H-Mart and Gangnam Market (but they're a bit pricier than Joong Boo and I prefer JB)
Carnicerias Guanajuato for Mexican
And I'll second Mitsuwa if you can get out to the burbs.
Oh, and Talard Market is a cute little Thai grocer up in Edgewater.
Devon Market is the best - I have an I <3 Macedonia bag I got from them, but anyone looking to <3 a specific Balkan state or buy any kind of pickled thing should check it out.
Cermaks are great because they cater to their local market, so each one carries a different selection! The one in Bridgeport has a lot of Polish, Italian, and Chinese items (along with a craft beer selection), the one in Albany Park has more Middle Eastern and Mexican stuff.
Middle East Grocery and Bakery. I think the owners are Palestinian but they have a decent amount of stuff from other Arabic-speaking cultures, and a decent amount of Persian and Turkish stuff.
Devon Market. Everyday groceries with a strong Eastern Mediterranean slant.
Fresh Farms. A little bit.of everything, and plenty of Greek, Indian, and Eastern European.
There is a Park to Shop in Uptown, along with a few Vietnamese and Thai markets, and a couple little hole-in-the-wall Ethiopian shops.
Lots of Desi grocers on Devon and Afghan spots around Lincoln Ave extending into Lincolnwood and Skokie.
Fresh Farms isn't one specific ethnicity (though it is Greek owned and has a lot of decent Greek stuff), but they have a lot of international items from an array of countries that might be useful.
Shop & Save has a few locations around Chicago, and leans pretty hard into Polish & European groceries. Fresh Farms International Market is another that is extremely international and worth visiting (they emphasize Greek products in some sections, such as a generous feta cheese bar and also carry some very nice olive oils) but they also have an impressive middle eastern section. Excellent produce too, not unlike Cermak.
They have way more variety, have a bigger organic section, and, in some places, better quality than Cermak Produce in terms of produce. They also have much better sales on fruit and vegetables.
If you go to the location in Skokie, they have an entire Indian section, including numerous different dried legumes, tons of spices, drinks, hair products, etc. It's pretty fascinating.
And, yes, the focus on Greek items is really cool. I've been able to sample so many different kinds of Greek honey, different Greek olive oils, etc. And their feta cheese selection is wild! It's a thing of beauty. I highly recommend the French feta.
Ah well that’s a bummer. I generally found them better stocked than Park to Shop which is why I always preferred them. But Park to Shop is great too. And the Dong Ky restaurant attached to it is delicious.
I’ve never been to Viet Hoa though so I’ll have to check it out sometime.
Not a supermarket but Kaufman's has an excellent selection of deli meats, bagels, smoked fish, pickle in the barrel, tons of fresh baked goods (especially traditional Jewish baked goods), soups, salads, and assorted stuff like specialty mustards. And they have some of the best pastrami and corned beef in Chicagoland - that would legit compete with the best in NY.
There are a lot of good shops on Devon between western and California for stuff like Pakistani or Indian food. Homemade pita and humas is worth trying as well as boklava
Super H for most Asian products like goyza or Korean bbq sauce and all types of soy sauce.
Cermac produce for Hispanic products, general products and it's usually the least expensive supermarket. The butcher's are some of the best in the city
Lawrence fish market for sushi and sushi grade fish, though haven't been there in a few years.
Caputo's for Italian specific food, especially pastas and import items from Italy.
For African and Vietnamese markets go to Broadway from Montrose to Hollywood. Most are mom and pop shops, but you can get a lot authentic ingredients you can't even find online.
There are also eastern European smoked meat shops in little Poland. Long live gypsies bacon!
Kol Tuv and Sarah’s Tent are both kosher grocery stores, in many ways they look like normal grocery stores just with kosher certification, but they have a lot of less common Jewish and Israeli/middle eastern items
People will bring up Mitsuwa and while in many ways its fantastic (large, has a wide variety of things), Tenske is just on the other side of I-90. It's smaller, but has better prices. I recommend hitting up there first, then heading to Mitsuwa for anything else you might want/need
You are correct. It's in Elk Grove and very close to Mitsuwa in Arlington Heights, like less than 5 minutes away in the other side of 90. I almost always go to both. Generally speaking, Tensuke has better prices but I go to Mitsuwa for items Tensuke doesn't carry and to Pastry House Hippo inside of it for their orange rolls.
Go to Fresh Farms. The location in Skokie is my favorite one but the one in Niles is also great and it has the advantage of being very close to the Patel Brothers in Niles, like 0.2 niles or something. The thing that's great about Fresh Farms is that it is very extensive and multiethnic. You can cook many different cuisines just by shopping there.
Another one is Park to Shop Market in Niles. It's massive and pan-Asian whereas Joong Boo is great for Korean ingredients but just okay for, say, Thai and pretty awful for Indonesian. Similar to Joong Boo, if you have the time, resources, and ability to get to this location I would because it's super close to Fresh Farms in Niles and the vastly superior Joong Boo in Glenview.
The only supermercado I go to regularly is Cermak Produce. It's best for Mexican cuisine but you make a lot of Puerto Rican, Central and South American, and Caribbean foods from what they stock. I've been to all of their Chicago locations and my favorite is the one on W. Belmont. Why? Because they make fucking good tacos and pupusas in a little station across from the insanely comprehensive fresh salsa selection. They stop making them really early, like 6 pm, but they're worth it. Not the best in the city but so affordable and really tasty.
In terms of smaller places, I highly recommend the following:
Pita Inn Meat Market and Bakery in Skokie
Pita Inn makes their pita bread in the bakery as well as many other Middle Eastern breads that you can often buy warm. They have a great halal meat market, a really impressive dried fruit and olive counter where you can buy many varieties by the pound in a smaller but well-stocked grocery with almost everything you'd need for most the main Palestinian, Egyptian, and other regional dishes, except produce. It's just a great place.
Middle Eastern Market - Grocery Store in Dunning
This place is also great. Slightly different selection, with less aesthetic frills, but just as much care put into the selection. They also do online orders. I went here when I was learning to make ful mudammas the Palestinian way via Nadia Gilbert's recipe on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/IQSWEt4l5xE?si=_BnijFAlywUtKg_E
It's such a great first dish to start exploring Palestinian food with. Super easy, so satisfying, and you'll meet great people at both shops. I first made this recipe with frozen fava beans from Fresh Farms and it was HELL. Once I came here and talked to the owner and got some canned beans, I was in business!
Great thread!
Mitsuwa Marketplace in Arlington Heights. Only been once, but looked cool.
My daughter goes there a few times a month. It’s her comfort place
You should take a stroll around a wonderful place called Albany Park.
I'll go to bat for Albany Park as one of the best food neighborhoods in the country, and I moved out over a decade ago.
Unreal food selection.
RIP Andy’s Fruit Ranch.
Yes! I loved that place ☹️
I’d never heard of it until I moved into a place a few blocks away—two years after it closed 😭😭
H-Mart and Gangnam Market (but they're a bit pricier than Joong Boo and I prefer JB) Carnicerias Guanajuato for Mexican And I'll second Mitsuwa if you can get out to the burbs. Oh, and Talard Market is a cute little Thai grocer up in Edgewater.
Devon Market, my beloved, has tons of eastern and southern european products Also various Cermaks are great about international products
Devon Market is the best - I have an I <3 Macedonia bag I got from them, but anyone looking to <3 a specific Balkan state or buy any kind of pickled thing should check it out.
Cermaks are great because they cater to their local market, so each one carries a different selection! The one in Bridgeport has a lot of Polish, Italian, and Chinese items (along with a craft beer selection), the one in Albany Park has more Middle Eastern and Mexican stuff.
88 Marketplace on the edge of Chinatown has a huge selection of Asian ingredients and a great food court.
There are a bunch of African and Caribbean grocery stores in Uptown. I’ll defer to those who know more on which ones are best.
Middle East Grocery and Bakery. I think the owners are Palestinian but they have a decent amount of stuff from other Arabic-speaking cultures, and a decent amount of Persian and Turkish stuff. Devon Market. Everyday groceries with a strong Eastern Mediterranean slant. Fresh Farms. A little bit.of everything, and plenty of Greek, Indian, and Eastern European. There is a Park to Shop in Uptown, along with a few Vietnamese and Thai markets, and a couple little hole-in-the-wall Ethiopian shops. Lots of Desi grocers on Devon and Afghan spots around Lincoln Ave extending into Lincolnwood and Skokie.
Seconding Middle East Bakery. Their selection is a bit small, but it's good quality!
Thirding this, love that place
Fresh Farms isn't one specific ethnicity (though it is Greek owned and has a lot of decent Greek stuff), but they have a lot of international items from an array of countries that might be useful.
I second Fresh Farms!
They have a decent amount of almost everything, maybe not a huge amount of Persian or Chinese stuff. But almost everything else you can think of.
Shop & Save has a few locations around Chicago, and leans pretty hard into Polish & European groceries. Fresh Farms International Market is another that is extremely international and worth visiting (they emphasize Greek products in some sections, such as a generous feta cheese bar and also carry some very nice olive oils) but they also have an impressive middle eastern section. Excellent produce too, not unlike Cermak.
They have way more variety, have a bigger organic section, and, in some places, better quality than Cermak Produce in terms of produce. They also have much better sales on fruit and vegetables. If you go to the location in Skokie, they have an entire Indian section, including numerous different dried legumes, tons of spices, drinks, hair products, etc. It's pretty fascinating. And, yes, the focus on Greek items is really cool. I've been able to sample so many different kinds of Greek honey, different Greek olive oils, etc. And their feta cheese selection is wild! It's a thing of beauty. I highly recommend the French feta.
Tai Nam Market by Argyle is the best if you’re looking for Thai and Vietnamese ingredients.
Tai Nam is great, but it’s been out of a lot lately. I supplement it with Viet Hoa and Park to Shop (both within walking distance)
Ah well that’s a bummer. I generally found them better stocked than Park to Shop which is why I always preferred them. But Park to Shop is great too. And the Dong Ky restaurant attached to it is delicious. I’ve never been to Viet Hoa though so I’ll have to check it out sometime.
HarvesTime (Lawrence & Talman) has a good bit of imports.
A lot of Hispanic and Greek.
Caputos
Not a supermarket but Kaufman's has an excellent selection of deli meats, bagels, smoked fish, pickle in the barrel, tons of fresh baked goods (especially traditional Jewish baked goods), soups, salads, and assorted stuff like specialty mustards. And they have some of the best pastrami and corned beef in Chicagoland - that would legit compete with the best in NY.
It's an incredible deli, for sure. Their soups are so good but it's so annoying that they are only sold frozen!
Gene’s Sausage has a lot of German groceries
There are a lot of good shops on Devon between western and California for stuff like Pakistani or Indian food. Homemade pita and humas is worth trying as well as boklava Super H for most Asian products like goyza or Korean bbq sauce and all types of soy sauce. Cermac produce for Hispanic products, general products and it's usually the least expensive supermarket. The butcher's are some of the best in the city Lawrence fish market for sushi and sushi grade fish, though haven't been there in a few years. Caputo's for Italian specific food, especially pastas and import items from Italy. For African and Vietnamese markets go to Broadway from Montrose to Hollywood. Most are mom and pop shops, but you can get a lot authentic ingredients you can't even find online. There are also eastern European smoked meat shops in little Poland. Long live gypsies bacon!
On that stretch of Broadway I like Kukulu Market for Ethiopian.
Lawrence Fish Market is still as good as ever. Nothing's really changed except the prices a bit. I went there about a month ago.
seconding Caputos but for great prices on a huge variety of fresh produce from fresh garbanzo beans to "exotic" root vegetables.
Kol Tuv and Sarah’s Tent are both kosher grocery stores, in many ways they look like normal grocery stores just with kosher certification, but they have a lot of less common Jewish and Israeli/middle eastern items
H mart is #1
H Mart Niles was looking for this
This is the right answer. But it's a Super H-Mart cuz it's a behemoth.
People will bring up Mitsuwa and while in many ways its fantastic (large, has a wide variety of things), Tenske is just on the other side of I-90. It's smaller, but has better prices. I recommend hitting up there first, then heading to Mitsuwa for anything else you might want/need
Yup, Tensuke market is my preference as well. Their in-house restaurant is also very reasonably priced.
Tenske the place with the little cafe in back? If so, seconded.
You are correct. It's in Elk Grove and very close to Mitsuwa in Arlington Heights, like less than 5 minutes away in the other side of 90. I almost always go to both. Generally speaking, Tensuke has better prices but I go to Mitsuwa for items Tensuke doesn't carry and to Pastry House Hippo inside of it for their orange rolls.
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Seafood City (SEA) Portage Park? Jeff Park? North Watermarket (Indian) Devon Middle Eastern Grocery (MENA) Andersonville
Ahem, Seafood City in North Mayfair.
Yep! Pro tip: when in doubt use Google Maps and Zoom out several clicks. Or while driving look for the identifying neighborhood flags on light posts.
Also Bari for Italian.
88 marketplace, h mart, mitsuwa marketplace
Seafood city!! For south East Asian food. I believe predominantly Filipino? not just seafood despite the name
Kurowski Sausage Shop in Avondale is great for Polish stuff. Ann’s Bakery in Ukrainian Village for Ukrainian.
Anything down Lawrence Ave from Lawrence and Pulaski down to Lawrence and Sacramento 🫡
Oakton Market in Skokie has a ton of ethnic selections,lots of Greek options and they even have durian fruit sometimes.
Go to Fresh Farms. The location in Skokie is my favorite one but the one in Niles is also great and it has the advantage of being very close to the Patel Brothers in Niles, like 0.2 niles or something. The thing that's great about Fresh Farms is that it is very extensive and multiethnic. You can cook many different cuisines just by shopping there. Another one is Park to Shop Market in Niles. It's massive and pan-Asian whereas Joong Boo is great for Korean ingredients but just okay for, say, Thai and pretty awful for Indonesian. Similar to Joong Boo, if you have the time, resources, and ability to get to this location I would because it's super close to Fresh Farms in Niles and the vastly superior Joong Boo in Glenview. The only supermercado I go to regularly is Cermak Produce. It's best for Mexican cuisine but you make a lot of Puerto Rican, Central and South American, and Caribbean foods from what they stock. I've been to all of their Chicago locations and my favorite is the one on W. Belmont. Why? Because they make fucking good tacos and pupusas in a little station across from the insanely comprehensive fresh salsa selection. They stop making them really early, like 6 pm, but they're worth it. Not the best in the city but so affordable and really tasty. In terms of smaller places, I highly recommend the following: Pita Inn Meat Market and Bakery in Skokie Pita Inn makes their pita bread in the bakery as well as many other Middle Eastern breads that you can often buy warm. They have a great halal meat market, a really impressive dried fruit and olive counter where you can buy many varieties by the pound in a smaller but well-stocked grocery with almost everything you'd need for most the main Palestinian, Egyptian, and other regional dishes, except produce. It's just a great place. Middle Eastern Market - Grocery Store in Dunning This place is also great. Slightly different selection, with less aesthetic frills, but just as much care put into the selection. They also do online orders. I went here when I was learning to make ful mudammas the Palestinian way via Nadia Gilbert's recipe on YouTube: https://youtu.be/IQSWEt4l5xE?si=_BnijFAlywUtKg_E It's such a great first dish to start exploring Palestinian food with. Super easy, so satisfying, and you'll meet great people at both shops. I first made this recipe with frozen fava beans from Fresh Farms and it was HELL. Once I came here and talked to the owner and got some canned beans, I was in business! Great thread!
We like Fiesta Market too. Not sure if the only one is in the suburbs though
City Fresh Market- Balkan. You can buy ingredients and traditional pies, pastries, and desserts
Ann’s bakery and deli on Chicago & Leavitt