City Guide: Chicago's Specialty Groceries
City Guide: Chicago's Specialty Groceries
Find a true taste of Chicago at these neighborhood food shops
By Chandra Ram
So much talk about the flavors of Chicago centers around the city’s restaurants, or the pizza and hot dogs that outsiders assume we eat for dinner every night.
But what about our many specialty food shops? Maybe you’ve heard of Joong Boo, Patel Brothers, H Mart, or Mitsuwa, which remain good options for groceries from Southeast Asia, India, Korea, and Japan. Those are just a few of the stores that bring the flavors of the world to the cooks and eaters of Chicagoland.
88 Marketplace
2105 S. Jefferson Street
Since 88 Marketplace opened in late summer 2020, Chicago has been able to claim the largest Chinese grocery store in the Midwest. The 80,000-square-foot store, located in East Pilsen, not far from Chinatown, mostly sells Chinese groceries, though you’ll find some products from Thailand, Korea, and Japan.
Give yourself a lot of time here—the store is massive—and bring your appetite… and a cooler. The frozen food cases include every kind of dumpling and bao you can imagine, with vegetarian and vegan products separated out to make shopping easier. The butchery has the expected roasted and fresh pork, chicken, duck, and beef, while the seafood section boasts live crabs, lobsters, frogs, turtles, razor clams, mussels, and conch, plus shrimp, crawfish, pompano and other flatfish. In the produce section, you’ll see huge wooden crates heaped with gai lan, bok choy, and yams.
You’ll want to spend at least an hour in the grocery shelves. There are entire aisles dedicated to hot pot broth, dozens of vinegars, sauces and chili oils, several kinds of fresh ramen, soba, and other noodles, dried products including fish maw and sea cucumber, preserved duck eggs, and dozens of teas. Best of all, there are several aisles teeming with snacks, including durian chocolate bars and Lay’s potato chips in flavors ranging from hot chili squid and garlic butter scallop to the much-sought-after White Rabbit candy flavor.
Don’t skip the food court, which serves pineapple buns and pulled lamb buns from Chiu Quon Bakery, barbecued duck and pork from B.B.Q. King House, sushi from 312 Fish Market, and beef pies griddled to order from A Place in Northeast. For something sweet, try the brown sugar pearl milk tea, the matcha topped with frothy cheese mousse, or the matcha red bean bubble waffles from Pure Tea.
Tempesta Market
1372 W Grand Ave
Need a cured meat fix? Head to Tempesta Market. Antonio and Agostino Fiasche used their famous ‘nduja—a spreadable salami—as a launching pad for one of the city’s most popular food markets and delis. Here, along with a tempting cheese selection and specialty groceries including truffle honey, wine, pasta sauce, and artisan crackers, you’ll find a wide variety of charcuterie, made both in-house and by other artisan producers in the region, such as Smoking Goose in Indianapolis and Charlito's Cocina in St. Louis.
Peruse the vast cured meat offerings while snacking on paper cones filled with cured meat, reminiscent of those sold at La Boqueria in Barcelona. Then, make your choices—perhaps Wagyu beef bresaola, pistachio mortadella, Iberico bellota coppa, or lonza picante.
You’ll likely want to grab a sandwich or two as well. The B. Franklin—roasted turkey, sofrito aïoli, sunflower sprouts, pickled red onion and fresno peppers, avocado, and Cheddar on sourdough bread—was rated one of the city’s fifth best dishes by Chicago magazine. Take a break from meat with the Beet Street, in which golden beets are marinated in orange, agave, and thyme and layered on seeded sourdough from Aya Pastry, along with sunflower sprouts, apple, pickled red onion, puffed quinoa, and a Marcona almond spread. Or, give into the moment with the Dante, which delivers the most meat for your money: soppressata, mortadella, finocchiona, hot coppa, and porchetta on a roll slathered with ‘nduja aïoli. That ‘nduja is everywhere: You can also order ‘nduja-stuffed olives, ‘nduja arancini and even ‘nduja panna cotta gelato.
Talard Thai
5353 N. Broadway
When Leela Punyaratabandhu, author of Bangkok and two other standout Thai and Southeast Asian cookbooks, posted about her favorite Thai grocery on Twitter, I knew I had to get there. Talard Thai did not disappoint.
Ingredients such as curry pastes, coconut milk, bánh phò stir-fry noodles, pla som (fermented fish) and dried betel nut fill the aisles and coolers. There’s a small prepared food area in the back, offering chicken curry with bamboo shoots, vegetable stir-fries, and five-spice caramelized pork belly with egg.
Taking Punyaratabandhu’s suggestion, I sought out the refrigerated grab-and-go snacks and salads at the front of the store, where you can pick up a container of fried pork or tilapia, som tum, chicken larb, or a miang kham salad kit, with betel leaves, dried shrimp, coconut, and ginger. If you visit in fthe all or winter, keep an eye out for fresh rambutan. The rest of the year, the tiny Thai eggplants, Thai water spinach, and fresh Thai basil will keep you coming back.
Old World Market
5129 N. Broadway
Just down the street from Talard Thai is Old World Market, one of the best sources for African and Caribbean ingredients in Chicago. Here, packages of teff flour and fufu mix share space on the shelves with cans of ackee, jugs of vivid orange and red palm oil, and loaves of cassava bread.
You’ll see kola nuts and jerk seasoning blends among the spices, saltfish, catfish, crayfish, mackerel, and shrimp in the seafood section, and goat, pork, and chicken at the butcher counter. The small produce section is full of gems including various peppers, bitter melon, fresh plantains, yams, cassava, boniato, and malanga. Don’t pass on the snacks: bags of chin-chin (fried dough nuggets) and sweet-and-salty plantain chips are available, plus freshly made turkey or potato hand pies. Wash them down with a bottle of Ting or Malta Goya.
Middle East Bakery & Grocery
4851 N. Kedzie Ave.
I once threw a cocktail party for six people on less than an hour’s notice by sourcing all the food from Middle East Bakery & Grocery. If you find yourself in a similar situation—or you’re simply looking for Middle Eastern groceries, freshly baked breads, deli foods, and sweets—this is the spot.
Here, you’ll find shelves packed with Arab, Persian, and Turkish ingredients, plus an array of house-made dips, pies, falafel, sheep’s milk cheeses, and more. Stock your pantry with saffron, za’atar, rose petals and other spices, plus bags of roasted pistachios, fresh dates, olives, tea, rice, grains, lentils, and dried sour cherries and melons. A bottle of olive oil from the owner’s family’s farm in Palestine is a nice add-on.
If you find yourself in need of party, dinner, or picnic supplies, pick up a few of the dozen kinds of hummus made in-house, a hunk of feta, and a tub of smoky baba ganoush. A few pieces of chocolate baklava and saffron-pistachio Turkish delight top things off nicely. The aroma of baking bread—they bake pita, manaesh, and Persian barbari bread daily—will likely tempt you to take some home, along with some of the fatyr (stuffed pies), with fillings that range from spinach and cheese to eggplant, artichoke, and lamb. If all that shopping makes you hungry, the attached grill offers lentil soup, dolma, salads, and chicken, falafel and kufta wraps. (Don’t miss the shawafel wrap, a hybrid of falafel and chicken shwarma.)
Cremeria la Ordeña
3234 W. 26th St., 3810 W. Lawrence Ave., 5954 S. Pulaski Rd.
For a taste of Chicago’s Mexican food scene, head to 26th Street between Kedzie and Pulaski for the weekend street food fair. You can walk through the markets and pick up tacos, tortas, and elotes while sipping on tepache, a fermented pineapple drink.
But if you want to take some of those flavors home, you’ll want to stop into Cremeria la Ordeña, home to the best selection of mole sauces in the city. The store sells a dozen different scratch-made moles, including verde, almendrado, and negro. Fill your basket with housemade chorizo, blood sausage, tlayudas, Oaxacan cheese, nata crema, fresh tortillas, tamales, salsa, cajeta, huitlacoche, and dried beans and seeds. Don’t forget guayaba and membrillo for something sweet. And if you are craving something salty, crunchy, and out of the ordinary, try a few chapulines (grasshoppers), roasted and seasoned with lime and salt.
L&M Fine Foods
4363 N Lincoln Ave
Walking into L&M Fine Foods is like stepping into the fancy picnic of your dreams. This shop in the Lincoln Square neighborhood packs a lot of luxury into a small space. I like to start by heading straight to the deli counter to order a pint of tomato-peach salad or a sandwich. (Griddled porchetta with fried capers and arugula, smoked tofu with toasted garlic chips and miso aioli, and salmon cakes with dill crème fraîche are recent favorites.)
While you’re at the counter, take a minute to check out the cheese selection and butcher offerings. L&M has the expected steaks and chops, but the store excels with prepared items such as duck confit, chicken liver pâté, merguez sausage, Nashville hot chicken sausage, and rosemary bacon, and green goddess sausages made with local Dovetail Kölsch.
Sandwiches are made to order, and the few minutes you’ll have to wait will also give you an opportunity to peruse the coolers and shelves. You’ll find an excellent selection of Spanish conservas—think Mariscadora stuffed squid, packed in ink, and Matiz pimentos filled with tuna—to complement a rack of specialty pasta and sauces and potato chips in flavors like black truffle and foie gras.
But it’s the selection of products from local chefs that warms Midwestern hearts. Pick up pasta from Empoli Pasta a Mano, barbecue sauces from Lillie’s Q, masala chai from Tasting India, bourbon and rye from Koval Distillery, pull-apart milk bread and brioche buns from Aya Pastry, and buttermilk and rainbow chip bars from Pretty Cool Ice Cream. If you’re craving a taste of the greater Midwest, snag a few bags of Zingerman’s Deli pickle potato chips, from Ann Arbor, or a couple pints of Jeni’s Ice Cream, from Columbus. That’s not all! You can take home local (and not-so-local) beers, wines, and canned cocktails, or jars of housemade cranberry, honey-miso-turmeric, and strawberry-balsamic shrubs for home cocktailing. It’s an opportunity to fill up on the flavors of the Midwest.
Chandra Ram is a James Beard and IACP-nominated cookbook author, the former editor of Plate magazine, and a lover of crunchy things and cold beer. Follow her on Instagram and Twitter @chandrasplate.