La Estrella Food and Fish Market

This is NOT a restaurant, but a grocer’s and bakery… in fact, so far, LEF&FM has the best Panadería I’ve seen in North Alabama! Our eyes popped, mouths fell agape, and rumors of fainting abounded. The overall shopper’s experience here is the best in Decatur.
Among the Pan Dulces (Conchas, Ojo de Buyes, and such), we espied something similar enough to Chocolate-​covered Doughnuts to make us kill for it. But we had a bag of goodies we’d already purchased and somehow staved ourselves off.
Formerly at 6^th Avenue, LEF&FM is a must visit. Oddly, four of the other Supermercados are within walking distance and thus in direct competition, a move seemingly both unwarranted and unwise, unless a concentrated Hispanic population in the immediate area ensures their collective viability. I can’t say.
The first items you’ll notice as you walk in are the greens and such in the well-​stocked and eye-​catching produce area, and the atmosphere was well ratcheted up in our estimation due to the fact that the employees were all friendly.
LEF&FM had a wonderful dairy department, stocked with Queso this, Quesillo that, Quesadillo these, and Crema those. Some cheeses had Jalapeño, others, Loroco, which is evidently a flower bud of Central American origin. The popular Cotija Molido, which is merely grated Cotija, was also evident. It’s one of the crumbly cheese you’ll see in Mexican food… in fact, I believe it’s one of the ones of which you might say, «Why doesn’t it melt?»
In addition to the bakery and dairy areas, the display of «soda pops» (to import a term) and such was better than average. Yes, they have Jarritos, but also have Foco, Boing!, Tiky, and several others, some of which are actually Asian in origin, rather than Mexican or South American.
We are already talking about returning here… and that’s a thirty-​plus-​minute trip. And we won’t come back empty handed. Possibly in a sugary haze, but not empty handed.