As suggested, I posted a fuller response on LK's blog. Exec Sum: Lotte Plaza over HMart and check out La Familia in Bel Air for good prices and fresher tortillas and tostadas, plus good fresh cheese.

St. Louis: nice arch, but talk about rolling up the sidewalks after the whistle blows. I gather they built too many condos and rehabed too many lofts near the water, so nobody was going to bet on the equity equation. The Zagat list for the neighborhood is the shortest I've seen, especially with stadiums (stadia??) downtown and I have never wandered around a downtown and seen fewer retail and restaurant fronts.

Not that this will help anyone, but I really miss the Everfresh International - mostly Russian - grocery store in Reisterstown. Where else could you get freshly made beet salad alongside various salvage grocercies, such as Carlos chocolate milk powder of which I still got a can of in the house.

I salute Trinacria Macaroni Works for staying put and for the legion of customers cramming the place. What a pleasure to have Trinacria as a neighborhood grocery store. I wrote the following ode exactly one year ago today: http://nestingbaltimore.blogspot.com/2007/09/trinacria-macaroni-works.html

MD Canon --- thanks for the suggestions, and now I've got one for you! You should check out the City Museum, which is crazy. Dunno if you packed your kneepads, but it has a fabulous outdoor sculpture/monkey bars that lets you climb into an old airplane at what feels like cruising altitude.

It's fun even without the adventurous activities. There also seemed to be some interesting new restaurants in that area, if you walk east from there toward the river.

Also, my friends from that city recommended avoiding St. Louis-style pizza. The crust is unleavened like matzo and the cheese is an blend of processed cheese. Not that there's anything wrong with matzo or processed cheese, but mebbe not on pizza.

I am surprised that no-one's mentioned some of the Latino markets in Upper Fells Point, or the Russian grocery stores along Reisterstown Road just above the city line.

There are also a couple of Indian and halal markets around Security Square. I go out there to have my eyebrows threaded, which is WAY better than having them waxes.

We've been fans of H-Mart for years and always find something interesting there. I can sometimes find British foods there, like Jacobs water biscuits and Rountrees fruit pastilles. They also have a great sushi bar (cash only) and lovely seaweed salad.

Okay, I will confess that I buy most of my ethnic ingredients at Wegman's--one-stop shopping. They have most of what I need, and the prices aren't bad.

Ethnic ingredients in NW Florida:

crab boil
shrimp boil
catfish fillets
cornmeal
season-all (gourmet stuff down he-ah)
tasso - this tastes real good but what the hell is it?

tasso - this tastes real good but what the hell is it?

It's spicy cured and smoked pork, How could it not be good?

At one place, they chop the tasso up so small (minced, I guess) you can't really tell what that is in the rice, but that it tastes good.

they chop the tasso up so small (minced, I guess) you can't really tell what that is in the rice, but that it tastes good

Yes, tasso is almost always used as a seasoning rather than eaten by itself.

Thank you VoR,

that's good info, so now I won't ask the server for a tasso appetizer.