Jackson Heights Life

Earlier today, we had an outing to D'Espana foods with some of our neighbors.  I love this place and all the samplings the owners provide to their customers.  We went at about 11:30 a.m., so I wasn't really thinking about chorizo or morcilla (blood sausage), but I have to admit that eating different varieties of cheese and sausage wasn't all that bad, especially when its free and accompanied with some wine.  It's rather addictive.  We ended up buying the mini chorizo, lomo de puerco (Spanish cured pork), Iberico cheese, a box of Turron de Jijona and a chocolate bar.  Yes!  Chocolate amongst all that meat.

By the way, they have a few dark chocolate bars with the label Valor.  We purchased the 70% Forest Fruits variety.  It's a varietal bar made of cacao beans from Ghana, Panama and Ecuador.  Of course, I opened it already and discovered that it's very good.  Nice fruity flavors with small bits of raspberry to balance out the bitterness of the chocolate.

We also purchased a couple of cans of Kas, a lightly carbonated beverage similar to Orangina.  They have them in naranja (orange) and limon (lemon).  Very refreshing and not overly sweet like cola.

If you go, plan on sampling lots of meat and cheese!

Chuckster I went there today but I'm putting the post under the thread for food markets/shops.

Eddie, D'Espana is on Northern Blvd. between 86th and 87th Streets.  Keep in mind that they're open for retail customers on Saturdays.  That's when all the fun stuff goes on.

Mods:  Please feel free to merge this thread with the ongoing discussions re: markets/shops