Naroe's East-West European Bakery and Grocery

I'd like to invite you to join me on a little visit to a small local grocery store in my Carmichael neighgborhood. Within a mile of my home, there is a bakery called Naroe's, and right next door is the grocery store where they sell their fresh bread and other provisions: Naroe's East-West Europen Bakery and Grocery.

We must have driven past Naroe's a thousand times before we finally decided to stop and look inside. It was a few years ago, and we were going on a Letterboxing outing and needed some picnic style foods such as bread, cheese, salamie and drinks.  Once inside we were captivated by the old world charm and very different selection of foods that are popular with recent European immigrants to our country. 

The shelves bore jars, bags and boxes of many different foods, some we could recognize and others that mystified us.

The jars of jams were easy, because we could see the pictures of fruit on the labels. I have done very little traveling outside the USA and it gives me a tiny sense of what it must feel like to try and make your way in a foreign country.  Something quite common and necessary like choosing food could become quite a puzzle.

Looking at the shelves of pickled cabbages and vegetables, we could tell that the European diet is not so very different from our own. But not the same.

The dairy case boasts many different kinds of fresh imported cheeses from Greece and the middle east.  There are many intriging foods to try.  But the one place I could not pass up was the fresh bread case!

I confess that whenever I stop at Naroes' it is usually to pick up at least one, and often several, loaves of their delicious fresh bread which is baked at their bakery next door.

There are plastic bags close by to wrap your bread in, and a bread slicing machine that someone will use to slice your bread upon request.

There is also a produce section featuring fresh fruits and vegetables. Usually there are large bins of produce in front of the store as well. There are two cash registers right next to the deli case which features a large display of sausages and specialty meats, many also imported from Europe.  Most of them are described with signs written in a foreign language so I will need to ask about it when ready to make a purchase. I didn't take a picture of the meat case because I didn't want to be too conspicious.

One of the things I like best about Naroe's is its small and cozy size.  Going to a regular grocery store, hiking up and down miles of aisles and shelf after shelf of different products, sometimes feels like more of a chore than a blessing.  I feel kind of jealous of people who can simply walk to a grocery on the corner and pick up a few essentials without it having to be a major outing. Maybe I'm just too romantic.

This was one of the light summer suppers we enjoyed not so long ago: Fresh tomatoes from the garden, sliced up avocados, some home-made fresh hummus, some kind of leftover veggies, and big chunks of Naroe's bread and Afghani flatbread to spread thickly with the hummus.  We also drank from a carton of a cherry juice beverage. Delicious!
Naroe's is located on Fair Oaks Blvd. at the corner of El Camino in Carmichael CA.  If you happen to live in the Sacramento area, follow that impulse to stop and check it out. If you live in another city, I encourage you to explore your own immigrant grocery stores and see what tasty adventures await!

Comments

[Kalyn]

It looks like such a wonderful place!

[Laurie]

Wow! What a wonderful place! There are no places like that out here in south Arkansas, we basically have the run of the mill: Wal-Mart, Krogers, Brookshire's. The only shop that calls themselves a bakery just sells donuts and cakes, no beautiful breads.

[Elise]

I've always wanted to stop in that place. Thanks for the profile!

[Teresa]

Thanks for the virtual visit! We've passed by Naroe's many times, but we're always on the way to somewhere and have never stopped. How exciting to learn they make Afghani flatbread! That's good stuff! We'll be sure to make it the destination soon.

[Teresa]

Hi! I read your comment about the Oktoberfest activities posted by Sacratomato including the celebration at Turn Verein. You need not wait until next year to party German style. On Dec. 6 and 7 they will be holding their annual Christkindlmarkt (posted on their website). It's a good time with good food, gluhwine (mulled wine), music, and shopping. I highly recommend it.

[debra schoch]

thanks for the neat tour would love to do some shopping here and the breads look so good..enjoyed reading your blog and hop you received your Halloween swap by now if not email me..

[H.L.]

the poppy seed bread is the best from Naroe's. Plus, where elsee in Sac can you get fresh feta??