Tropical Fruit is my go-to bodega. It's where I go on the mornings when I realize with frustration that I ran out of milk because it's just one block away as oppose to the grocery store that is two blocks away (I'm just that lazy). It's my stop-off store when I get out of the subway and decide randomly that I need ice cream. It's where I go when I need something really random and none of the other stores have it in stock and voila, Tropical Fruit has it hidden on a dusty shelf. In short, it is everything what I need it to be.
But what makes Tropical Fruit special to me is the candy. I have a fondness for buying candy in bodegas because of childhood memories of buying candy in liquor stores. That's right. As a kid, I frequented liquor stores. I think this must strictly be an LA thing because whenever I reminisce about this, people's eyes bug out and they're in utter shock and horror that a child would be allowed inside a liquor store. But back in the 80s in LA, every kid knew that liquor stores had the best selection of candy (keep in mind, I was a child back then so my idea of good was VASTLY different from what it is now). Grocery stores had only a few and usually not the good ones.
The one that my sister and I went to (yes, we were regulars at a liquor store all before the age of 10) had a wall devoted to various chocolates and candy. Every Saturday morning, we would go to our dad, ask for a dollar, and then walk over (alone -- back in the 80s no one worried about kidnapping) a few blocks to make the important decision of what candy we were going to eat for that week (well, really just that day). Chocolate bars were 40 cents, so we would usually pick out a chocolate bar each, and then we had 20 cents to spend. We usually got an assortment of penny and nickel candies. Sometimes as a change of pace, we would get a package of Hostess Cupcakes (55 cents) instead of two candy bars. We would leave the liquor store feeling rich because of our sugar treasures.
This brings me back to the candy at Tropical Fruit. My tastes have grown up. Tropical Fruit carries the European chocolates (e.g., Kinder Bueno) that I love, but what makes me give the extra 4th star, is the fact they sell MARS BARS. Even though Mars is an American company, I do not understand why Mars bars are not sold in the US. They are SOOO much better than Milky Ways. And don't even get me started on Mars bar ice cream! The other European chocolates I can find in lots of different stores, but this is the ONLY place that I know of where I can get Mars bars. read more