Will M.
Yelp
Have you ever bit into a Sumo? I tackled one, and I got floored. No, I didn't get crushed by a Japanese body smasher. The Sumo is a new Japanese developed citrus that I saw at Vicente Foods and nowhere else. I ripped it in half with my bare hands and ate it up. It's a combination of a navel orange and mandarin. The result is a rough skinned orange colored round fruit. The top is humped like tangelo with a cute little belly button. Funny looking, juicy and sweet, but expensive at $3.99 a pound.
You can read more about it here www.sumocitrus.com
I was in Brentwood to visit a friend, This market is all about finding a wide variety of the atypical and sometimes the best of everything. Employees are really very cool and helpful. There are always two registers open. Some stock and straighten shelves, but when there is a line, they open more registers. it's like Lucky's old "3's a Crowd" policy. Employees answer even dumb questions and not make you feel dumb. I heard an old lady ask an employee "I boiled eggs last Sunday. Are they still edible?" "Yes, ma'm" he said with a smile . One negative here - you can't get cash back unless you have an account there.
As mentioned last time here, the steaks are prime cut, the best available, well marbeled and properly aged. Most stores and restaurants, only use the lower (but still decent) grade Choice cut. You can watch them cut and package them - no hiding here. The butchers told me that all the fish arrives fresh 6 days a week from the best fish distributors in LA. Some sushi places can't even claim that. It was great to walk by a fish department that didn't smell fishy. The bright, plump king salmon filets were $24,.99 a pound, as were the less expensive fresh tilapia ($10 a lb) and orange roughy ($13 a pound). Selections vary daily
They have lots of Kosher food, including kosher sushi. Their sushi is made through the day for lunch, and more for dinne. What is not sold that day is thrown away that night. Probably lots of alley cats or college students in their dumpsters. Lots of ethnics foods, too from Japan, China, Mexico, Spain, and other places.
Their produce department is awesome. Employees regularly pick out any rotten, moldy, or unripe fruit, even in their blueberry boxes. Every berry was perfect in appearance and not even Photo shopped.. IMO, they're even more anal about this than Gelson's or Whole Foods. Some of their prices were actually better than Albertson's, with slices of seedless watermelon at 89 cents pound which was $1.20 a pound last week at Albertson's. Plus, Their green Chilean pluots were really sweeter than expected at $2.50 lb. The produce looked almost as good as Farmer's Market stuff. Most of their stuff is local, though the produce is from all over the world.
They have a great huge pharmacy, with lots of alternative stuff, a great bakery with a good variety of cookies, breads, artistic cakes. Last time here, I had some outstanding NY style pastries. They have their own deli featuring potato salad and cole slaw, sandwiches, etc. Everything is made on the premises, like cole slaw, fruit, and potato salad, and so good. I even saw them cutting a whole just cooked turkey.
Overall this is like a Gelson's or a Whole Foods, but it's NOT a chain. It's a 50 year old neighborhood market with lots of super rich, super picky clientele with better service than the other two aforementioned places. You will feel slightly pampered coming here.