Don't let the name fool you, IDEAL Food Basket is more than just a thing you use to carry food in, it's a full-fledged supermarket replete with produce, meats, frozen novelties, servants, fish mongers, air conditioning, Chips Ahoy, beans, Doritos, huevos, frying cheese, Corona Light, Bok Choy, shopping carts, graphic signage, Spanish ham, fancy sweet potatoes, frozen fried meat pastries, toilet paper, giant cheese ball containers, wine, etc.... and yes, food baskets to carry your soon-to-be-procured items in. It's tucked away in a sleepy, inconspicuous shopping plaza in the heart of soon-to-be-gentrified Dania Beach. Rumor has it, this used to be the same building that housed a Winn-Dixie way back when. They were probably pushed out for being racist fear-merchants with a name like that.
If you're a counter-social Covid commando like myself, this is the perfect place to be. I counted about only 4 other humans shopping, excluding my ladyfriend and myself, and about the same number of servants stooped at their selling posts and ALL wearing appropriate facial coverings. This was on a Saturday night, mind you. (Weekends are the new every other day). Going to this new market would be the most exciting thing I'd do all week.
They keep all of the produce right at the front of the store to make you feel bad by the time you get to the Ho-Hos, Chicharones, and White Castle Jalapeño cheeseburgers you came there to get. My Ladyfriend was elated to find all of the accoutrements from her mother country (viva Peru!) plus all of the obscure veggies she needed for some weird soup she wanted to make. Their modest wine selection boasted a specific title I had never heard of before called "Culitos." That's "little asses" for you uninitiated gringos. Almost half of one of the aisles is dedicated to beans. They've got every type of bean you can shake a spoon at. And yes, many alternatives to the recently cancelled Goya variety.
In ambiance, Ideal market conjures up memories of markets passed. The different sections have on display bold typographical solutions in the vein of Lucky's Market (RIP) most likely inspired by the vintage-modern Czechoslovakian signwriter typefaces of the early 1900's. The down-home, working class aesthetic and occasional fruit fly call to mind Penn Dutch (RIP), a local market which stood behind the innuendo-laced slogan "Nobody Beats Our Meats." A slogan which in fact reigned true as nobody could touch their filet mignon deals back in that day. You'd be hard-pressed to find an equal cut anywhere else cept for maybe Peter Luger's (yeah, ex-New Yawker here! Whaat, foggetaboutit). Speaking of New York, a quick google search of Ideal yields comparisons to NY market staple C-Town, at one point in time a Brooklyn oasis of pig's feet, cramped aisles, and expensive ginger sodas I would deal with for my weekly shopping needs. "Where shopping is a pressure." I'd rather deal with Ideal.
Like I said, not many people shopping in the store so the fish monger and deli servant looked rather lonely at their posts, not like the deli at Publix which at most times resembles a DMV. We decided to procure some provisions from the nice deli servant. The deli servant had never heard of roast beef so we decided to go with some Jamón Serrano and Provolon. My ladyfriend did all the talking as she generally develops a camaraderie with her own people.
The prices are pretty nice. The fancy coffee my ladyfriend usually buys was only $7 instead of $10. Although we bought some frozen lobster meat for $13 and it actually turned out to be pretty gross. You get what you paid for! Frozen croquetta game on point though.
I deal with a number of food merchants on the regular (Publix, Aldis, Trader Joe, Hole Foods) and I have to say in the midst of a pandemic there is no better place than Ideal. It's "ideal." Plus, it's s short car ride from home, the full duration of one No Doubt song to be exact.
PROS: Obscure South American products galore, innuendo-laced alcohol, friendly servants, lack of human bodies. There's a pizza hut express in the same plaza.
CONS: Ideal is easy to miss as there are big trees blocking the sign from the street. It would be ideal to cut those trees down. There's a Wells Fargo ATM in the same plaza. I tried to get some cash there a long time ago and it ate my card! read more