Streets Market & Cafe, Grocery Store and Cafe in Several Area Locations

[Simul Parikh]

The new market in the north part of Del Ray just opened (a small regional chain, I guess), and I went in this morning to check out the scene. First glance, it's a typical small, yuppie market with a small amount of good looking produce, limited meats, but has the other staples (canned goods, cereal, soups, condiments, baking stuff, etc.), as well as a good amount of fair priced to expensive wine. They have a small beer area, a deli counter, a baked goods counter. It's expensive, but not that crazy ($2.99 for a gallon of milk, but the produce is pretty pricey).

The most interesting part to me was the cafe/restaurant/bar area. It's adjacent to the deli, and pretty cool - looks warehousey/loft style with a long bar, seats there, and tables. The menu had ... korean fried chicken made to order, three different types of ramen (I think shoyu, miso, and something else), and then various small plates. How strange! It wasn't lunch time yet, so they weren't serving, but I'm certainly interested in trying it. If there is halfway decent Korean fried chicken and ramen walking distance from my house, I may have to reconsider my feelings about a higher power.

Curious to see how it will do, location is in those new apartment buildings on Mt. Vernon, north of Hume but south of  San Salvador.

[Josh Radigan]

Streets will do fine in the Towers of Del Ray, the old Calvert Building. The garage doors will be a benefit when the weather is warm, plus there are really no 'grocery stores' in Del Ray proper. The Giant that time forgot on Monroe is being converted to an Aldi, the Foodway on West Glebe is...well...a foodway. The Chirilagua has some small stores here and there but the best grocery is the Mom's on Mount Vernon across from the Wafle Shop. Don't correct the spelling as it rtuly is spelled Wafle.

[istuffmyface]

Been to the cafe in Del Ray a couple of times for lunch now the past couple of weeks.

First time I got the Korean fried wings to go. These were really good. They took about 15 minutes to make, so I strolled through the grocery part of the store.

6 big, crispy, nicely fried wings for $10.99 (plus some ok seasoned fries and a green salad that suffered from being in the same takeout box as the hot fries and wings.)

Definitely excited about getting these again.

Last week I tried the pork ramen. They have pork, chicken, or vegetarian. They all seems to come in the same milky broth.

Toppings were 2 pieces of ok chasu, 1/2 soy egg (very nice), a slice of fish cake, pickled ginger, and I may be forgetting one or two other things. I ordered menma since it wasn't listed as coming with the ramen, but when I got my order there was menma in it, then 5 minutes later a bowl of more menma showed up. The menma itself wasn't highly seasoned but the shoots were good quality.

Noodles were good and probably Sun Noodle if I had to guess. Broth wasn't terribly complex, and somewhat light considering the high emulsification. On first whiff, I swear I caught some kombu or fish in the aroma, but then it was gone on the next smell and undetectable on tasting.

Overall it was a good bowl. A tier below the current all-stars in the area. Nothing great or complex or worth going out of your way for. But, if you're in the neighborhood, it'll do for sure.

The woman serving who was there both times was very nice.

[malokd]

Went to the market and cafe for the first time today.  Good addition to the neighborhood.  The cafe was half full at 4pm on Sunday so it seems like they are doing pretty well.  My wife is pescatarian--not much non-meat prepared food offerings so she got some sushi--just rolls.  Sushi was decent--not great,not bad--not worth making a trip for, but good if you are there.

Ramen was not good.  Creamy appearing broth but def not tonkatsu--no emulsified fat.  Despite appearance broth was thin, no fat or gelatin.  Little depth.  Chashu not cooked enough--still rubbery fat.  Would not get again.

Korean fried chicken looked good at other tables--would return to try that