M&K Fruit and Vegetable Market

Definitely one of my favorite fruit and vegetable markets on Nostrand. They’re open 24 hours a day and the staff and owner are way beyond amicable. I spend about half the amount of money on products here than I would at other grocery stores. Admittedly, their products aren’t always that fresh. Always check he bottom of containers for the soggy mess. However, they also have a good stock of other standard foods as well as Caribbean products that aren’t available at other larger grocers. Also, if you have feverishly been looking for a bucket of pig tails. They have that too.

Open ²⁴⁄₇ with friendly guys out front prepping fresh veggies at all odd times of the night. Not only is their selection of produce well curated and interesting, those guys are working out front constantly, even at 4am on a rainy cold winter night and make the sidewalk both friendlier and safer. There’s one kinda jerky guy who works here, I think he’s the owner, and everyone else is almost suspiciously nice.
You’ll find a few little gems in here you wouldn’t expect. I came in at around 2am with a toothache not too long ago and got a decent sized bottle of clove oil hidden behind the counter for 4 $. They also carry coconut oil, and other asian foods as translated through the West Indies. Neither of which implies dairy foods, mexican foods, or organics, though there are some nods to the ‘changing neighborhood’ with some cheese, kombucha, and fancy juices in the cooler. There’s some good spices, hot sauces, and those little pouches of instant indian food for pretty cheap.
The terrible fish smell gets stronger in the front of the store. My friend swears that the salted cod is really good, it’s a delicacy? It’s salted so it stays good forever? I don’t know, I don’t eat such things.

This place is literally just what it says– Fruit & Vegetables. I walk the two blocks over late one night to grab something to eat. In my mind, I was thinking a bowl of cereal and since the corner store only had the blueberry Special K (yuk), I thought M&K might have the strawberry one or at least another one I’d like. I was slightly disappointed to see they don’t carry cereal & just about everything in the store is food you have to prepare. Now to the reason I still gave them 4-stars…they have a great selection of fruits & vegetables. And since their named Fruit & Vegetable, it seems only fair to rate them for that. So, I was not at all disappointed about purchasing some avocados & tomatoes.

I love local stores. I particularly love local stores that are practically underneath my apartment, so allow me to wax eloquent on the glory that is this fruit and vegetable stand.
First of all: it is a fruit and vegetable stand. They have a few other things, among them an assortment of spices and sauces that incorporates the tastes of most of Asia, the Middle East, and South America (possibly Africa, too, but I have unfortunately cooked far too little African cuisine to confirm this), but for the most part, they sell fruit. And vegetables. And they’re really delicious.
Pineapples and mangoes. Fresh coconut. A small green vegetable as yet to be identified (I suspect it is the sort of pepper that makes you hallucinate if swallowed whole. I got one of those in some Texas chili. Bad news bears. But then I had a whole dream about the end of the world, so only half bad news bears. A single bad news bear. Just chilling by himself).
And salted codfish, for reasons which elude me. They also have a whole assortment of drugstore items behind the counter at the back, and these really friendly guys who unpack everything and hang around at curb-​side most of the day.
Everything in the store is also cheap as a West-​Oakland hooker. But way more enticing.
They appear to never close. I drove into town at five in the morning, all sketched out by driving into Brooklyn at five in the morning, and the guy with a cut on his hand asking for money (which scam I have seen so many times, it’s made me cynical, which in turn makes me sad for my wounded romanticism) but the fruit and vegetable stand was open, and how sketched out can you be when you’re moving into an apartment with tangelos and yams overflowing onto the sidewalk right next door?
Only downside; they do not appear to have any dairy or meat products, excepting a randomly varied selection of cheeses, which are all small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. They have five different brands of soymilk, but no actual milk. They have two brands of COCONUT BUTTER, and lots of magarine, but no actual butter. Which is great if you’re lactose intolerant, like my housemate, but not so much if you’re a fiend for the cow juice, like me.
They’re still awesome. And I love them.