Food shopping for newbies in GWH, SSP and SPS

Subject: Grocery stores

If you are in Sunset Park PROPER:

Your best bet is really the Key Food on 5th avenue and ~44th (gosh I am forgetting the exact street now) :oops: . The selection is okay, the eggs are kind of pricey, so are the dairy products...or at least more than Trader Joe's. I tend to just lug stuff all the way from Trader Joe's at Union Square.

Stay away from Clarimar's. 4121 3rd avenue (3rd avenue between 41st and 42nd streets) and the C Town on 5th in the 50's.
I have brought turned stuff at both places several times and both places aren't that clean.

The big fruit stand on 3rd and like 26th is great. Cheap prices and great selection.

Subject: OUTSIDE VEGGIE STAND MOVED INSIDE

lostingreenwoodhts wrote: [quote=rtraindweller][quote=JoanJettofArc]I find that the National Grocery on 25th and 4th smells like chemicals. You can taste it in the food. I just can't shop there anymore.

i do most of my grocery shopping there since its only 3 blocks away and it's cheap as hell. i've never noticed the chemical smell. was it a one time thing or something that's been getting worse over time? my nose is also always stuff so i never notice smells that everyone else does...

Depending on the time of day, National is a potpourri of smells, depending on the time of day you are there. I have smelled cleaning solution when they clean their floors (quite often, it seems...not a bad thing, right?), garlic, fresh tortillas, peppers and even "over-fresh" veggies that need to be tossed. Spin of the wheel, but worth the savings!

they used to have a great outdoor stand along 25th St when we first came to the 'nabe in 2003, but it was moved inside.

Anyone been here longer know why it was moved in? The City? :roll:

I'm new to this site, but been living on this neighborhood close to 20 yrs...

National Supermarket did have a vergetable stand outside on the street side, but the plenty of times that I would come out of the train station at the early hours of the morning or the late hours of the night, once in a while I would noticed that some people were stealing some vegetables through the gate. It was not like a garage door where you couldn't see anything, but it was more of a chain link gate and obviously with big gaps through the chain links. They would use everything and anything they could possibly get their hands on to get to those veggies...

mush as i love fresh ground coffee, i drink bustelo most of the time and national has it for $2.99 a can. perfect for the iced coffee i'll be downing at my studio till nov.

national supermarket is on 5th ave and 25th street.

FYI There are several members of the Greenwood Heights CSA who live in Sunset Park. I overheard talk during my shift of starting up a third CSA (in addition to Greenwood Heights and Bay Ridge) in the area with the same farm.

Subject: Great News!

Renovations going on at National Grocery on 25 Street & 4th Ave. The plans sound fabulous (adding another floor, new freezers, new meat, produce, dairy sections)! Being in the neighborhood for 53 years it's nice to go food shopping some place local. Reminds me of the early 60's when I went right up the street to Safeway's on 24 Street.
Can't wait to see the renovations completed. The owner said it will knock the neighborhoods socks off and I'm excited.

Too bad it still smells like chemicals. To the point where you can taste it in the food.

: (


I hope the new renovations will improve this. I WANT TO BELIEVE!

For fresh veggies, go to Rossman's at 26th and 3rd. It is a 24 hour greenmarket!

It's not bad...and it has been clean and fully stocked the last few times I've gone. The produce can be touch and go...just check it over before you buy. The deli counter is actually decent!

So the National at 25th has a sign up saying it will be closed "for a short time" to continue renovations. Anyone want to take bets on how long "a short time" will actually be? Any bright ideas for places to do basic shopping in its stead? I'm think Associated up at 18th.

Steve's C-Town: 9th St. btwn 5th/6th Aves
(great all around store. Good veggies, deli, fish, meat [though my wife and I are vegetarians], etc.... a wee more pricey, but worth it, and of course, a walk from 23rd St., BEST in the area)

National Grocery: 25th St. at 4th Ave
(Closer, but not as diverse of a selection. Definitely scaled for the Latino population, though the selection is improving. Better veggies as of late. VERY inexpensive, depending your needs)

Eagle Provisions: 17th St at 5th Ave.
(one of the last remaining Polish hold-outs in the 'nabe. If you eat meat, they smoke all their own stuff in house. Great Polish fare, excellent beer selection, veggies are so-so...have heard the new organic market up the block is good. A very unique place and still family owned and run).

Pathmark-Gowanus: 2nd Ave and 13th (next to Lowes)
(big chain supermarket BUT really only accessible by car. Food selection is what you'd expect from a major chain. Only plus for the haul, Big J's Liquors next door. CHEAP prices, depending on your habits)

Smaller grocery stores (a step up from Mom & Pop bodegas):

MET Supermarket: 5th Ave btwn Prospect and 16th St.
(OK. Veggies not great, but for a smaller grocery store, not bad. A lot of our friends in the South Slope shop there)

La Dolche Vita: Corner of 15th St and 7th Ave
(upscale Mom & Pop, but good essentials, full deli, decent beer selection. A bit pricey, but better selection than what's in the 'nabe Mom & Pops)

Big Apple Produce: 5th Ave btwn 18-19th Sts.
(veggie stand only, freshness depends on the time of the week, even day. Supliment to Eagle)

Small shops (Mom & Pop stores):

Guerrero Grocery: 23rd St @ 5th Ave
(100% Mexican. Good Mexican beer selection and lots of authentic spices, food, etc. Very specific)

K&H Grocery: (or K&M, can't remember) 6th Ave and 20th Street
(another Mom & Pop place, a step up from Greenwood. We hit it for OJ, veggie soup, cards, snacks, beer, etc.)

Greenwood Grocery: 7th Ave @ 20th St.
(Mom & Pop place, little bit of everything. Supposedly decent sandwiches, but more for beer and Lotto)

And then there's a million small Mom & pop bodegas places on 5th Ave as you go North and a few places on 7th Ave once you cross the Expressway. Obviously the farther North you walk into the Slope, more you find and more upscale.

Then there's farther South in Sunset Park with Mexican, South American and Chinese, not our expertise. Then there's Fairway in Red Hook. Not been there yet, but rave reviews. Need car (NEED INPUT HERE FOLKS)

Unfortunately we do not have a decent green grocer in the 'nabe, though there is this HUGE place on 3rd Ave and 26th Street, Rossman's (UPDATED). Only been there once, have to go back!

Again, unfortunately no decent drug stores close by. For Drug stores, we use , Health Aid Pharmacy at 7th St and 7th Ave., which for the walk is good (right next to Methodist Hospital). Very busy place, but they deliver. There's a smaller place on PPW, right off the circle, Oak Park Pharmacy, OK, but we have used it once. For chain stores, there's a CVS on 9th Street, up from Steve's C-Town and a Eckard on 5th Ave and 9th Street

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hey lostingreenwood-
thanks for organizing this list! awesome!!
just wanted to say that big apple grocery stand on 5th bt 18th and 19th has a little bit more than just veggies. I went in there the other day and was surprised at some of the "fancy" items they are carrying. I think if more people start shopping there and making special requests, they will start carrying the products in there that some of us want. The owner (don't know her name) was very nice and accomodating when i asked for a few things she said they would try to start carrying them
they carry veggie slices and soy milk and organic eggs and are open til 8 PM.
the veggies there seem to be the best in that immediate area, they have fresh basil and shitake mushrooms...better than provisions(which i love for everything except veggies) or the met on 5th and prospect(which is awsome and cheap but doesn't carry a whole lot) and def better than the grocery store on 25th (although i hear they will be improving that one)

-la face

Subject: national

the real question is if the renovated national supermarket will retain that strange smell of the old one. If the smell is gone, it will be a huge improvement beyond what dairy cases can do.

I'm returning to the neighborhood (17th and 3rd Ave) after a three year hiatus in Ft Greene and Greenpoint, and I am pretty excited (as is my girlfriend, our first apartment together!). Great to hear the C-Town that used to be National is doing well, we'll probably do our shopping there.

Rossman Farms must have come a long way since the last post. This place rocks. Rock bottom prices, extensive selection of fruits and vegetable, and everything looks fresh. The only green that I cannot find there is Arugula.

I