Have you ever been to 99 Ranch Market? It's a Taiwanese chain of grocery stores that is the pinnacle of what Asian grocery shopping can be (unless you go really wild and actually head to Taiwan to buy your groceries from the street markets there).
Anyway, in Los Angeles (and Las Vegas), they are all filled with narrow aisles, lots of Asian people, fresh (as in, with the heads still on, and sometimes still swimming) fish in the back, and Mandopop music blaring on the P.A. system in between the daily specials announcements in both English, Mandarin, and sometimes Cantonese. Did I mention the checkout lines are always at least 3 customers deep (the entire bank of them)?
This place was virtually empty on the Friday afternoon I stopped in to check the place out. Combined with the Texas-wide aisles, it was downright weird! But they do have a wide selection of the foodstuffs, food, and other things I would find in Los Angeles, for about the same price as I would expect to find for most items. So I won't have to make strange substitutions to my favorite recipes, like Chow Mei Fun and Beef Noodles.
However, the strangest, most surreal thing I save for last. Instead of Mandopop playing on the P.A. system, it was country music! (Not Texas country music, which I've heard is its own genre)
99 Ranch Market
131 Spring Creek Parkway
Plano, TX 75023
972-943-8999
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