African Grocery and Meat Market

Yet another hidden gem of a grocery, tucked away in yet another ethnically thrumming shopping center in the West End. I love that these jewels continue to reveal themselves the more we explore the neighborhood, and that my cooking grows ever more adventurous as a result.
Husband and I stumbled on African Grocery and Meat Market completely by chance, as we’re prone to do in these cases. After a weekly run to Grand Mart, we found ourselves still in need of whole coffee beans for making our morning espressos (sorry, Grand Mart, but Nescafé does not a decent cup of coffee make). We spotted AGaMM as we were loading the car and figured, why not? Africa produces some of the most prized beans in the coffee world, and Ethiopia is generally accepted as the «birthplace of coffee»…perhaps AGaMM would carry a selection. In we went.
We were happily welcomed by a woman stocking refrigerators with smoked, dried catfish and tilapia, enrobed in a sheath of smoke from the incense burning near the front door. CDs of world music line the shelves behind the register, and several aisles contain everything from custard powder, cassava, and bulk rice, to enormous, industrial cook pots, plastic laundry baskets, and essential oil diffusers. Everything seemed quite affordably priced, too, like nonstick, double-​burner griddles for $ 16.
A gentleman at the back of the store noticed us wandering and asked if he could help. We said we were desperate for coffee, and he apologized saying they don’t sell it. He suggested the panaderia a few doors down. As we meandered our way back towards the front of the store, the gentleman called out to us. «Wait, what *kind* of coffee are you looking for? Because this early in the morning I assume you want drip coffee to-​go, which we don’t sell, but I want to be sure I have given you the right information!» I said we were looking for whole beans. «I have that!» he exclaimed, and led us to the dry goods aisle.
Unfortunately, the only beans that AGaMM carries are unroasted Ethiopian coffee «seeds,» to be roasted at home, typically in a flat pan over coal for a coffee ceremony, the gentleman informed us. And in that instant, I wanted a flat pan over coal for roasting my own beans. (
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Though AGaMM didn’t have what we were looking for *that* day, the warmth of the service and reasonable prices will certainly bring me back when I am in the market for allspice, dried chiles, or other African goodies.