HT Market : Not Just For Asians!

White people. They so often disappoint me, culinarily speaking. I find most of my fellow white Americans to be saddeningly unadventurous when it comes to trying new types of food. Take HT Market, North Seattle’s relatively new Asian grocery, for example. I wander endlessly up and down the vast aisles of this large supermarket, fascinated by the food I’ve never tried and often never heard of, skipping quickly by the generic “American food” aisles and heading straight to the foreign stuff. I will usually go in for a báhn mì and a can of coconut juice and end up with a basket overflowing with new things to try. I can’t help it, everything here looks good to me! I look in the baskets of the Caucasian shoppers, however, and am confounded to see Kraft Singles, Yoplait Yogurt, milk, white bread. I don’t see how they can resist the exotic bounty at their fingertips. “Egg tart? Pickled radish?” they must be thinking. “Naw, I’ll just stick to my block of cheddar and box of Oscar Mayer.” It boggles the mind, it really does.

The new(ish) HT Market is an offshoot of the Vietnamese Hop Thanh grocery in Little Saigon. When it opened its doors earlier this year I nearly jumped for joy. I had been hoping and praying for a Southeast Asian grocery somewhere closer to my neck of the woods than the ID or White Center, and like a gift from above my prayers were finally answered. HT Market is all that I could have hoped for. Located in the Oak Tree Village, in the space vacated by the flagship Larry’s Market, the grocery is a convenient jog up Aurora. Parking is plentiful and free (take that Chinatown!) and the store itself large and spacious. It’s not big on ambiance, though, and has a bit of a warehouse feel with its exposed metal beams and hanging fluorescent lights. It feels a bit incomplete and unfinished, like it is still under construction. The aisles are wide and brightly lit and have the potential to house so many more types of food. There are two aisles, for instance, dedicated to packaged ramen. Sure, there are a quite a few types of ramen out there, but two aisles seems a bit excessive. Likewise I could do without the aisles of American chips, soda and frozen food. More interesting are the areas of the store containing African, Middle Eastern, Indian, and Latino food. Huge blocks of queso fresco and cotija can be purchased alongside boxes of saag, Catholic votives are nestled in amongst fabric softeners and frying pans. HT Market may be Vietnamese, but it doesn’t seem to want to pigeonhole itself. In a city becoming so homogenized and yuppie it is nice to see such an embracing of ethnic diversity.

The bakery boasts fresh baked bread from the Macrina and An Xuyen bakeries as well as most of the Chinese pastry standards: egg tarts (my favorite), hum bow, sweet rolls, sponge cake filled with cream. The deli case offers lunch combos for $3.99-$4.99, and this includes rice, chow mein or fried rice, 2-3 sides, and soup. They have pre-made báhn mì (the delicious, delicious Vietnamese sandwich) and two-packs of summer rolls for $2.50. Fish-filled tanks are on display in the seafood department and packaged squid and eel in the frozen food section. The produce is a little sad looking, with noticeably wrinkled peppers and green tomatoes, but is redeemed by several types of seaweed, cactus, daikon, and bulk chiles. My favorite is, of course, the dessert aisle. I have recently become addicted to a type of Chinese jelly candy, little rectangular objects that come in a pack of eight, in either green tea or sweet bean flavor. There’s the usual selection of coconut juice, Thai ice tea and the like, and a small sake selection in the wine department. This is nothing too thrilling; if you want a large variety of sake go to Uwajimaya or another Japanese grocery. In a back corner of the store is a nice selection of pretty dishes and bowls to be had for cheap. If you are looking to outfit your kitchen and are on a budget this is the place to come.

I hope that, with time, HT Market will continue to expand its food selection and utilize more of its empty space. And it may be a fool’s hope, but I would also like to see the non-Asians of the neighborhood sample from the wealth of good food to be had here. At least give it a try.

HT Market Oaktree

10008 Aurora Ave N

Seattle, WA 98133

(206) 527-5333

The Cookie Monster is Alive and Well and Living in Seattle

D’ya know what I love? Cookies. Who doesn’t, right? There are a lot of sub-par cookies out on the market, however, and it can be easy to be led astray. Where to turn when that cookie craving hits and you can’t be bothered to bake your own? Here are some that I like:

Cougar Mountain

This locally made cookie has the soft, chewy consistency that so many store bought cookies try and fail to capture. It’s not doughy or cloying, just naturally tasty. During baseball season you can find the Ballpark cookie, filled with semi-sweet chocolate chunks, toffee and peanuts. This might sound like too much for one cookie but it’s really not. The different flavors complement rather than overpower each other. Try them before they disappear in August.

Le Petit Ecolier Extra Dark

On the front of Le Petit Ecolier’s Extra Dark 70% chocolate “butter biscuits” (is this not a tantalizing way to describe a cookie?) a fey, pudgy little boy stares out at you from molded chocolate. Said chocolate is firm and solid and gives a good snap when you bite in. The biscuit is a bit crumbly and not the highest quality biscuit on the market, but it really just acts as a platform for the chocolate. Here’s what Le Petit Ecolier has to say about their Extra Dark: “A chocolate made with 70% cocoa, intense, complex, woodsy with deep inviting aroma”. Amen.

Leibniz

Another chocolate biscuit cookie. Its thinner, crisper biscuit is superior to that of the Le Petit Ecolier.

Hint ‘O Mint Newman-O’s

Looks like an Oreo but is light years better. Like the name suggests, there is a hint of mint flavor in the creamy center of these babies, and mint + cream filling + crunchy chocolate cookie = deliciousness. Plus, they’re organic!

Stroopwafels

I first discovered the Stroopwafel when I was in Amsterdam and fell immediately in love. The coffee shops I had been visiting may have helped fan the flames of my initial attraction, but years later my affection for this cookie remains undiminished. About the size of the palm of your hand, the stroopwafel is basically a sandwich cookie made with two very thin waffles (think of a chewy waffle cone) with caramel, or more traditionally syrup, inside. I can knock back about 20 of these in one sitting without batting an eye. They can usually be found at European import stores and I’ve also seen them at Uwajimaya, strangely enough.

Marie Lu

My good friend Dr. Jones recently introduced me to these, as she herself puts it, strangely addicting cookies. They are rather like a cross between a cracker and a cookie, a bit salty like a Ritz, a bit sweet like shortbread, simple like a digestive biscuit, and quite crisp. I was immediately sold on them. Thanks Dr. Jones!

Does anyone else have any good cookie suggestions?