A New Asian Market in (Almost-)Ridgewood?

jelly cups

Jelly cups at Sea Town: one of the few Chinatown-y products available there

UPDATE 2/20/13: Jose from Sea Town read our post and said he’ll be ordering some of the products we suggested! He’ll let us know when the new store is open so we can check out the Asian goods.

UPDATE 2/28/14: We give up! Sea Town still has not added any kind of significant Asian section to their store. If you continue down Myrtle, further into Bushwick, you’ll find another new Asian market (not sure of the name but we’ll find out). It’s one block from Sea Town, right next to Brooklyn Cooperative Federal Credit Union. We’ve found assorted Asian noodles, kimchi, potsticker wrappers, and frozen mock-meats there.

Two blocks over the Ridgewood-Bushwick border and steps from Myrtle Avenue, Sea Town Fish & Meat Market was deemed a founding part of a “tiny Bushwick ‘Chinatown'” when it opened in 2010. And though the store boasts an impressive variety of fresh (including live) seafood, the general grocery area lacks a significant Asian presence — even staples like tofu, seaweed, and rice vinegar are nowhere to be found (tofu didn’t sell, said the store’s manager, Jose).

But that could change: Across the street, construction is underway on a triangle-shaped annex, which Jose told Ridgefood will be like a “regular grocery store” with more vegetables and an expanded ethnic section. They plan to stock more Asian goods, and Jose welcomed Ridgefood to compile a list of products that would appeal to local shoppers.

Sea Town

Sea Town, on an exceptionally sunny day. The building on the right will sell Asian products.

We really think they could use our input, as their current selection of Asian products is very limited; according to BushwickBK, Sea Town started as a real-deal Sunset Park Chinatown store, but Jose told us that the two locations are no longer related. Since it’s hard to find even miso around here (we finally lucked out at Ridgewood Farm Market), and we’re still reeling from the departure of Mama O’s Kimchi from N&D Deli to a larger space in Brooklyn, we’re happy to help.

Suggestions should be realistic: think Asian convenience mecca M2M in the East Village, not a Flushing Chinatown Megamart. Jose seemed excited about the possibility of serving the local Asian community — lots of Chinese, Vietnamese, some Koreans — as well as other people who love Asian food (i.e. everyone), and we hope Sea Town pulls through!

UPDATE! Here’s our wishlist. We’ll add to it as we think of more stuff. What are we missing?

  • Noodles: soba, udon, lo mein and other fresh noodles, bean thread, rice noodles of various thicknesses
  • Summer/spring roll wrappers, dumpling wrappers
  • Sauces, oils, vinegars: sriracha, sesame oil, fish sauce, rice vinegar, ponzu
  • Tofu, seitan, etc.
  • Miso
  • All sorts of ramen
  • Dried seaweed: wakame, hijiki, nori
  • Edamame
  • Various snacks: wasabi peas, rice crackers, Pocky
  • Roasted, seasoned seaweed sheets (laver)
  • Café du Monde coffee & chicory and Longevity condensed milk (for Vietnamese iced coffee)
  • Assorted frozen dumplings (the non–vacuum packed in big clear bags, like the ones you can buy frozen at Dumpling House)
  • Kimchi
  • Teas
  • A small selection of cute Asian kitchenware, including bento boxes and molds (optional)

What’s on your list? Let us know in the comments below, or on Facebook or Twitter.

Ridgewood Farm Market

66-38 Fresh Pond Road (at Woodbine)
(718) 821-1800

Sea Town Fish & Meat Market

328-332 Linden Street (at Irving), Bushwick, Brooklyn
(718) 417-8888

9 thoughts on “A New Asian Market in (Almost-)Ridgewood?

  1. The Food Bazaar on Gates has some great Kimchi in the fresh veggie room, I believe it’s made in Queens. Not that the new Sea Town shouldn’t carry Kimchi as well. Seconded on udon and other various noodles. Would be great if they had a little “deli” style counter with prepared foods but I’m not holding my breath. A freezer section with Mochi and red bean ice cream etc. would rule.

  2. i wandered around the store the other night but most of the stock didn’t feel particularly asian. a prepared asian-food deli counter would be perfect, as would rice noodles and frozen dumplings. some decent bread would be nice too, since the bread in the area is pretty gross—just puffy and textureless.

  3. there’s a new asian grocery on knickerbocker, between the myrtle-wyckoff and knickerbocker M trains like a block off burger king. it’s tiny but REALLY well stocked (noodles, quality rice, rice cakes, even asian basil which is super perishable so most smaller places don’t stock it) and prices are mad cheap. you should check it out!

  4. hey thanks! we just discovered that place too — it’s awesome! we’ll report on it asap. unfortunately been on a temporary hiatus but that’s ending soon!!

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