99 Ranch Market in Clairemont Mesa: San Diego's Oasis of Oriental Food

No proper big city is complete without an out-of-this-world Asian food market to (magically) supply it with authentically exotic slice of the Orient. For San Diego, California, our local Mecca of all things Far Eastern is the 99 Ranch Market on Clairemont Mesa Blvd between Ruffner Rd and I-805 in Clairemont Mesa area north of downtown.

This is a huge stand alone building with its own (all too small) parking lots. It is one story with high ceiling, and comprised of a large Asian grocery store and a collection of small Asian shops and restaurants. The 99 Ranch Market chain is, I believe, owned by a Taiwanese, but this San Diego store is oriented toward the Vietnamese.

Walking in from the front entrance you emerge on the central aisle separating the grocery store to the left (west) and the shops and restaurants to the right (east). If you aren't used to the aroma of Asian kitchen, the smell of the place might be the first of the many things you'll have to immediately work on getting used to. The place is so full of exotic merchandise that a lot of it is piled along the middle of the middle aisle to invite investigation. Anything from beautiful pots of orchids to promotional items of the week (the last time I drop in it was a bunch of juice of many varieties).

There are two narrow entrance lanes to the grocery store (one on either end of the check out lanes). There are supposed to be baskets and carts stacked there for you to pick up as you go in, but this place is always so busy that chances are good that you'll have to go hunt for empty basket at one of the check out lanes instead. Once you've found one, though, you're all set for an exploration! This place sells anything from candies to ramen noodles (real ones along with instant noodles from Thailand, Vietnam, China, Korea, Japan, and even Indonesian), dried and canned food, fresh produces (real mangos of many varieties and even the stinky and prickly durian when in season!), frozen and fresh meat, seafood, kitchenware, a full scale bakery and deli department with its killer fresh dim sum and other Chinese dishes, and even exotic food items like chicken feet or pig tongue and intestines. They have many brands of all sorts of spices and sauces are available.... which is a blessing and a curse all at once (too many choices for indecisive me!)!

The seafood section at the east end of the store is rather stinky, but offers a large selection of seafood for really good price. All the signs in the store are in English and Chinese so it's quite easy to find things here.

A little downside is that the aisles are rather narrow here and the Asian shoppers aren't generally good about not blocking the lane as they try to make up their mind on what to get. The staff are a mix of Asians and Mexicans, and most speak English with heavy accent, but they are quite knowledgeable and helpful. The cashiers are really good at keeping the check out line quite short considering how busy this place is.

The right (east) side of the Market houses 3 restaurants (2 Chinese and 1 Vietnamese deli), an Asian bookstore with lots of books, magazines, newspapers, and video cassettes (all the stuff are in either Chinese or Korean or Japanese, though), and a sort of Asian paraphernalia shop. It's a good thing that the place doesn't smell good or a lot of folks would just never leave!

I'd go shop at 99 Ranch Market on Clairemont Mesa Blvd just east of I-805 all the time if only I live closer to it (as is, it takes 45 minutes for me to get there on 3 buses). A shopping trip there is always worth the trouble, though. The last time I went I walked away with a backpack full of instant noodles of many varieties (27 individual packages), a big bottle of Thai sweet sauce that can turn even a mediocre leg of fried chicken into an I-wish-I-can-eat-the-bone-too leg of divinely cremated avian, a big package of Chinese beef balls, a box of marinated pig tongue (just because I had never tried the thing before), 2 cans of sardines in tomato sauce, and a bag of tamarind candies for a grand total of $17.75! The same amount of merchandise (of much less exotic quality) would have cost me well over $20 at any other grocery store in town.

99 Ranch Market (#16): 7330 Clairemont Mesa Blvd (at Ruffner Rd), San Diego, CA 92111. Tel. (858) 974-8899.
Website: www.99ranch.com
Hours: Mon-Thu: 9:00 AM - 9:00 PM
Fri: 9:00 AM - 9:30 PM
Sat: 8:00 AM - 9:30 PM
Sun: 8:00 AM - 9:00 PMhttp://www.99ranch.comLots of Asian food merchandise for good price. Opens everyday. Great bakery and deli.Very crowded.