This was kinda cool…
So, I’m at our local Japanese grocery store this morning, picking up some seasoned seaweed for M. (”seasoned seaweed” sounds just terrible in English, but I can’t remember what this stuff is in Japanese. He loves it - no, he LOVES it; I’m a little indifferent, myself).
I notice that the store has really shrunk. In its heyday, it was a three-story place: the downstairs level had lots of videos and household stuff, the main middle level had groceries, and the upper level had, at one point, a cafe and later a karaoke place. The downstairs level is no longer used, and I don’t know if the karaoke place is still there or not; it’s been years since I went.
A reporter from the Washington Post was there doing interviews with customers as part of a piece on the difficulties small businesses are having in the face of changing demographics. In this case, not only are there fewer and fewer Japanese people relocating to this area, but the big Korean grocery stores have really taken over the market. The one closest to us - part of a chain in the area, and easily the best-kept one around here (El Grande, for anyone in the area - off of Backlick Rd.), stocks Japanese goods aplenty, and at predictably reasonable prices.
Anyway, the reporter was asking about this and talked with me for a few minutes - it was kind of cool. I mentioned that the reason I go out of my way occasionally to buy at the Japanese store is precisely because the Korean stores, while they carry Korean fresh food, don’t generally stock fresh Japanese stuff like the konbu thing Michael likes. I also noticed (and bought) the Japanese green peppers they had in stock - they’re small, thinner than US green peppers, and work better in Japanese dishes that call for piman than US ones. I told her I’d actually been thinking the same thing about the store as I drove there this morning; the fact of the matter is that with bigger networks and greater stocking capability, plus a much bigger customer base, the Korean groceries can give much better prices on Japanese goods than the Japanese stores here can.
I’d be sad if this place went out of business, but it wouldn’t not make sense…
August 21st, 2007 at 8:10 pm
I have always wondered about El Grande, is it nice? I can see it from the beltway as I’m driving past. Whenever I go asian food shopping, I end up that that place Ah Ren…someting on Gallows and Lee. Where is your Japanese store? I get a real cramp for some Mochi and Hagi(?)Cha sometimes, and am always looking to expand my blue and white dish collection. Piko has developed a taste for dried rubberband ika, sushi, and kaki mochi while in Hawaii. We have to eat all of that when the husband is not at home lest we smell him out of the house.
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August 22nd, 2007 at 12:20 pm
I love El Grande! It’s easily the best-organized of the Grand Mart chain (at least, that I’ve seen), and probably of all the stores. I know that H-Mart gets a lot of business, but between the parking lot and the store layout, I just can’t deal with that place. El Grande has a good-sized parking lot with decent-sized spaces (and they even have a few dedicated spaces for people with children!), and the inside is clean and well-organized. They have one of the best selections of Japanese food around - frozen (like, 30 different kinds of natto), beverage (my Afternoon Tea at $3.99/bottle, which is a bargain around here), bottled, etc. They also have killer Korean prepared food, a great fish selection (if only I knew what to do with a fish…), and a bazillion different varieties of rice.
Our Japanese store is Naniwa in McLean; they’ve got some mochi (probably more than most stores) and some ocha, although the tea selection at El Grande is probably better…they might have the kind you’re looking for (Hojicha?), but they’ve closed down their blue & white dish department. It’s a little too small for kakimochi and sushi (this is when I wish we were in SoCal, since you can’t move five feet without hitting a Japanese store there), but they have a handful of good stuff. When we’re really hard up, we usually make the 10 hour trek to and from Mitsuwa in NJ.
That’s the problem with having a white husband, see - M. is ALL about the smelly food (more so than I am, but, then, I’m white…
). My parents, though, can’t take it.
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August 23rd, 2007 at 5:13 pm
I just printed out my map to El Grande (I didn;t know what exit to take). Piko and I are so going this weekend! Yay for bottled tea and Korean food!!
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August 23rd, 2007 at 6:49 pm
I looked today when I was there, and they have several kinds of hojicha, if that’s what you’re talking about. They even have a little food court, although I’m not quite sure what they sell there at this point. Make sure to do every aisle, especially the ones closer to the front door, since all the Asian foods are kind of mixed in together by type.
Enjoy!
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August 23rd, 2007 at 6:51 pm
OH - and they had several kinds of manju - especially daifuku manju - in the refrigerated case across from the fish counter. FYI - let me know how it went!
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