1. Shalom Kosher, University Boulevard, Wheaton, MD
Shalom is glatt Kosher...that means hyper Kosher, so Kosher my brother would eat anything that came from there. I used to schlep over to Katz's in Rockville, MD before discovering Shalom...it's closer, more Kosher, and feels more authentic. It's kind of a dirty place, and it's very crowded with foodstuffs and has narrow aisles (I think any good ethnic grocery should have narrow aisles). Some of the things I have purchased there: Sabra Salads hummus (the best damn hummus outside Israel), half sour pickles from the bio barrel near the deli, Elite raspberry filled chocolate bars, Mon Cuisine frozen ziti with cheese. They also have an excellent pareve bakery, where I purchase onion rye (toasted and spread with hummus, you enjoy the best of Ashkenazi and Sephardic cuisine in one blissful snack), mun hamentaschen, and linzer tortes with the powdered sugar on the top. Yum yum.
2. Snider's Grocery, Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring
Abi told me about Snider's. It's nice because it's a small, family-owned grocery store, the kind I remember from my early childhood. They don't carry much that's unusual, but they DO have a deli that kicks utter and complete ass. I'd go there just to buy the cole slaw: fresh carrots and green and purple cabbage, in a light mayonnaise sauce spiked with celery seed. Toss that stuff on a veggie hot dog or a BBQ tofu sandwich and go directly to heaven.
3. Dean and Deluca, M Street, Georgetown
OK, so it's yuppified to the nth degree. OK, so it's overpriced. OK, so it's so into its own image you wish it was a person so you could slap it around a few times. OK, it's in GEORGETOWN. But it's still a damn fine place to buy food. I once referred to it as a "grocery" before an employee, and he about took my head off. "We are a food shop, not a GROCERY. (insert haughty fake Brit accent here)" Go here for edible flowers, forty-three kinds of excellent olive oil, smoked imported mozarella di bufalo, fruit flavored housemade pasta shaped like animal crackers, French fleur de lis caramels, and any other expensive foodstuff you can imagine.
4. Pena Spanish Store, 17th Street, Dupont Circle
I went to a party at Irene's once, and she had purchased these small whitish triangles that I tasted and instantly found addicting. She called them Crema de Leche (this was before the dulce de leche fad). They were like caramel fudge, intense and creamy and sweet and hard enough to have to bite into. She told me she got them at Pena. Thus began a love affair with the only Latin grocery in the Dupont area. Narrow, dingy aisles crammed with the best random yummies you ever saw. Need chipoltes, anaheims, poblanos? Check the startling array of dried and jarred chiles. Get a block of quince paste to serve with your cheese platter. Check out the selection of tomatillos. And don't forget to buy some of that crema de leche from the jar near the register.
5. Trader Joe's, various locations
I would never throw a party without hitting TJ's. The best damn deals on the best damn party food a twentysomrthing would possibly want to serve. Their wasabi peas, whole cashews, mini chocolate chip cookies, blue corn tortilla chips, cracker assortments, and jarred refrigerated pickles are awesome quality, amazingly inexpensive, and responsible for various snack addictions among friends. They also have unfailingly high quality frozen food. Try the vegan pad thai, the supersweet corn, the vegetarian potstickers, or the really big slab o' spanakopita (for under $3!) next time there's freezer space.
6. TPSS Co-op, Ethan Allen Avenue, Takoma Park
We belong to this co-op, and it's where I do most of our food shopping. It's wonderful. They don't have the selection of Fresh Fields, but they compete on prices if you shop wisely and they actually have people working there who know something about what they sell. The cheese case is well-stocked and surprisingly inexpensive...big hunks of emmenthaler and rich fat slices of chevre for $3 or so. They carry Spring Mill breads...the honey whole wheat is a delight, sweet and rich and dense without being at all bricklike. They carry a neato assortment of olives and prepared dishes in the deli, none of which have ever disappointed me. There's a whole case of Ben and Jerry's ice creams. Their produce is fresh, organic, and seasonal whenever possible...I've purchased pineapples to die for there. Best of all, they actually take my suggestions: I am responsible for the presence of vegetarian chorizo and unRibs. As if all that wasn't good enough, there's a cart in the parking lot where you can get a falafel or tofu-gyro sammich made while you shop. What a great place to be buying groceries on a regular basis!