Super bodega

I returned last week from a two-week brain imaging training course at UCLA which was, most important for posting, followed by a drive up Highway 1 to San Francisco. Setting out from LAX in my little red Toyota Yaris, I drove by Santa Monica beach, where the ocean air first hit me, and then followed the coast as best as you can going around the base by Ventura. By Oxnard I was hoping for a supermarket stop to stock up on necessary delights.

So I stopped at the only place I saw, the Vallarta market.

Little did I know, the market was a supersized bodega, with everything you'd ever need to cook like you were in Mexico. A meat counter with all the delicious weird bits white people won't eat. Mexican sodas and juices. Fresh-baked conchas - a wall of pastries. Produce. And of course, a taqueria.

I was pretty hungry by this point, so I got a plate of three tacos, rice & beans, and a big horchata. Mmm delicious horchata, perfect after a morning drive. And the tacos were the best I'd had in a while. Spices even made my eyes water a little.

Though they were lacking in one thing I was searching for, because I'd been deprived for two weeks: hummus. A guy looked pretty confused when I asked him if they had any. No loss, though.

Apparently this is a chain with most stores of its stores surrounding LA, but alas none south of Mulholland Dr. If you're going to be stuck living in SoCal, this is at least one thing I'll envy. Maybe we need a store like this in nyc. A big box family-run Mexican superstore. With tacos.

n.b. - I finally finished making notes about my copious 4th of July pies and truffles - check it out below.