M & K Market

On a Rossi Park day Vic is usually loathe to stop at a store but yesterday he really wanted a snack. We stopped an M&K Market on 8th and Anza. M&K Market looks small and little nondescript when just driving by. Judging by the old fashioned signs this market seems like it would be just like many other corner stores past their prime and run by people generations away from whoever “M” and “K” were. But, I’ll just call this store the “biggest little store in San Francisco” until I find one better.

Vic and I walk in and I am struck by how big the store actually is. There are three aisles of fully stocked shelves. Vic is drawn immediately to the full display of Hostess pastries. “How about this,” he says as he picks up a package of orange cupcakes. I redirect him toward some chocolate ones and he agrees that it would be better. The first package I pick up expired almost a week ago but there are plenty with better dates behind it. Vic then goes to a chip rack and picks up a small package of Cheez-its, one for himself and one for Vida.

I was thrilled to go to the coolers at the back of the store and find that they were the old-fashioned reach-ins with big silver handles on each of seven doors. I was transported back to the Cascade Market. I could just see myself as a kid pulling the heavy doors open to get a soda and slamming them closed. They make this great clicking sound when they close—much superior to the hissing self-closing doors of the modern reach-in. They had a cooler like this in the market in my building as well. There is so much door in relation to the window that it’s a little difficult to see all that’s in them—not to mention that there are no lights. I peek through the thick glass and see just the bottom or top half of many kinds of beer. The poor selling seasonal Lagunitas beer “Brown Sugga” has an inordinate amount of shelf space— bought a few too many cases of that one I guess. Knowing the age of that beer I was a little hesitate to buy anything too fancy and I just grabbed a 12 oz Heineken in a can—couldn’t resist the little green can even though I’m not generally a Heineken fan. It’s amazing that they can replicate the skunky quality of their typical green bottle in an airtight can.

We continued to wander the aisles and I was amazed to see a full selection of various Asian ingredients—spring roll wrappers and noodles and sauces along an Italian section full shelf of various pasta shapes. The owners of this market are aiming high and people who live near them are probably very grateful. Once again we bought a box of Honey Nut Cheerios that doesn’t expire until 2011. Finally, we found the push-up Popsicle Victor and I had been looking for.

There were two people working behind the counter and the extensive selection of liquor and lottery tickets. An older man with a cowboy hat was chatting it up with the regulars while a younger guy bar backed. I couldn’t resist a bingo scratcher ticket for Vida. We paid a reasonable twelve bucks for our many purchases. Victor insisted on waiting to eat his push-up until we got to the park—the weather has turned back to normal so it was freezing cold. I unwrapped his push-up to find, hmmm, a little dehydrated. I guess that’s why neighborhood stores don’t stock them, just not enough push-up aficionados in the Richmond. I was about to put him back in the car and return it but he didn’t seem to notice it was past its prime. He gobbled it down and then we played fire engine on the double slide.

Vic’s Snack—Push-Up and Cheez-its Vida’s Snack—Honey Nut Cheerios Beer of the Day—Heineken 12 oz can.

2nd Avenue Mini Market

Victor has been taking violin lessons for a few months. It seems ridiculous to start a kid on an instrument at three but it’s not uncommon with the Suzuki method. When we first went to see teacher Lynn about lessons she put him through a series of tests to see if he was ready. He had to listen and respond to instructions and stand in a “magic circle” during his lesson. He did very well and we decided to go ahead. We spent several weeks just taking the violin from rest position to his chin. Another few weeks were spent getting him to hold the bow properly. We played a lot of bowing games. Everything has to be calculated to hold his attention for more than five minutes. I have to more or less bribe him into attention with the promise of some candy dots after he finishes his lesson. When he has had enough he looks at me and says, “I’m getting tired.” Unfortunately that has sometimes happened 30 seconds into the lesson and we have resort to various trickery to keep him engaged. Since 30 minutes is too long for him I get to finish the lesson myself. The teacher and I have been going through some Bartok duets together which has been a lot of fun.

Victor’s lessons have been at teacher Lynn’s house on Villa Terrace in Twin Peaks. The house itself is unimpressive but it has an amazing view. Yesterday the lesson was at her mother’s house on Mountain Spring also in Twin Peaks .The house was built by her father in the 1930’s with salvaged bricks and she is in the process of writing a book about him and the house. The front of the house looks like a castle and when we walked into its courtyard there were huge boulders that had been allowed to stay as part of the foundation. Victor was very impressed with the “castle” and the charming stucco over brick music room where we had our lesson. Gradually the amount of time he stays with the lesson has increased. Yesterday he made it for almost the entire 30 minutes. He did such a good job (and it was such a warm day) that I promised him a “push-up” Popsicle.

We stopped at the closest market but unfortunately they didn’t have any push-ups. Victor was intent on that one treat and I couldn’t get him to budge so I decided to make our way over towards where we had to pick up Vida at Hebrew school. We stopped at another market that didn’t have them either so went another two blocks to the 2nd Avenue Mini Market. We drive by this market very often and I think each time how strange to have a sign by virtue of the sponsorship of some product. The “Widmer” over the sign makes it seem like that’s the name of the market. We almost tripped over a broken doorframe as we entered the sparse but friendly market. There was a kid working behind the counter. I always wonder why I never see anybody in corner markets do anything but stand behind the counter. I know something must get stocked sometime but I never see it. And so often they stock the exact same products—you would think they wouldn’t want to mirror a chain store but somehow differentiate themselves.

There was no push up here either but we were running out of leisure time so Vic made do with a cherry pineapple “Big Stick”, one of my personal favorites. There wasn’t much to look at so we quickly bought some sunflower seeds and onion Sunchips for Vida. The beer selection wasn’t great so I bought a Budweiser quart.

Vic’s snack—Big Stick Popsicle Vida’s snack—sunflower seeds and Sunchips Beer of the Day—Budweiser Quart

Liquor Deli Grocery

One thing that I didn’t really make clear about Best and Fresh Market is that the people working there were working very hard. They may not really know what they are doing but they are serving a niche market of bargain hunters common to the neighborhood. I imagine that a lot of elderly people with a limited income are rummaging through the damaged fruit and coming up with the best of the worst—and picking up a carton of oatmeal and some soft rolls while they are at it. At least the place made an effort unlike the market Vic and I visited yesterday.

On the way to Vida’s soccer practice we passed by the Thursday night Off The Grid food truck conversion on Stanyan at Waller. For several weeks I had been promising that we could go get tacos for dinner but I never have any cash. After gathering Victor at preschool I was in search of a place where I could use my ATM card and get some more money. We stopped on Geary at 11th at a place that didn’t even seem to have a name. It just said Liquor Deli Grocery—two of which were over statements. They had a limited selection of “Liquor”. Some sad bottles of hard liquor were behind the shabby counter. Bottles of wine were spread a foot apart on the nearly empty shelves. I never will understand why people think spreading things out is the best way to display a limited amount of product. One compact and attractive display will always beat miles of shelves with practically nothing on them. They should just hang some curtains and pretend the rest of the store isn’t there.

As we walked in I asked what the minimum for the using a debit card was and whether I could get cash. The guy behind the counter said he didn’t work there but was just filling in and didn’t know the answer to either question but didn’t think he could give cash back. I was out of luck. There was an identity theft machine outside that said ATM but I didn’t feel like risking my unique set of personal identifiers to a possibly rogue cash dispenser. Looking around I was even more incredulous than usual about the amount of dust gathering on the few grocery items on the shelves—more foil than the entire neighborhood could go through in a year. The almost empty ice cream cooler had a few frozen pizzas and some Haagen Daz cups. Victor picked out a strawberry one. I picked up the ubiquitous Smart Food for Vida in case she was too hungry for words when I picked her up. There was a decent selection of beer and I chose a 22 oz. Alaskan IPA. I paid what I thought was way too much for our purchases and we walked outside where I promptly dropped and shattered my beer. I picked up the plastic bag now dripping and full of broken glass and turned around to see some pedestrians and an entire bus of Geary Street riders observing my bad fortune.

I was furious with myself. I tried to get over it as we made our way back to Rossi Park. Victor and I come to Rossi Park twice a week and inevitably one of those two days Victor needs to go to the bathroom just as we start having fun. The official park bathroom is locked at 5:30, before we even arrive and the pool is open so infrequently that I don’t think anybody ever swims there, let alone uses the bathroom. We have to get back in the car and drive back to work. In this case I still needed cash so it wasn’t all for naught. I walked in to one of the employees sitting down at the register and checking out his smart phone, which didn’t put me in any better of a mood. But we used the bathroom; I bought a replacement beer and got another five bucks cash to add to the ten I thought I had in my pocket. We had just enough time to play at the park before practice was over.

When we got to the food trucks I was excited to see so much variety, coffee, cupcakes, curry, Korean and Mexican food were among the choices. Vida knew what she wanted, carne asada taco with nothing else. She is a huge fan of El Tonayense, a taco truck we go to periodically on Folsom. We went up to El Norteno and ordered Vida two tacos and a quesadilla with beans for Victor. I consented to a couple of Mexican Cokes and the guy said it was $12 bucks. I looked in my pocket and found that that I only had two fives instead of the $15 dollars I though I had. He let me slide with just the $10 but then I started thinking that 12 bucks was a lot of money for two tiny tiny tacos and a just as tiny quesadilla. I guess they think they have a captive audience but if I had paid $12 for that amount of food I would have felt ripped off. My gratitude at his kindness was tempered slightly by the sense that I was overpaying in the first place. Because I didn’t have enough money to buy anything for myself I went back to my store to buy a couple of dry farm tomatoes and a red onion to add to the fresh cranberry beans I had cooked earlier. The kids were still hungry so I had to make them another quesadilla when we got home. I thoroughly enjoyed a bean salad and the ciabatta bread I bought on impulse at the store. We watched some Fireman Sam together and went to bed.

Vic’s Snack—Haagen Daz strawberry ice cream cup—Vida’s snack—Smart Food popcorn—Beer of the day Alaskan Amber IPA 22 oz.

Restaurant Total: 266

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.

Eureka Market

The kids love to walk to the corner store or Walgreen’s late at night. We will often be close to bedtime already pajama clad and one of them will get the urge to walk in the dark. Usually it’s when there isn’t anything good for dessert in the house. Many times we will take our snack and also go to the park where passers by can stare and think that the kids should be in bed.

A few months ago when grandma was visiting for their birthdays we got the urge to walk down to Adorabella’s. It was close to 9 and they were closed. Since the kids were in their pajamas Vida didn’t want to go to the big supermarket so we went walking to Eureka Market a couple of blocks away on the corner of 17th and Eureka. As long as I have lived here I had never gone to this market even though I drive by at least 4 times a day. You just get into the habit of going to your corner store no matter how lame it is. There have been a couple of different owners and although it looks better now I still have an image of it’s decrepitude stuck in my head. It has a 10 minute parking zone in front but it’s a very busy intersection and difficult to get in and out of.

What is remarkable about the current Eureka Market is its cleanliness. The floors are spotless and the shelves are more or less dust free. Almost half the store is stocked with wine—on shelves and neat case stacks on the floor. They offer a friendly greeting and casual conversation when you walk in. On this visit the kids went straight for the ice cream freezer in front of the register. I picked up some candy including Butterfinger “sticks” since I had never had them before and a Hershey’s. It was Pride weekend so we had to witness a reveler’s desperate search for her brand of cigarettes. The coolers are stocked with the usual assortment of beverages and staples including lots of lunchmeat. The only thing that slightly dampened my enthusiasm was my discovery, once we were home, that my Butterfinger treat had expired six months previous.

On a Friday a couple of weeks ago we invited Rara over for dinner. I was feeling festive so when Vic asked for a late afternoon Popsicle treat I pulled over to Eureka Market. They were just as friendly as they were the first time we visited. I couldn’t remember what the kids had bought last time we were there so I thought to ask Victor. He gave a lengthy hmmmmm and then said “it was strawberry” and it all came back to me. I thought it remarkable and telling that he could remember what he had for a treat almost 3 months ago and I couldn’t. We circled the Ravenswood case stacks for a few minutes just seeing what they had. I was a little irritated to see stacks of a wine I had been talked into buying just the week before. It never looks good to my mind to stock the same wines that can be had at just any corner market. I picked out a box of Honey Nut Cheerios for Vida and was happy to note that it wasn’t anywhere near the expiration date and a Bud Light in a quart bottle for Rara and I. Victor picked out a colorful Popsicle and the guy behind the counter chatted with him while he rang us up. He was so friendly that I didn’t think he would mind if I took of picture of Vic in front of my favorite feature of any corner store, the candy rack. He gave us a nice “G-d bless” as we left.

Vic’s snack—Popsicle Vida’s treat—Honey Nut Cheerios—Beer of the Day—Bud Light quart.

Judah Mini Market

My vision of a relaxing Saturday morning evaporated when I woke up yesterday realizing that I was sleeping in a puddle. Victor had a very rare accident. Usually I don’t think of it as a big deal but in this case every single one of our blankets was involved including the dry clean only bedspread. I already had nearly 50 pounds of laundry that had been languishing in the back in the car for a month and a half so adding it all together I knew we had a project ahead of us.

I was very cranky leaving the house after loading two kids and four more bags of laundry into the car. I wasn’t sure where we were going to do laundry but I had a enough experience dragging bags of laundry down the street to know that parking in front was non-negotiable. I thought maybe Wash Quarters down the street from work would be good if I strategically used the 10 minute parking zone in front but it was not available when we drove by. I kept driving down Irving Street looking for Laundromats until we were practically at the ocean. The broken plastic splash guard underneath the car’s bumper had fallen down and was scrapping the ground mortifying Vida who wanted to hide as people started to wave and stare. I stopped, fixed the car and turned around and started down Judah Street. Finally At 28th and Judah there was a Laundromat with a parking space. I was thrilled but Vida was horrified with my choice and begged me to keep driving. I stood my ground and we unloaded into a spare but clean Laundromat. I got my first $20 in quarters and the kids started to get into a better mood loading the machines and putting the quarters in. We had so many loads that the first ones were almost done washing by the time we finished putting all the laundry in. When Vida declared that “doing laundry was fun” I cheered up immediately and was grateful for her positive attitude. Except for some running around and craziness on Vic’s part things were looking up.

I was about to use our 10th washer, a triple loader when my last $10 bill got stuck in the changer. We were in the middle of nowhere so finding an ATM would require driving and losing the parking place. I called the “emergency number” and spoke to the owner who fortunately was coming into town from the East Bay and would be there relatively soon. While we were waiting we walked across the street the Judah Mini Market. They weren’t kidding about the “mini” part, the ceilings were so low it felt like we were in a cellar. Just beyond the entrance there was a shelf of “sale” books for $1.00. A basic merchandising precept is to put the items you want to sell a lot of in a central location. The “book sale” pretty much said it all. We followed the Heinken footsteps down the narrow aisle past partially stocked shelves filled mostly with soup and salsa and back to the coolers. I chose a Miller High Life in a 12 oz can even though it was just after noon and I got the discrete brown paper bag to go with it. Vida picked out an Orangina in a can. As we went around to the front I got a better look at a small counter near the front where they had a coffee station of sorts set up and a small hot plate where the women working there were making some ramen for lunch. We chose some Smartfood cheese popcorn and Vida’s new favorite snack, some sunflower seeds.

We went back to the laundry and the kids relaxed on a bench eating their snacks while I started folding. After a few minutes they went to go sit in the car. As I was folding I could see Victor climbing from the front to back seat. For some reason he had stripped down to his underwear. Vida found a old book in the trunk and had the seat in full recline while she read also in her underwear. When I went to check on them Vic said he had to go to the bathroom so we started walking down the block looking for one. A sad café down the block said they didn’t have one so we ended up in Yan Yan Seafood. I didn’t think we could just ask to use the bathroom and the kids were hungry anyway so we decided to stay for lunch. Vida was anxious to see if they had pepper salt squid. We were the only non-Asian people in the restaurant. The various menu items were hanging from cards on the walls—some of them had English translations but most didn’t, certain to deter the uninitiated from ordering some of the more challenging items they served.

I ordered Victor some chicken fried rice. It was just right, no weird frozen vegetables, nice pieces of chicken and not swimming in soy. Vida’s squid on the other hand came covered in red pepper flakes and slices of jalapeno. I have ordered pepper salt squid many times before and never seen this style before. Vida was surprisingly calm as I fished out pieces that had the least amount spice. I on the other hand was very excited and although I don’t usually eat lunch I couldn’t resist the squid pieces with the slices of jalapeno. Our waitress was hilarious. She made faces and chatted with Victor and he gave her a few of his sillier looks. She brought back a couple of jello like cups for both kids as a treat. Taking our substantial leftovers we went back to the laundry to fold the last few loads.

Restaurant Total: 273

Vic’s Snack—Smartfood Vida’s Snack—Orangina and Sunflower Seeds—Beer of the Day 12 oz Miller High Life Can

(This post was written for both Dinner With Vida and Vic’s Market)

Village Market

The summer is just not as conducive to visiting corner stores with Victor as the school year. I rarely have him alone since Vida doesn’t have many afternoon activities. But on Thursday Vida had a date with B and the cell phone store—after a little altercation between her phone and a playing card. I picked Vic up from Muffinville and we went east on California to 7th Avenue and parked in front of Village Market. It’s not strictly a corner store, more like a neighborhood natural food grocery. I was happy to go to a place where it was possible to actually buy something for dinner. Of course I’ve been to Village Market before. It’s hard to resist its eye-catching displays of flowers in the front and its general charm. They are also a café with a steady clientele sitting at small tables in the window during the day.

With old wooden crates and rustic furniture serving as display fixtures Village Market looks like a high-end grocery. But if you have any grocery merchandising experience at all the store is very perplexing. They do a credible job of lending sophistication to their wine and chocolate. The organic produce is of good but not excellent quality and the displays are visually perfunctory. The grocery is another story with strange gourmet items mixed in with standard natural food brands haphazardly organized. They sell, brew and have a large display of Blue Bottle coffee, which, out in Richmond, has to be a boon to neighborhood coffee aficionados.

With no dinner plans in the works I was happy to see my favorite kind of russet potatoes. Although grown by Cal Organics, one of the largest industrial organic operations in the country, this particular variety of russets when baked has the perfect texture and sweetness and the best tasting skin of any other potato I’ve eaten. Picking up a bunch of broccoli I planned replicate a meal that I used to eat constantly before I had kids to feed, baked potatoes with sour cream and cheese with steamed broccoli. I got a white sweet potato for Victor. I asked Victor what he wanted for a snack and he tried to pull a bag of baby carrots out of a cull box. I redirected him to the fresher produce and he picked out a large carrot. Victor was impatient to eat his carrot so I quickly looked around and chose a 22 oz beer called “Bridge Burner” from Milwaukee and some baked salt and vinegar potato chips. Twenty-five bucks later, not our usual corner store expenditure, we headed home for dinner.

Vic’s Snack—carrot Vida’s Snack—Baked Salt and Vinegar Potato Chips—Beer of the Day—22 oz Bridge Burner