It is midday Friday and I am headed to Fairway Market’s flagship store at 74th Street and Broadway with a very specific shopping list. For those of you not familiar with Fairway Market, this particular store is large and is spread out over two floors. It even has a café on the second floor. Since it sits on prime real estate, the store is jam-packed with produce, with fruit and vegetables displays spilling out onto the sidewalk. Navigating your way around the store to locate more unusual items can be a challenge. Today, my shopping list was guaranteed to give me a headache!
I enter the store and find myself in the fresh produce area. My first item: some piquillo peppers. (The previous evening, I learnt from Google that the name piquillo means “little beak” and that they are traditionally grown in Spain.) I have a good look at the fresh peppers display and can’t find any of the peppers I want. I spot a couple of shop assistants restocking the shelves across the aisle.
Me: “Excuse me, I am looking for piquillo peppers. Do you have any in the store?”
They raise their eyebrows and give me the “what is this guy talking about?” look. One of them finally breaks the uncomfortable silence and says very slowly: “mmm…P-I-Q-U-I-L-L-O?”
Me: “Yes, piquillo.”
He furrows his brow and narrows his eyes for what he hopes passes as deep concentration. I hold my breath. After a pregnant pause, he relaxes his facial muscles and responds: “No, we don’t have it.”
I thank him and begin a slow inspection of the rest of the section. I encounter another shop assistant busily restocking the shelves in an adjacent aisle. I pop him the same question and get the same negative response as before.
I wander the aisles for a while and then spy a young Chinese-American store assistant dressed in blue jeans and the standard issue Fairway t-shirt heading towards me. Good – he is NOT restocking shelves. He might have a better idea where things are.
Me: “Excuse me, I am looking for piquillo peppers?”
He pauses for a second then responds: “In the cheese section, you can find them on the shelf above the olives.”
Bingo! I find them where he says they should be. I consult my list – I now need to find some saffron and then some cooked beans. I wander around for a couple of minutes in the spice section without much luck. Then I spy the Chinese-American store assistant heading towards me again.
Me: “Excuse me, I am still lost. I am looking for saffron and cooked beans.”
Without breaking his stride, he leads me back to the spice section where I was a minute ago and hands me a packet of saffron from a bunch hanging from the shelf support. He points to the other end of the store and says: “You can find the cooked beans in the Goya section in aisle 8”.
I thank him and head off in the direction of his pointed finger. After finding the cooked beans, my list shows one last item — chorizo sausage. Now that can’t be too hard to find, I tell myself. It has to be in the meat section. But, I circle the meat section twice without success. I am on the verge of giving up when the same store assistant heads towards me yet again, this time with another hapless customer in tow.
When he is finished with the other customer, I ask: “I hope this time you can help me find some chorizo sausage.”
He says: “Sure, you can find dried Chorizo in aisle 6, and fresh Chorizo at the far end of the meat section.”
Me: “Thanks, you have been a great help.”
Before leaving me, presumably to help other shoppers navigate the maze of shelves in the store, he gives me a knowing smile and says: “You are making paella, aren’t you?”
I grin and reply: “You got it right first time!”