Best Asian Grocery

Viet HoaHere in Houston you can find Asian foods in most any mainstream grocery store. But if you're hankering for fish sauce, Peking duck or some restaurant-style bowls for serving pho, you're best served traveling to Viet Hoa in southwest Houston. A massive warehouse-sized temple of Chinese and Vietnamese fare, the store peddles produce, Chinese health and wellness goods, seafood, kitchenware and a $2.25 lunch combo at the deli. Flooded with Asian clientele, college students, fusion-friendly foodies and food-industry professionals, Viet Hoa is the spot where you can special-order a longan -- the consummate Thai summer fruit -- for a dinner party and boast to your guests that you "know someone in importing." Need an icebreaker for that first date? Tour the market and chat about the sights, smells and the premium dried cuttlefish.