The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Culinary delights of Asia
New market features exotic fare from India and neighbors
CROMWELL — The varied cuisines of southwest Asia are readily at hand at Asia Grocers, giving residents and visitors the opportunity to taste a wide range of interesting — and even exciting — foods.
Asia Grocers occupies the former site of Sav-Mor Market at 540 Main St. The store is family owned and managed by Reynold Palazhi, a UConn graduate who earned his MBA at the University of Hartford.
Palazhi, 29, came to this country with his family when he was 2. He was born in the lush tropical state of Kerala, which sits on the far southwest coast of India and is famous for its beaches fronting on the Arabia Sea as well as its vivid foliage.
“It’s greener than Gilligan’s Island!” Palazhi joked.
Since the Cromwell store opened, “We’ve had a very positive reception,” Palazhi said. In the months leading up to the opening, “The town has been very good to us,” he said.
“I had the honor of touring the market in April as one of our (Town Council) business tours,” Mayor Enzo Faienza said. “The Palazhi family has done a marvelous job in renovating the inside and the outside. They have a wonderful variety of food products.”
What’s more, “They have big plans for that plaza, and it’s great to see that parcel move along in a positive manner. I look forward to the future as they further develop the property, and I wish them the best of luck in all their business endeavors,” Faienza said.
Palazhi acknowledged he is looking to expand the business. He hopes to find someone to open an Indian restaurant in the 8,000square-foot space between the grocers and the Sav-Mor Spirits Shoppe.
On the south side of the building, he is just as anxious to open a butcher shop.
Beyond that, he has planted a broad section of land on the southern portion of the property with fresh vegetables.
His family also owns another market in Bloomfield. Palazhi closed a smaller store in East Windsor to move to Cromwell.
“It’s been a great move. We’re drawing customers from throughout the region,” he said, noting, “There are a lot of Indians in Rocky Hill.”
Asia Grocers is part of a burgeoning number of supermarkets in town: There are also a Stop & Shop, Price Rite and Walmart, and a new ShopRite is being built on the site of the old Xpect Discount.
While he is of Indian heritage, Palazhi said the store also aims to appeal to the varied cuisines of Southwest Asia, including Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
The store is also intended to serve travelers who wish to recapture the tastes of those countries or who are ready to try something new.
He is particularly proud of the wide and varied assortment of fresh produce in the store. It has pride of place in the store — it the first thing a customer sees upon entering.
Turn anywhere in the produce aisle and customers will find a broad array of products, ranging from green coconuts and lychee nuts to vivid rambutan and dragon fruit to fresh turmeric — a draw for many of Palazhi’s most loyal customers. “Lots of people come here for it,” he said — as well as guavas wrapped individually in what look like brilliant white baby socks.
“If there’s anything we don’t have, we can get it for the customer within a week,” Palazhi said.
One wall is lined with refrigerator cases with ready-to-eat delights such as patt samosa (meat- or vegetable-filled pastries) or dal makhani, a creamy Punjab lentil stew.
And then there is an aisle that features an abundance of rices and a case at the rear of the store filled with cold drinks — including one made with basil seeds — as well as many types of chapatti (bread).
This has been a doubly significant year for Palazhai, not only with the store’s opening but with the birth of his now 3-month-old daughter, an event which made Father’s Day especially meaningful to him, he said.
For his part, Palazhi characterizes Asia Grocers as “part a store, but also something unique.”