What is it??? What is it you ask....
is it a ranch? is it a market? or is it Mexican food heaven?
Yes!! Its Mexican food Heaven and i have fallen in love with it... maybe a little more than a gringo should.
At the restaurant i work at the cooks are always bringing in different things to cook with. See they often prepare a family style meal that all of the back of the house employees share after the bulk of the shift is behind them. And becasue they are all Mexican, well not quite one is from Puerto Rico and one New Mexico, but close enough..., they are always bringing in ingredients suitable for cooking Mexican food.
The thing is, is that they are not run off the mill ingredients, we are talking about things that you would only find in Mexico.
Tamarind, jamica, cactus leaves, masa, hand made tortillas, dried peppers of every variety, queso fresca, marinated meat in a bag, tomitios, plantains, banana leaves, Banana water, guava and many many more...
Every time they brought something new in i would ask them where they found it. The answer was always the same. RANCH MARKET.
I had to go. I had to visit this mystical Mexican oasis were the air smelled of Churros, the water tasted of banana, the floors were paved with tortilla and everyone spoke... well... Spanish. So i asked they guys where ranch market was, whether or not they would speak english and then inquired about what to expect. I was ready to go.
That night i came home from work, anticipating the following days adventure . I told Shea of the plan, and although not as excited about the trip as i was, she gladly agreed to using part of our rare day off together to shop for some south of the boarder deliciousness.
I insisted we bring the Camera. She laughed at me but obliged. I wish i had gotten more pictures but after taking only two pictures a security guard came over and told me i couldn't take any more photos (a little racial profiling if you ask me!!) Here are they two that i did get.
The first is of the outside of the store, The second is the first thing that you see when you walk in. Mexican pastries, and lots of them.
What you dont get to see are all the different specialized departments.
They have a ton of different "stations"...
-water (a bunch of different flavored waters that they make fresh everyday.)
- Food court (just think any kind of mexican food you could want... they have it)
- bakery (some of the most beautiful cakes and pastries i have ever seen in a store)
-Dairy (cheese, yougourts, milks....)
-tortillas (they make their own, both corn and flour, we picked some up that were in packages and they were still warm!)
-Candy (mostly things i have never seen before)
-Fresh fish (if you want to by carp this is the place
-Meat (so much meat! so may diffirent kinds)
-Produce (fresh and cheap)
It was Mexican food Heaven.
I know i'm forgetting a bunch, but all joking aside, we really felt like we were in a Mexican market. It was so cool. Shea and i had so much fun looking around thinking about the possibilities for food. and it was so cheap! We got a ton of food, enough to probably feed 20 people dinner and spent less than $50.
I told the guys at work how much i loved it and now they have taken to making fun of me... but i dont care i loved it.
I'm looking forward to going back to have lunch in the food court and maybe to try a few more of the flavored waters they had.
If you live in the area, and you like food, go! its a must... even if you are a gringo.
