Reader's Pick: Across from the Rainbo Bakery in the warehouse district is a place where you can buy your cabbage straight off the truck. The fruits and veggies at 17th Street come straight from the fields to the warehouse to your mouth- open wide for the forklift! Along with the variety of necessary western produce, they also offer Asian specialties from lychee to bok choy.
Enter the produce section, if you dare, through the forbidden plastic curtain and witness mysterious vegetables that only the Buddha-born know how to make edible. Bravery mandates that you buy at least one thing you don't-know-what-it-is on each visit. In the market proper there's an entire row devoted to soy, oyster and teriyaki sauces. Odd sauces like sweet potato crisps and shrimp flavored chips call out to you, "You try, you will like!" Cookies, candies and "kreme-filled" wafers become must-buys when packaged in tins decorated with the likes of HelloKitty. We like to cruise past the fresh fish counter and sneer, "What're you lookin' at?" The market also features housewares section and a small gift boutique; woks of all sizes, bead curtains and velvet-boxed tai chi balls are all there for your amusement.
