Gourmet Bazaar

Gourmet Bazaar is a fantastic low-​priced high-​quality Middle Eastern food market tucked away a few stops north of DC on the red line. I stumbled upon it by accident, but have returned several times to stock up on hard-​to-​find products. Some of the highlights of my purchases are:
1. Saffron & Rose pistachio ice cream. This is Persian ice cream at its creamy best, and if you haven’t tried this type of ice cream before, give the Breyers a rest and see what heavenly flavors a mix of saffron, rosewater and pistachios creates.
2. Freshly baked pitas and wraps. They are as close to authentic Middle Eastern breads as you can get on the East Coast. I buy them to freeze immediately so that I always have a good supply for hummus and dips.
3. Middle Eastern pantry essentials. I make my own hummus and need good tahini to get it right, and Gourmet Bazaar delivers — they have many varieties of tahini. They sell a great assortment of dried beans (such as chickpeas), spices (ground or whole), hot sauces (canned harissa from Lebanon!) and other goodies.
4. Pastries and desserts. I was overwhelmed by the large assortment of halva on sale, and will certainly have to return for several trips before I make a dent in the options. They also have freshly baked baklava, spice cookies and other pastries.
5. Vegetables and fruits. They carry Persian cucumbers, which are smaller than the huge English cucumbers you get at most grocery stroes — awesome! These cukes are the best for a delicious parsley, tomato and cucumber salad. They have eggplants, tomatoes, onions, grapes, bananas, oranges and a huge fridge stocked full of fresh herbs: Parsley, cilantro, mint, etc.
If you live in the area or if you have a hankering for delicious and reasonably-​priced Middle Eastern goodies, Gourmet Bazaar is worth a visit! You’ll be back for more.

There are a lot of ethnic markets in the DMV, but this is the first one I’ve found that specializes in Persian delicacies. I stumbled upon it while waiting for a group headed to dinner at A & J in the same strangely configured shopping center across from the BMW dealer. It is in the lower level, under the furniture store, and not easily visible from the Pike.
Good selection of fresh looking and moderately priced produce, lots of ethnic canned goods (several brands of baba ganoush), large spice section, many varieties of rice, beans and legumes. Some temping looking pastries. Small Halal meat counter in the back.
We finished dinner too late for me to go back and pick up a few things but I have bookmarked it as a good source for exotic flavors when I feel like some adventurous cooking,

BP and I walked in just to check this place out while waiting on our food at Sadaf’s. We were both impressed by how well organized the market was and the variety of products sold.
The market carries fruit like plums and oranges, but also traditional Middle Eastern snacks and foods and drink.
My two favorite purchases were the whole wheat Maamoul (date) filled cookies and Hosbes’ Kakao Kremali Grofret (coffee chocolate wafers).
–1 star by the lack of excitement or customer service by the owner. We walked around the EMPTY store for 15 minutes and still were never greeted, not even when we were making the purchases.