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Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Real Deal

To me, the phrase real deal is a superlative. And like any superlative, one must use it judiciously for it to retain its meaning and impact. So when I tell you that Sunrise Mart at 4 Stuyvesant Street is the real deal, you know I am speaking of a place that is authentic and very serious. No artifice or posing in this place - the kind of place you would only find in New York, Japan or very large urban area - if you're lucky.
Sunrise Mart is a small specialized Japanese grocery store located in an area of the East Village around St. Marks Place sometimes referred to as Little Tokyo. There's no pandering to tourists here, although if you are in the area, I would recommend a visit to this very unique shop. The place is located on a second floor above St. Marks Bookshop and goes unnoticed to most except customers. Access is via a small elevator in a rather innocuous doorway. Also, the staff is Japanese as is most of the clientele. The products range from packaged to fresh foods, divided into various departments, including meats, produce, housewares, clothing and even DVDs. Japanese is spoken here as one might expect in a place that is the real deal ...

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

The real deal would be the one place where Japanese would go to see things they saw in Japan. It must be a big deal for the local Japanese.

Your post is a good one and I enjoyed reading it and looking at the photos.

Anonymous said...

I love your blog so much. I'm a Californian and I really hope to go to college in New York, and every time I look at these pictures it makes me so excited for my future. Thank you so much!!!

Hilda said...

Oh my goodness, I'm so envious! We don't have a Japanese grocery here yet. Pocky, nori biscuits, crunchy wasabi soba!

(Sorry, I've been craving for some salty chips the whole evening so that's all I can think of.)

Liz Granite: BREAKER said...

I love this post. I'm a native New Yorker and this really makes me miss home!!!

Anonymous said...

Mmm..So many yummy foods in Sunrise Mart..sadly, no refrigerator was available to me during my trip there...