hen Ikie and Sam Kurose began helping out on Saturdays at Nak's Oriental Market, 1151 Chestnut St. in Menlo Park, they never thought they'd be running the store 20 years later.
Nak's was opened in 1968 by Ikie's big sister Edith and her husband Fred Nakamura. When Edith became terminally ill and Fred was no longer able to run the business, it was up to the younger couple to take over.
Running a mom-and-pop market was quite a change from Sam's job with a computer company and the food writing Ikie did in Japan, but they learned along the way. Today their business prospers and the store has a loyal following. Ikie and Sam work side by side Monday through Saturday.
One expects an Oriental market to carry products from Japan and China, but Nak's has much more. A 20-foot-long shelf is filled with Dutch grocery items. Sam says he started with just one product, a sweet soy sauce from Indonesia (the former Dutch East Indies) called Ketjap Manis. Now he stocks popular Dutch treats such as honey cake, windmill cookies, chocolate, French fry sauce (the Dutch dunk fries in mayonnaise), several kinds of mustard and jams, and multi-colored sprinkles for bread. Sam lets customers peruse a Dutch food catalog. When they spy something they have to have, he orders it for them.
The little store is packed with goodies. It's fun to wander up and down the aisles. What is "Pocari Sweat?" A Japanese sports drink. Kewpie mayonnaise? A popular Japanese condiment.
Nak's is noted for its fine produce. Sam drives to the South San Francisco produce market two or three times a week, rising at 4 a.m. "If it isn't good, I don't buy it. I just pass," says Sam.
Where else but Nak's would you find tiny cartons of quail eggs, Thai birds-eye chiles, and galangal (a rhizome with a flavor similar to ginger root), as well as many kinds of seaweed? Ikie also picks up fresh tofu in San Jose every morning on her way to work. "It's very popular," says Sam, who says fresh tofu is often eaten with a ginger soy dipping sauce.
Soy sauce -- Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Indonesian and Hawaiian varieties -- fills several shelves in the back of the store.
Regulars know to drop in Friday morning for Ikie's homemade sushi. By noon it's gone. While there, they often pick up a loaf of Japanese white bread, which a customer told me makes great crustless sandwiches.
Homesick Hawaiian islanders can find lau laus in the refrigerator section. Fresh poi and sweet bread are flown in and picked up regularly at the San Francisco airport. Regarding poi, Sam says, "I've tried it three times and still don't like it."
The second room of Nak's is filled with tasteful Japanese pottery, ranging from serving dishes to tea ceremony sets.
In this era of serve-yourself warehouse-size stores, it's a pleasure to visit Nak's and be taken care of by Sam and Ikie. "We're still a Mama-san and Papa-san store," says Sam.
