Tuesday, September 13, 2011

THE QUEST FOR THE MOLDOVAN SALAMI

I had just moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles in 2005 when my dad came to visit me. I was sleeping in a cheap futon, which he then slept on and I moved to the floor, had no job and was feeling horrible. You need at least one year (and a job!) to start getting used to Los Angeles. In any case, having him around for a few weeks cheered me up. I remember when we went to a grocery shop once and found a salami from Moldova. We were very surprised and bought it right away. This was before our trip to Moldova in 2008, and anything from Moldova would trigger our curiosity. We went home and ate it. It was not great, but it was from Moldova.

My parents returned to LA for a 20-day visit a few days ago and my dad and I thought of trying to find the salami again. I looked in a few grocery shops but could not find it. The one we bought it last time was closed.
Then we went to Jon's, a traditional Armenian market where you can find the most interesting produce, beer from Estonia, cookies from Malasia, guarana from Brazil and maybe salami from Moldova.


We went first to the meat/delicatessen produce section, but the attendant had never heard of it. There was salami and sausages from Romania, Russia, Armenia, Germany and Hungary.
But nothing from Moldova.




We walked around the place, got soda from Lithuania and cookies from Poland, saw marmalade from Israel and cheese from Greece. It was then that, all of a sudden, we saw the salami. It was actually the salamiS, as there were 3 distinct kinds.


We picked up one and went back home for dinner - very happy.


This one was different than the one from 2005. Soft and not spicy, an almost delicate taste to it. True that the salami is made in the US - but who cares? It's Moldovan style!


NEXT: More adventures in Los Angeles!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great post. It's hard to find some good Salami anywhere other than Eastern Europe and Brighton Beach!

Cassio Tolpolar said...

I should try Brighton Beach next time I'm there!

djinnifer said...

Patak Meats in Atlanta (actually Austell). I'm headed there this afternoon. I found this blog looking up Moldova Salami while salivating over the price list and daydreaming about what I'll be getting today and new stuff I'll be trying.

I realize you're west coast and I'm east coast, but the statement about good salami only being available in Brighton Beach and Eastern Europe... well there are some neat little places that not everyone knows about and not everyone will. It was pure luck that I ran into someone who told me about this place.