Eat-y Gourmet: Where to shop for the best in El D.F.

"Just buy the best there is..."

I take a brief pause from my usual feast or blast review column to fill do-it-yourselfers in on my favorite sources for foreign and artisanal products. Mexico City food shopping will disappoint none but the most discerning gourmand.

One stop fancy chow shopping:

Mercado San Juan ?

Calle Ernesto Pugibet, centro

Metro Salto de Agua ? walk up calle Lopez and turn left at Delicias (or down Lopez if you are coming from the Alameda ? you will see the enormous Telmex tower which is across the street

The market is, in theory open daily until around 4 but some vendors start packing up earlier ? there is free parking for customers next door.

This is the best market in the city to find exotic fresh produce and imported cheeses such as Italian Parmesan, pecorino, fontina, French raw milk brie, Epoisse and the best of Spain: Cabrales, good aged Manchegos and Torta de Cazar (go to Gastronomica San Juan, stall no.162, and its neighbor La Jersey ? they will let you sample). They also sell nationally produced and excellent goat, cow and sheep cheese, many from the state of Queretaro and much cheaper than the imported ones. These stands, as well as La Catalana offer good cold cuts as well.

In the seafood area mussels, clams oysters and calamares (they will clean them on request) are often available fresh as are unusual varieties of fish, fresh tuna and amazing big shrimp either in or out of the shell.

Spaniards eyes will pop when they see the hideous but delicious percebes at a fraction of the price of the old country.

In the meat section, you'll have to stomach the piles of sacrificed kid goat and bunny corpses. Chef and food consultant Stan Gray swears by stands 44-46 who sell veal scaloppini and ossobuco ready to cook. Nearby stands stock lamb, both New Zealand and national (which is good for Indian or Moroccan stews), but it is often frozen; on Fridays and Saturdays they are more likely to have thawed meat which can then be cut to order. You could pick up an armadillo as well if your soiree has a pre-Hispanic theme. More tempting are fresh farm turkeys (don?t worry, they?ll remove the head and feet for you) packaged ducks, and, occasionally, free range local ducks which will produce a knockout Peking roast or á l?orange.

Several surprisingly well stocked Oriental vegetable stands, the only ones in the whole country, cater to the growing population of Asian immigrants as well as people like me who want to buy bitter melon, long beans, okra, baby bok choy or pea shoots.

The ?gourmet? produce stands, meanwhile, offer such hard to get greenies as crinkly kale and Savoy cabbage, tiny haricot vertes or yellow wax beans, celeriac, tiny peas, shelled favas and sweet potatoes.

One lady has fresh herbs such as dill, tarragon and real Italian basil (not the off smelling Mexican variety, which just won?t do for Italian cooking, although it works well as a substitute for Thai basil).

And, of course, there?s Doña Guadalupe, to the left as you enter, who in season, sells an amazing variety of fresh wild mushrooms, including cultivated local porcini. I always see French people at this stand madly stashing chanterelles, giroles and morels, happy to be paying 80 pesos instead of 80 euros. Dried versions are available all year around and make good gifts.

Around the corner from the San Juan is the amazing:

El Molinero Progreso

Aranda 26, centro

Open Monday-Saturday 8-8

They sell every spice and grain under the sun. You can get whatever you need to make Indian, Moroccan, Persian, Thai etc. etc. And Mexican.

Delirio de Monica Patiño

Monterrey 116 (corner Alvaro Obregón), Colonia Roma

Tel. 5584 0870

Metro Insurgentes, Metrobus Alvaro Obregón

Open Tuesday-Saturday 9AM-9PM, Sunday until 7; closed Monday

This pretty retro store, located on the funky corner of Monterrey and Alvaro Obregón in La Roma, has re-opened and is fit with rustic bistro tables. More importantly, the shelves have been re-stocked with products, almost all of which are artesanally produced and local. Olives and olive oil from Baja California are both green and fruity. A whole shelf is dedicated to a pastel rainbow of house-made marmalades that make good gifts. Breads are varied and of excellent quality. A small, but well-chosen stock of national wines, in a range of prices from $200-400 (pesos) are worth sampling ? many are unavailable elsewhere. Behind the deli counter, several salads are made fresh daily, as are pâtés and terrines, cakes and tarts. There are European-style but Mexican-made cheeses and cold cuts for sale as well.

Centro Gourmet

Prol. Moliere 495, at (Lago Andromaco and Rio San Joachin) Polanco

Tel. 5254-3645

This enormous store has a good selection of cookware, knives appliances etc. as well as some baking ingredients like hard to find bread and rye flours.

Asian fusion:

Mikasa San Luís Potosí 173, Colonia Roma Tel. 5574-4859

Open Monday ? Saturday 10-7, Sun until 6.

This excellent Japanese supermarket stocks other Asian ingredients as well, like Chinese sauces, as well as some fresh produce, meat and tofu. They have freshly made bento boxes and a few tables outside so you can have a pleasant, inexpensive and authentic lunch while you?re shopping. On weekends, the front patio turns into a popular BBQ. Good fish and rice cakes are served sizzling off the coals, although recently I have noticed a disturbing preponderance of Argentine sausages and arrachera, due, I suppose, to popular demand of the ?gaijin? customers.

Super Oriental

Division del Norte 2515 corner of Londres, (Londres, you will recall, is the ?Frida house? street ? this place is at the other end of it, about 15 blocks away) Coyoacán

Tel. 5688-2981

Open Monday - Saturday 9:30-7:30 PM, Sunday 10:30-3:30 PM

Asian cooking supplies, kitchen utensils such as a good variety of woks ?this is the best and biggest pan-asian market in the city

Korean Shops at Calle Hamburgo Between Florencia and Sevilla, Zona Rosa

There are several Korean markets in a row selling fresh tofu, kim chi and other Korean and general Asian necesities. Numbers 214, where they make huge chunks of meaty fresh tofu, and 238, are my favorites; neither have signs nor numbers, so look for the plain white doors and figure out where they are according to the other numbered buildings.

The Middle East:

Adonis

Hegel 205, Polanco

Branch in Tecamachalco, Av. de Las Fuentes no. 49-B

Open daily Monday-Wednesday 1PM-12AM, Thursday-Saturday 1PM-2AM, Sunday 1?7PM

Tel. 5531- 6940/ 5531-8081

This store, connected to a restaurant of the same name, is a good source for Middle Eastern supplies as well as basmati and Arborio rices, cous cous, olives and fabulous fattening honey desserts.

Al Diwan (formerly al Malak) Productos Arabes

Av. Cuauhtemoc 160 at Guanajuato, Roma

Open daily 9:30am-7 pm

This shop and restaurant sells the best Lebanese pastries I?ve ever had. Also available are olives, nuts, couscous and breads. They have a small restaurant which offers light food.

Mamma mia, it's Italian:

Benepasta

Ayuntamiento 12, centro

Fresa 142, Ciudad Satélite

These stores sell dried pastas in many unusual shapes, as well as semolina (for making fresh pasta) and fresh ravioli. The original store is around the corner from the aforementioned Mercado San Juan.



Partimar Gastronomia Italiana

Rosas Moreno 32 (near Ribera San Cosme) San Rafael

Tel. 5566-3544/5566-3058

This large shop is located in the old working class neighborhood of San Rafael, only a few blocks from the San Cosme metro stop. It?s a good source for all kinds of packaged products, oils and vinegars, as well as cheeses and meats. They have a smart selection of reasonably priced Italian wines. Several pasta machines are for sale here too. One-day cooking classes are offered periodically ? call for information.

Centro Gourmet Vittorio

Prol. Bosques de Reforma 1371, Lomas

Tel. 5251-3186

This is a store specializing in all kinds of fresh pasta as well as imported cheeses and gourmet

products. See their website: www.vittorio.com.mx

Oy, so ver do I get za pickles?:

Kurson Kosher

Emilio Castelar 204, Polanco

Is a kosher market which makes more than acceptable pastrami and corned beef if you have a yen for it.

There is a branch in the huge Tecamachalco kosher mall on Av. Fuente de Templanza

And

Shuky?s Supermercado at Acapulco 70, near Veracruz , Condesa (entrance inside the parking area, no sign from the street), closed early on Friday and all day Saturday (but you knew that, bubeleh)

They sell an array of nasty looking packaged products but do have matzoh meal, sourkraut, pickled and creamed herring, horseradish and a few other Jewish grandmother essentials.

Bon apetitio!

A note to my readers:

See my other blog, Good Food Planet for a fattening report on Paris: