The Devon Market

The Devon Market is between Broadway and Clark on Devon and has a terrific variety of produce and general products.
Having lived 2 blocks away from it for close to 4 years it's taken me a long time to get used to it for more than sundry items. A friend of mine made a great soup from Nigel Slater's Appetite cookbook. (THAT cookbook is another absolute must and I'll get to it in detail later).

The recipe called for whole anise, lemongrass, fresh fennel, fish sauce among other things and I was dying to make it. Dominicks had nothing. Dried lemongrass, fennel seed, crushed anise.

Devon had it all. They also have dried, semi-dried and fresh peppers... anchos, poblanos, hungarian wax peppers (listed as banana peppers but really hot).

For an ensuing stir-fry kick they provided a variety of chinese rice cooking wines, rice noodles, and Baby Bok-Choy... not the huge unruly bok-choy. And the produce is beautiful. I have actually on several occasions used it in photos.

The chicken is safe. I have not tried the lamb brains, cow's feet, tripe and myriad other delicacies they stock. Whole shrimp, whole tilapia, etc. It intially is kind of weird but once you're used to it you love it.

They do also carry a ton of Slovakian, Serbian, Hungarian, Mexican, Thai, uh... almost everything. Miscellaneous items from mason jar lids for pickling to stone mortar/pestle combos for guacamole.

A secret item is the $8.99 750ml of Moskovskaya Osobaya (the Russian distillery). Apparantly the original Czarist vodka before Stolichnaya became so popular. It's made by Stoli.

Comments

[John]

Up until a few weeks ago, I too was just a few blocks away from DM. I was always a little chicken (no pun intended) to buy meat there, but the produce and "international" items were cheap and usually great quality (the produce could look tired, but I'll take an odd looking tomato over a tasteless "prom queen" from the Jewel any day).

For a neighborhood joint, it can't be beat.

[Laoch]

I live around the corner from the Devon Market. It has excellent produce but not very good meat. Very large spice selection. It has become popular however, and the lines can be painful at times. It is a superb place to get the fixings for a stir fry or a salsa, but you will want to go some place else to get your protein servings.

[Josh]

the only time I got chicken there it was fine. I've taken to Trader Joes organic bags for an ungodly $6.99/$7.99 for tenders or breasts... And while the Dominicks produce department is terrific - John Sink, the manager there, is doing a great job, they don't have much of what I want.

[barrett]

Head west, young man. Hop on the bus and go to Patel Brothers.

The biggish supermarkets in the Indian section of Devon just west of Western are out of sight. I saw some of the best produce there this weekend that I've seen in months. The veggies look and smell like something and the prices are great.

[joie]

Devon Market is a great source for hard to find Romanian items, though I think the owners may be Yugoslavian. As a college student, I spent a few months studying in Bucharest, where I became a fan of the local cuisine. An item I had never seen in the U.S. is available homemade at DM as "cheese pie" -- in Romanian it's palacinta--a cross between a filo and a crepe dough, filled with a tangy feta-style white cheese, kind of like the Greek tyropita. Also, there is a variety of pickled whole cabbage leaves essential for sarmale, the special stuffed cabbage dish, as well as gogosari (pickled sweet red peppers) and a variety of well-priced Romanian wines (they are known for the whites, which are uniformly good).

[urbaneddie]

I love the Devon Market. Having lived nearby for over 3 years now, I make it a regular stop for food.

The produce is usually great & ALWAYS better priced than the Jewel or Dominick's (fresh cilantro is 3 bunches for a dollar usually while $1.50 a bunch @ Dominicks on bway).

I have bought some meats there, with no regrets. I usually buy bags of the frozen chicken breasts from Trader Joe's though (no msg, no hormones & low-sodium).

Devon Market is an amazing source for all things (Eastern) European. Treasure Island claims to be the most "European" supermarket, but I think Devon Market IS the most European ... Stock up on all sorts of condiments & stuff you've seen in Europe, tubes of mayo/mustard, European chocolate bars (Milka, Elysia, etc). Nivea's European body products. Devon Market has them all.

[srk]

Devon Market has really improved in the past two years and has become my favorite place to shop. It also helps that I think the store manager is one of the most attractive men I have ever seen in my life. You'll know him when you see his soulful eyes. Dreamy! (swoon!)

[MEB]

Beyond the excellent selection of produce and Eastern European delicacies, DM is becoming one of my favourite places to buy good German and Austrian white wines at bargain-basement prices. I don't know where they're getting it from, but they're selling wines at $8 or $9 a bottle that go for $20+ anywhere else I can find them. The selection's certainly not huge (though growing of late), but there are some real gems, particularly if you're a Riesling fan.

[monina cruz]

I rate this store for 5 stars. Fresh produce, such as fruits and vegetable are great. Almost everything is there for affordable prices. They even have some Filipino products, such as bihon and eggroll wrappers, etc. It's very convenient to go to instead of going from this store to another.

[Euroguy]

I am european. I grew up and lived in Europe. After I moved to the US, I really missed so much stuff. The quality of products in grocery stores in America is unacceptably low. In order to buy something edible, one has to spend a lot of money (and that's still at most average by european standards). If you don't buy the most expensive stuff, chances are it will be disgusting. One thing has puzzled me for a long time, the american obsession with sugar. One can barely find bacon that is not "sugar-cured". Pickles are always sweet. Bread is mostly sweet. Disgusting. But, I am digressing. I really needed to find a place that sells european food. I found one, Devon Market. The owners seem to know where to get what stuff down to particular products. For example, it is impossible to find good mustard in America. Germans are real artists. They sell german mustard. They also sell german jelly, which is magical. Of course, german chocolate too. Croatian wines are very good and very cheap. They sell croatian wines. A $10 bottle of croatian wine is at least as good as a $20 (or more) bottle of californian wine. They also sell a lot of different cold cuts from former Yugoslavia, which are superior. These are just some examples. They clearly know where to get the best of everything. Besides all this stuff, one can also get fresh (very often actually warm) bread (french or bosnian), which are both very good, as well as bosnian fast food (burek, sirnica, zeljanica) and bosnian sweet pies like baklava etc. (all very good and authentic). If you get a chance to get there while the roasted lamb is still fresh, it is very good. Roasted lamb is something rarely good, but unfortunately they try to keep it warm and it gets dried out and is not so good anymore. The authentic bosnian roasted lamb is even much better and you might have more luck elsewhere. I am digressing again, but since I am already talking about this, if you want to try really good bosnian food for almost free, go to Fortuna at 2706 West Peterson Avenue. The place could be described as fast-food, but, trust me, there is nothing fast-food about it. Many expensive restaurants don't offer nearly as good food as some of the dishes at Fortuna. Try sarma, which costs some $7 or so.

[tom]

looking for a slovak store in chicago that sells sausages

[josh]

Not sure the name but there's a small place just East of the Granville EL stop on Granville. They had a meat counter that looked interesting. Let me know that is.

[josh]

that's an eastern european mini-butcher... haven't tried it in earnest but it seems intriguing.

[Devon & Jones]

Nice article but there rate are not applicable now and its also not available in Santa Fe spring, CA store.

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