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| Spice rack at La Loma Market #1 |
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| prickly pear at Rincon Latino |
Every time I take Housten to work, my id experiences a suburban renaissance. I've been trying for almost a decade to ditch the Phoenician sprawl of my childhood, but give me two hours and put me in a car three miles away from a large shopping center with Chinese food and discount fabric, and I'll take it every time! (Watch me go.)
Housten works in Albany, which isn't an extremely interesting place in and of itself (although it's growing on me) but succeeds in its vicinity to even more suburban no-man's lands like El Cerrito (decent Barnes & Noble), El Sobrante (enjoyable Domino's Pizza as well as better-than-average selection of gas stations) and San Pablo (not sure if I've actually been to this one but the map boasts an SP Automotive Supply as well as El Portal Gardens for Seniors.)
But by far, the best suburban paradise is Richmond! Not Point Richmond, the fancy place by the water with all those trinkety shops and places to buy sunglasses. But real, crappy, Richmond down San Pablo Avenue where it's probably not safe to go at night. During the day though, it's a veritable oasis of Goodwill stores, "Maxican" restaurants, and my favorite thing in the world, ethnic markets! [side note to all the food journalists that obviously don't read this blog: I know the term "ethnic" is now out of fashion and questionably racist to all the ethnics out there - but seriously - who cares? This is a battle I choose not to fight...]
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| Brazilian Coffee House Restaurant Goiano, conveniently located next to the Wendy's. |
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Rosca de Tranca
sweet breakfast bread |
Driving up San Pablo awhile back, I stumbled upon the colors of the Brazilian flag and decided to
check it out for some South American flare. (6 weeks counting until
!Voy a Peru!) I wasn't even actually hungry, but splurged for the $10.95 buffet to be polite after walking in and asking the owner a million questions. I'm not lying though when I say I've felt more content than I have in months, sitting by the pastry counter, munching on a fried banana with a Brazilian newspaper spread out on the table, listening to large families chat in Portuguese.
Wow! I've never tasted flavors like this. First of all, everything is spicy - even the minty salad of crisp collard greens. But the comfort fall-off-the-bone fatty meats feel lighter than you'd think, perhaps from all the spices. To make your plate heartier, sprinkle on a bit of salty Farofa, or toasted cassava with dried pork. Brazilian cuisine is a mixture of Portuguese and indigenous sources, but it also draws from
African immigrants brought by the Atlantic slave trade. In West Africa, a similar dish goes by the name gari.
TO MARKET:
Drive down the street a little further and you'll reach a more densely populated shopping district with local markets and restaurants.
Rincon Latino, 12851 San Pablo Ave., sports a colorful exterior and the ubiquitous showcase of fresh produce out front. But inside...
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These artful pepper preserves are from none
other than Brazil! They're made with
malagueta pepper, with is also eaten
in Portugal and Mozambique. |
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| Every country has a cream! |
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I hate these things but they're beautiful.
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My haul: One packet of corn tortillas made that morning in the room next door, still hot. Spicy pepper-dominated salsa for under $1. Avocado. Flat leaf parsley for something else I was doing. Refried black beans. Interesting dried fern called
doradilla, also known as the false rose of Jericho, native to the Chihuahuan desert. When the fern is exposed to moisture, it unfolds like a giant blossom. Apparently, it's traditionally used as an herbal medicine in tea. Can't wait until my throat feels sore!
WHAT I MADE THAT NIGHT:
I fried the corn tortillas, rubbed the refried black beans on top, then added avocado and a citrusy summer corn and tomato salad from work. Then a sprinkle of grated parmesan and a dash of the peppery salsa. Not exactly authentic but extremely fresh and filling, without any meat...
NEXT DOOR, RICHMOND HALAL MARKET:
FURTHER DOWN, LA LOMA MARKET #1:
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| To the farofa, you go! |
Further down the street I found another, more brightly lit market with a larger meat counter, cut-to-order cheese and a seemingly jovial farm mural with a disturbing smiling pig being boiled alive. I got into a conversation with one of the employees in Spanish, and he told me he used to work on a farm in Veracruz making fresh cheese, much like the one below.
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| Apparently this is a quesadilla... |
Afterwards, I walked a couple doors down and found
Angie's Bakery, housed in the back half of what used to be a bar and a restaurant, among other things. After walking down a dark corridor with a sign that says "Alvarado Gardens," you're treated to an array of breads and cakes from El Salvador and Guatemala. After another extremely gratifying Spanish conversation with the employee, I was recommended the "quesadilla," a sweet rice cake from El Salvador that gets its name because it contains cheese. (I found it hardly noticeable.) I took the cake outside and ate it on the sidewalk in front of a Brazilian mural of Christ the Redeemer. It was 3:30 in the afternoon and about as hot as it can be in Northern California. For a second, I felt a pang of nostalgia for the Arizona sunshine and space...Then I got back in the car.
