Beyond za’atar: Specialty grocery stores are Lexington’s spice road to flavor

A few years back when I was getting into pickling I needed whole star anise to brine up some beets.

After a few desultory strolls down the spice lanes of mainstream supermarkets, it occurred to me to try Parisa International Supermarket, a place that has been a go-to for me for almost 30 years for pita bread, tahini, grape leaves and a host of other things you need for a Mid-Eastern food fix.

No problem, beautiful star anise and the beets were great with that added zing.

Although Parisa is a go-to for me, it is not alone in Lexington. Tucked into shopping centers around the city are markets that cater to not only Mid-Eastern tastes but to Hispanic, Chinese, Japanese, Nepalese and other cuisines.

For example, on another side of town, in the Waller Center not far from the University of Kentucky and close to St. Joseph’s Hospital is Yu Yu Asian Market, another long-time fixture on the international food scene here, where you can buy a 40-pound crate of persimmons for $40, get fresh banana blossoms, fresh lobster, clams, crabs and tilapia, and a host of frozen fish of all descriptions.

The large store has a full aisle of different noodles, a variety of rices, many offered in 40-pound bags, Chinese sausages and dim sum you can take home to reheat. It has a large variety of specialty vegetables including jujube (look it up!).

Where to buy halal in Lexington, Ky.

In the same shopping center on Waller Avenue is Sam’s Halal Market and Butcher where you can buy kabobs that are ready to grill, get dried mallow leaves, ghee and, in my case, pistachios that haven’t been roasted or salted. You can also find za’atar, a blend of herbs and seeds that went mainstream a few years back (In 2019 Bon Appetit had an feature headlined: “All about za’atar, the spice mix we can’t stop sprinkling.”)

Halal is meat that has been butchered according to Islamic law, as defined in the Koran. Parisa has halal meats, too, as does Sahara Mediterranean Market on Fieldstone in Beaumont, the offshoot about 12 years ago of the successful restaurant next door of the same name.

The market offers goat and lamb as well as pretty much every part of a chicken you can imagine, including gizzards (great for chicken stock.) There are bins of chickpeas, Tunisian honey, avocado oil and Iraqi wild mint powder.

Lexington groceries also have restaurants

Several of these markets offer more than food. For example, Darsham Namaste on Regency Road has cooking equipment, including rice cookers, as well as a room devoted to clothing as well as delectable South Asian foods like mango pickle, almond power and garam masal, a variety of rices, beans and grains.

Another market specializing in South Asian foods is Nepmart in the Woodhill Shopping Center on New Circle Road. There you can get popped lotus seeds, various flours, including cassava, juwar and yucca, palm oil and specialty breads like naan and paratha. Nepmart also has a fairly large selection of cooking equipment.

Although almost all the markets offer frozen food ready to reheat in your kitchen, DY Market Asian Grocery and Seki Restaurant in the Stonewall Center on Clays Mill Road, includes a restaurant, as the name suggests, that is only open limited hours on the weekends. Sadly, it wasn’t open when I visited but the busy market had a wide selection of ramen noodles, teas, rice, sauces and frozen and dried foods.

There are also several stores in town that specialize in African foods, including African & Caribbean Imports in the Eastland Shopping Center off Winchester Road. This store also offers cooked food for takeout.

You can’t leave a tour (no matter how limited – there are a lot more places to check out) of ethnic groceries in Lexington without discussing Supermercados Aguascalientes Mexican supermarkets and restaurants. It’s not completely clear to me what the relationship is between the initial location on Alexandria Drive, a local favorite and mainstay for years, and outlets on Southland Drive, in Woodhill Plaza, on New Circle near Paris Pike and on Nicholasville Road, but the expansion clearly represents both Lexington’s growing Hispanic population and the growing demand among the entire population for both prepared Mexican food and the ingredients to make it at home.

This is the briefest overview of some of the shops available around town. Do a web search for international groceries and take a tour of your own or, next time there’s an ingredient you can’t quite find in your normal shopping places, take a culinary tour to see what’s out there. You and your taste buds are in for a treat.

This story was originally published December 28, 2021 at 6:00 AM.