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Podcast: Celestial Blood
Episode:

The best grocery store meals in LA
Category: Arts
Duration: 00:00:00
Publish Date: 2025-08-15 19:00:00
Description: Who among us hasn't picked up a meal from the grocery store, whether it's sushi from Mitsuwa, tamales at Vallartao or a $20 smoothie from Erewhon? Grocery store meals are quick, easy, and in Los Angeles, they're often really good. So when New York magazine published a feature about eating in grocery stores in New York , Emily Wilson, who covers food in LA on her Substack, The Angel , teamed up with Vanessa Anderson , aka The Grocery Goblin , to make a definitive list of the best hot bars, cold cases, and parking lot grill stations in Los Angeles. Known as the Grocery Goblin on TikTok, Vanessa Anderson explores Southern California grocery stores from a sociological perspective. Photo courtesy of Vanessa Anderson. Of course, she analyzed the offerings at the massive Mercado Gonzalez Northgate Market in Costa Mesa and Tokyo Central in Gardena. "They're kind of like theme parks, in a way, and they're super curated but also very educational. There's a dedication to signage and to education around product, especially in Tokyo Central… Even if you're unfamiliar with Japanese food and products, you can go in there and you can pretty much make dinner using the signage alone. They really help you figure out what ingredients are the best to use for what dish and in what preparation," Vanessa says. She didn't just focus on mega-stores. She also visited small markets, like Tashkent Produce , an Uzbek grocery store in Valley Village. Tashkent Produce in Valley Village is an Uzbek market that offers a variety of cold salads and hot foods. Photo by Vanessa Anderson. They not only offer staples of Russian, Ukrainian, and Uzbek cuisine but [if you] make your way to the back, "You'll find a pretty small but overflowing hot food bar and cold case with different salads," Vanessa explains. "Eggplant caviar salad, pickled carrots, vinegary eggplant, it really runs the gamut. Piroshkis and beef samsa. They're making plov every day with raisins and chickpeas in it. It's unbelievable the amount of food that they're churning out." Vallarta Supermarket, a California chain based in Santa Clarita, sells delicious tamales. Photo by Vanessa Anderson. You can get the rice dish tah chin at Tehran Market, a Persian grocery store in Santa Monica. Photo by Vanessa Anderson.
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