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Old 07-26-2012, 09:13 PM
 
54 posts, read 110,857 times
Reputation: 80

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Hello everyone,

I just moved to Sarasota and have so far been loving the culinary experience. However I am trying to find the best stores to buy ethnic-specific foods or specialty foods so that I can make the best dinners. I know how to use the search function here and on google so I'll spare you with the usual questions. I have checked out a few stores here and there but would like a better consensus of what everyone likes. So far here is what I found:

Asian:


Vung Tau Oriental Market

Vung Tau Oriental Market - Sarasota, FL Patch
Vietnamese food mostly. Great selection including some freshly made items. I can't wait to try them! However many things on the shelves are not exactly fresh. This store may not get a lot of turn around on the stocked noodles/rice/cans and perhaps won't be the best to bring home.

Oriental Food & Gifts
Oriental Food & Gifts - Sarasota, FL
Great store, great food, fresh, but very limited selection. Mostly Korean/Japanese so many things you might be looking for that is specialty might be missing. This store could be my favorite if it had a few more things from the Viet/Thai region.

Hispanic:

Bianca’s Mexican Store
Bianca's Mexican Store - Sarasota, FL Patch
Bigger selection and fresher food than most of the other Hispanic stores we checked out.

We are on a quest to find the best freshly made tortillas and this store was quite disappointing.We come from a small town (Clearwater, FL) and we had a much better selection of authentic Mexican tortillas thanks this. The kind that melts in your mouth...

Italian:

Piccolo Italian Market & Deli
Piccolo Italian Market and Deli | Sarasota | Venice | Bradenton
Pretty nice, but limited selection. The cold cuts are nice looking, but really only one of each. The canned/bottled items looks ok, but again very limited.

European:

A Taste of Europe
Sarasota Taste of Europe - International food market, Sarasota FL
Looks like an eastern European food store. Decent grocery selection, perhaps a bit old with items. In fact some cold cuts look grey and very OLD.

Scandinavian South
Scandinavian Gifts Baked Goods & Grocery. Discounts.
Pretty disappointing in terms of food. Has a lot of items but nothing freshly baked, everything is refrigerated of frozen. My wife is Swedish and we would appreciate knowing a better Scandinavian store in the area.

Specialty:

Penzeys Spices
Penzeys Spices. Over 250 Spices, Herbs and Seasonings.
What an amazing store. Sure the spices might be more expensive than the grocery McCormicks selection but boy is it worth it! You can smell the difference!

Artisan Cheese Company

artisancheesecompany
Great store, amazing selection and lets you taste any cheese you want, which is VERY rare in my experience.

So what else is out there?? Please let me know I would like to make a nice list for everyone!
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Old 07-27-2012, 06:51 AM
 
17,533 posts, read 39,121,426 times
Reputation: 24289
For Mexican, try this place (Acapulco Tropical) - it is in Bradenton: They also have a Mexican deli in back. I haven't tried it, but it is immensely popular:


Supermarket Acapulco Tropical - Hispanic (Mexican) & Caribbean Food in Bradenton - YouTube

For Asian, try Wong Kai Imports in Bradenton. Can't find a web page, but here is the Yelp review page:

Wong Kai Imports Inc - Bradenton, FL

You might also want to check out this website (Edible Sarasota) It will have articles and links to a lot of great stuff.

Edible Sarasota Magazine - Celebrating the Gulf Coast's Food Culture Season by Season - Local Food Magazine of Sarasota Florida

Happy eating!
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Old 07-27-2012, 07:12 AM
 
54 posts, read 110,857 times
Reputation: 80
Thank you for the quick reply. I forgot the mention that I want to keep this strictly in Sarasota. Though that Mexican place looks amazing and I'll give it a shot on the weekend.

I did look through the Edible Sarasota Magazine before but it's hard to sift through to find different stores. It seems to be more articles (and great ones) and recipes (good ones also).

Perhaps, I may even start my own website with this sort of focus on local markets since there isn't something like that out there yet. That could be fun!
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Old 07-27-2012, 11:15 AM
 
Location: Sarasota
509 posts, read 907,170 times
Reputation: 463
Acapulcco topical has THE best guacamole I have ever had. Made fresh all day every day, so are their tortillas, I've gone there for years. The bakery is good if you like Mexican pastries. Not my thing.
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