IL 60645
Rogers Park
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(773) 465-8064
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http://www.ethnic-grocery-tours.com
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