Best and Fresh Food

Things are really getting into full swing now that Vida started Hebrew school on Wednesday. For some reason they changed the schedule and it is now getting out at 6:30 instead of 6:15. That leaves just enough time for Victor and I to grab a snack before we go pick her up. I had a market in mind for Victor and I to visit on Arguello and Clement. We would just have a couple of blocks to back track in order get Vida. Unfortunately there was no parking so I just headed down Clement. We drove to 5th and Clement before I found a spot near Best and Fresh Food. The name in itself is hilarious since it seems redundant to note that the “best” food would be anything but “fresh”. Actually, the food is neither the “best” nor “fresh”. This market is similar to many Clement Street markets that sell cheap and usually substandard produce. There is no water anywhere to be found near the wilting displays of Asian greens. The produce being stocked out doesn’t seem much fresher than what is out already. This store is fairly large with produce both outside near the street and inside where spotty bananas are hanging from a wire above the other displays. I actually like this technique of displaying the bananas, perching them above catches your eye and saves space. The last of the summer fruit was mostly bruised and rotting.


The grocery part of the store was stranger than usual. The shelves were indifferently stocked with multiple displays of Quaker Oats in various sizes and various Asian staple sauces, noodles, off brands of cookies. They had a large produce case stocked with all kinds of drinks but it wasn’t turned on. Other coolers were similarly stocked but not running. In my search for beer,
which they did not sell, I found only one working cooler in the entire store. I was hoping Victor would pick something unusual out in this very strange store but he was on the hunt for Pocky. They didn’t have Pocky but what I think of as a cheaper off brand of cookies, “Lucky Sticks. We picked up a few boxes and wandered around the chaos of the store including a display case filled and covered with paperwork. When we went to pay I was thrilled to see bags of “unfortunate” fortune cookies. I used to trek to Chinatown just to go to the fortune cookie company and buy the rejected cookies with fortunes just floating around the bag.

Vic’s snack Strawberry and Chocolate “Lucky Sticks” My snack—“Unfortunate” fortune cookies.