Local Shops, Exotic Wares	by Patricia Watson

Locally produced food is all well and good, but sometimes one wants ingredients that traveled halfway around the world. In those instances, one can at least still buy locally, eschewing the chains and online retailers. Here are a few good bets for hard-to-find food and drink:

Phu Thai
356 Connecticut Street, Buffalo
881-1457

Arabica, robusta, cherry, and catimor. Fairly traded and grown using sustainable agricultural practices in the highlands of Vietnam. Sound exotic? It is. And it is 500 grams (a little over a pound) of Trung Nguyen coffee selling for $4.39 at the Vietnamese store, Phu Thai, on Connecticut Street. The flavor: strong, but not bitter and with rich traces of chocolate and fruit licking at the taste buds. Sweetened condensed milk is the traditional addition to this coffee, which both liberates and enhances its pungent flavor; milk and/or sugar taste just fine too. I have been making this coffee for years, and some people are put off by its assertiveness. So you might want to start with a little less coffee than usual and experiment till you find the balance you like. Take a trip to Connecticut Street to pick up a box, and browse through the aisles of this fascinating grocery. The freshest sprouts, garlic, and ginger ever seen are here. In bins on the floor are chicken mushrooms, mangoes, Asian eggplants, banana flowers, and all sorts of fruits and veggies you have never before laid eyes upon. Ky Pham, the owner, will help you with the names and suggest some uses. Staff from his brother’s restaurant, Saigon Café, may be shopping, too, and assist with the effort. The rice selection is staggering: jasmine, of course, but red cargo, black glutinous, and other varieties to try out. And if you want to be sure it is perfect, a rice cooker can be had as well. Or you could pick up some duck eggs for an omelet. Beef tripe is in a bucket towards the back, next to the bamboo. The grocery aisles have cookies, pastries and other items with delightful names. How about bringing some “Hello Boss” iced coffee to the office next week. Phu Thai offers lots of chances to try new things, and to learn more about Vietnamese culture. But whatever you do, be sure and pick up the best coffee in the world, go home and brew a cup, and sit down to savor the deep rewards of Trung Nguyen coffee.

Pete’s Lebanese Bakery
2468 Elmwood Avenue, Kenmore
876-2012

We have been coming to Pete’s for his flatbread for at least 20 years. This is the bread from which my husband created the first local wrap, we are quite sure, in the early 1980s.

At least a foot in diameter, this is the perfect vehicle for slathering on Hellmann’s, a bunch of sprouts, romaine lettuce, some cheese or meat, sprinkling heavily with salt, pepper, garlic, paprika, or whatever, rolling it up and biting into one delicious sandwich. If you need to find some new spices, Pete’s has quite a selection for experimentation. Sumac, oregano, mint, pick up a few packets to try out. Pete’s sells homemade baba ghanough and hummus, these make fantastic sandwich fillings, especially if you have some vegans to feed. Or mix cranberry sauce into Hellmann’s, and layer turkey and lettuce on the delicious bread. There are 12 pieces in each packet, and you can easily slice three sandwiches from each. You might want to pick up some rich Turkish coffee to top off the meal. Perfection!

If you don’t want to cook, Pete’s offers all sorts of homemade Lebanese and Greek items—yogurt, stuffed grape leaves, spinach and meat pies, as well as desserts including baklava, fried cookies, and sugar cookies. In the grocery department, Saifan extra virgin olive oil is wonderful for salads, and a bottle of pomegranate molasses is what many restaurants use as a base for items ranging from martinis to salad dressings. All sorts of wonderful things to try. Jennifer Beck, who works at the store on Saturdays, is more than willing to offer ideas on how to enjoy the products. Stop in any day but Sunday.

Slavic Bazzar
1550 William Street, Buffalo
895-1404

The name is not misspelled. When Walter Kashuba named his store, he found the name Slavic Bazaar had been taken, and opted for the slight change in spelling, adding a bit of pizzazz and charm.

At the corner of Bailey, this Eastern European deli houses a grocery store, a little café, and a pierogi factory employing 10 people. The Kashubas, both physicians, and originally from Ukraine, were living in Canada. When Mrs. K got a residency at Buffalo General in 1996, the family moved here, fell in love with the city, and her husband began the business.

Wandering around the store is fascinating. True to its name, Slavic Bazzar offers food from Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, as well as Poland, Ukraine, Latvia, and Russia. Labels on jars of jam, or boxes of cookies, are usually in an Eastern European language, making choices a challenge. Sometimes the pictures on the labels offer a clue, or staff can provide an interpretation. But it’s fun to choose a soup, or salad, or condiment and take a chance on how you will like it. We have found the jams to be excellent and very well priced. There is a walk-in cooler with what may be the largest selection of smoked meats and fish in the area. Herring, mackerel salad, capelin, treats from another part of the world.

In the frozen food section are Ukranian-style pierogis, smaller than the Polish ones we typically eat. The best selling are the potato-onion and the cherry. Siberian-style beef and pork pelmenis (dumplings) are big sellers, too. Both products are made under the aegis of Slavic Bazzar—some at the factory on William Street, and the rest in Toronto. Some of the recipes go back more than 300 years. The pelmenis are great for a quick appetizer, especially for a large crowd. Boil them up (do not defrost), drain, and then fry in oil till brown. Salt and pepper liberally. Since they are meat-filled dumplings, make a dipping sauce to add that homemade touch, I have actually made a remoulade, and it a was a great combo. People love pelmenis much as they love dim sum.

The deli department sells house-prepared food—cabbage rolls, pork chops, beef tripe soup, and czarnina (soup). If you have had a hard day in the garden, pick up lunch here and bring it home to eat. I guarantee you won’t spend more than $10, and it will be delicious. If you try the potato pancakes (and you really should), dry fry them till crisp and serve with applesauce or sour cream. The kielbasa is from a Polish meat factory in Chicago, and while it’s okay, it doesn’t have the crunchy, bouncy bite and garlicky flavor that makes some of our local Polish sausage so delicious. But try it with one of the mustards on sale in the grocery. Bring home some borscht, and lunch is served.

Fiddle Heads Restaurant
62 Allen Street, Buffalo
883-4166

What’s in a name? For Jim and Kirste Strusienski, owners of Fiddle Heads, the eponymous fiddlehead fern offers an annual challenge to bring the tightly curled morsels to the table. Grown on riverbanks, the delicate greens can be found in the greatest quantities on the East Coast in places like Maine and Newfoundland or in Oregon and Washington on the West. But mail-order hasn’t given them the quality product they seek, so they rely on a handful of local foragers to provide them with whatever can be found during the short spring growing season. When they get lucky, they blanche the fern, marinate it in oil and vinegar, and serve with tomatoes, cheese, and little spice as a springtime tease. When the luck isn’t with them, the pair can consider some of the interpretations the moniker has brought: An Irish artist wanted to paint a pair of fiddles on their restaurant, believing that instrument to be the genesis of the restaurant’s name.