Phu Thinh Market

Stopped in to check out the little neighborhood Vietnamese grocery and to get ingredients to make phở.
I was a little underwhelmed by the basic dusty corner store ambiance — cans and jars, dry packages of textured soy bean protein #4 and spring roll wrappers, teas and coconut milk and Vietnamese soup bases — until we turned the corner down the last aisle, which had all the things I love in an Asian market: tanks of live crabs and catfish, a wide variety of cheap meat cuts (from chicken breast and beef brisket to oxtail, soup bones, and chicken feet), gorgeous fresh scallions and cilantro and Thai basil and watercress and limes.
Will definitely be back again to get ingredients for a proper phở (I think they had all five beef cuts required for the most complicated recipe I looked at) or just to grab fresh cilantro or an avocado near home.
There was also an appealing-​looking banh mi stand (and also something cooking in a crockpot) near the door that we’ll be coming back to try out.