Your guide to the international grocers of the Twin Cities

CATHY WURZER: Did you know the Twin Cities area is home to more than 40 international grocers, stores that cater to growing cultural communities in the state? In many places, international grocers are stepping up to fill food deserts.

MPR correspondent Regina Medina recently reported on the entrepreneur behind the Colonial Market-- that's the Latino grocery store-- with plans to open in North Minneapolis in the former Aldi location at Penn and Lowry. If you're trying to find a specific ingredient or check out a new store, it can be kind of hard to know where to start. I mean 40 grocery stores is a lot to go through, right?

Local food and music critic Ali Elabbady wrote an exhaustive list of all of them for the alt-weekly internet publication Racket. Ali is on the line right now. Hey, welcome to the program. Thanks for taking the time.

ALI ELABBADY: Thanks for having me, Cathy. I appreciate it.

CATHY WURZER: Hey, what inspired this? This was a fun read.

ALI ELABBADY: A lot of it was inspired by my parents' shopping habits when I was growing up, the way that they would go to Dragon Star to buy rice in bulk, or go to Sindibad Bakery when it was existing on now 25th and Nicollet for fresh pita bread, or go to Puja Grocers even to buy fresh lentils, things of that nature.

So it was inspired by their shopping habits and how they always made it a part of going there as a weekly habit, in addition to going to places like Cub and Whole Foods, things of that nature. And then when I saw the pandemic and the way that it kind of caused folks to think globally but act locally by shopping more at co-ops and things of that nature, a lot of international grocers got left out of the conversation.

So it was kind of a way to, A, provide an ode to them, and B, to kind of get people to think differently about what's in their pantry and stuff like that, and how they can recreate those same staples at home, just by exploring other markets like that.

CATHY WURZER: And I like just the experience of going through an international grocer. I mean, way, way back in the day, some people may remember going to Ingebrigtsen's, and that was considered an international grocery decades and decades and decades ago. But I like the experience of going into stores like that. Can you explain that for folks who've never stepped foot in, say, one of these markets?

ALI ELABBADY: I always liken like going to an international grocer as like going into a Middle Eastern souk, in a lot of ways. I think, that's the most probably easiest way to describe it.

It may seem like a madhouse and daunting at first, but once you step inside and get a lay of the land, as far as that's concerned, you're able to see, like, oh, well, here's the section where I can find pickled goods and feta.

Here's the aisles where I can find certain spices and teas and things of that nature, where I can diversify my cabinet a little bit and open up people to new teas and coffees that I may have within my house. And then if I go a little bit further back in the rear, I can find fresh herbs, fresh vegetables, things of that nature. So--

CATHY WURZER: Yeah.

ALI ELABBADY: --it's just a really interesting way to get the lay of the land. And then, in most of them, when I was researching, places like Galaxy Foods or places like Holy Land have their own butchers on site or at least a frozen foods aisle where you can find those more unique cuts of meat that you may need to recreate certain dishes like oxtail. Or if you go to supermercado, Loma Bonita, you'll find the carniceria there that can get you certain cuts of flank steak to help recreate that perfect carne asada, stuff like that.

CATHY WURZER: Right, exactly. Thanks. I'm so glad you brought that up. I'm wondering-- of course, it's tough to rate grocers, and you don't do that in your story, but you just ran down a really great list there. What makes a really good grocer in your estimation?

ALI ELABBADY: For me, as someone who writes about food since 2019, one of my favorite things about grocers is the hot bar options. We go into Lund & Byerlys or Cub Foods, like how everybody kind of thinks Cub Foods fried chicken is like a best kept secret, or the salad bar at the Lund & Byerlys is like the holy grail of all salad bars.

I think the hot bars at places like Ha Tien over in St. Paul off of Suburban with different Cantonese goods that you'd find at Chinese restaurants, and not to mention finding a roast duck and roast pig on site there, fresh-made for you to go to lunch and stuff like that, that's important. And I think having a balance of both helps what makes a real grocer kind of diverse, awesome, and just a place that you want to come back to and make a part of your weekly shopping habits.

CATHY WURZER: Yeah, exactly. So I mentioned Colonial Market in the introduction there. That's planning to help with the food desert on the north side of Minneapolis.

ALI ELABBADY: Yes.

CATHY WURZER: Do you see that happening with other international grocers after some of the more mainstream, as it were, grocery stores have been closing in other locations in the past?

ALI ELABBADY: That is true. The first example of it was Ha Tien. They bought up an old Lunds & Byerlys location on the east side of St. Paul, right off of Suburban Avenue, after they had closed, and Ha Tien was seeking a bigger retail operation as far as that's concerned. So if you go to that Ha Tien on Suburban, you'll notice the interior is very much like a Byerly's nowadays.

Sun Foods is another example of that. When Walmart left Brooklyn Center in the 2010s or sometime during the pandemic, as far as that's concerned, that's when Sun Foods came in and developed a huge Asian grocer within Brooklyn Center where people could find fresh produce and also different Cantonese goods and things of that nature.

And then, obviously, the more recent example of it is the old SuperValu-owned Rainbow Foods that's in Richfield is about to also become another location for supermercado Loma Bonita--

CATHY WURZER: Oh.

ALI ELABBADY: --who operates four locations within the Twin Cities as well. They've just signed a 10-year lease agreement for that location to basically open up an expanded carniceria and bakery, as well as a Mexican grocery store within it.

CATHY WURZER: Oh, wow, I did not know that, Ali. Say, I hate to maybe put you on the spot, but you've mentioned Ha Tien a couple of times here, and I think that's a fantastic place. Is that one of your favorite Asian-American grocers?

ALI ELABBADY: It is, actually. It's one of the top for me. I also love El Burrito Mercado over on the West Side of St. Paul. It's one of my favorites as well for dried chilies and stuff like that, for when I want to recreate my favorite salsas that I get at the taquerias and stuff like that.

Another favorite spot as well is Galaxy Foods for aside from just purchasing jerk seasoning and jerk sauces and stuff like that, I can find a lot of great chutneys there and things of that nature. And then not to mention Pooja Grocers, again, aside from just finding lentils there, just finding great, different teas that I could use to diversify my cabinet for guests that come over to the house and stuff like that.

CATHY WURZER: Say, when you make a trip, do you just, like I do, go in for one in one ingredient? I tend to kind of do that, which is pretty stupid, really. Or do you wait till something catches your eye? Do you have a list? I mean, how do you do this?

ALI ELABBADY: It's kind of a mix of both. I mean, it depends upon what type of preparation you have in mind for what you want to make at home that day. I know that for jerk sauces, I want to make at home, I'll have it kind of in my list to get fresh ginger, get some Scotch bonnet peppers and stuff like that, and then head over to Galaxy Foods to go and shop for that right away. That's kind of how I operate as far as when it comes to a shopping list and stuff like that.

CATHY WURZER: Mm-hmm. Say, what's the most unusual thing you've seen in some of these grocers?

ALI ELABBADY: [LAUGHS] I don't know if there's anything unusual. And to refer to anything unusual by international grocer standards is like another person's--

CATHY WURZER: That's true.

ALI ELABBADY: --staple ingredient that they want to grow up off of and stuff like that. So I think that it's important to recognize that fact. I will say, I did find some unique vegetables and stuff like that. TBS Mart, for example, had bittermelon--

CATHY WURZER: Oh.

ALI ELABBADY: --which is not something that you see usually in a lot of grocery stores, but is used most frequently in Southwest Asian cooking. So I think that that's important to recognize.

Another thing that I would say is like a Galaxy Foods. I saw eddoes, which is E-D-D-O-E-S. It's kind of like a rutabaga-looking vegetable. And it's kind of got the same girth as a sweet potato. And I don't really know how to incorporate that in cooking as of yet, but best believe I'm researching it.

CATHY WURZER: [LAUGHS] I love this. Did anything surprise you as you were compiling this guide?

ALI ELABBADY: I think just the sheer amount of grocers caught me by surprise. I originally put it out as a tweet about a month ago before I started pitching it to places and stuff like that. And just to find how many people are relying on it weekly for their ingredients and things of that nature is something really special.

And to see the different communities that it serves also just kind of adds to the fact that the Twin Cities is a real melting pot of fusion and cultures and things of that nature that I think we sometimes take for granted within the city.

CATHY WURZER: All right. Well said. Ali, thank you so much.

ALI ELABBADY: Absolutely. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.

CATHY WURZER: Local food and music critic, Ali Elabbady. You can read the article, by the way, at racketmn.com.