Don Quijote Market

When will you close?
Do I really have to report the fact that you sell lottery tickets for food stamps? Or that they deliver your milk on the back of a pickup truck, like in some village in Puerto Rico?
Please close. You serve no purpose whatsoever.

This market helped me out in a pinch. It was soon before the blizzard, and I needed the storm essentials of bread, milk, and eggs. Okay, to be honest I just needed bread. I wanted challah so I could make some bang-​up challah French toast to get me though the lonely snowed in days.
Don Quijote didn’t have challah, but they had the best Portuguese sweet rolls I’ve ever had, to the extent that I’m thinking of going cross town just to get some more.
Don Quijote is a solid, neighborhood corner store with good service, selection, and prices.

Yes, Don Quijote is convenient and a great example of food diversity in the South End, but it’s, frankly, a pretty awful grocery store. Dusty, crowded products with poor lighting and a downright creepy atmosphere at times. Everything is overpriced, which is good, because they have a $ 7 minimum purchase with cards (yes, despite this being against Visa’s policy for debit cards, if not credit cards) It’s a pretty typical owner-​run city convenience store. Recommended for emergency purchases only!

This «bodega» is more for when you need something quickly and you live around the area. It’s not that special, but they do carry spanish (or more like spanish caribbean) products that you probably need at an instant. It’s a hang out spot for a lot of older hispanics playing the lottery, so you’ll feel like you’re walking into someone’s home. They’re definitely charging you for the convenience, too.

It’s a good place to pick up basic ingredients for Latin food. They definitely have you covered for sazon, sofrito, beans, etc. The prices are a little bit more than what you would pay at Shaw’s or any other large chain grocery store with a Latin food section, but you’re really paying for the convenience here, I guess. The staff is friendly. I love that people will occasionally speak to me in Spanish even though I am a total gringa.

This store is good if you need something in a can or a bottle. Like beans, for instance. If it’s not in a can or a bottle, its provenance and cleanliness are doubtful. If I ever need a lottery ticket, I’ll be sure to buy it here though.

An excellent convenience store with all the expected convenience store attributes — lots of people hanging around with nothing to do, lottery tickets, etc. No, there’s no manchego cheese, but there are fresh bananas at a reasonable price.
I do believe there is a community atmosphere — over the years I’ve made friends with the staff, I’ve tried bizarre South American fruits that come through when they’re in season, and when their credit card machine was down (for months!) they gave me credit rather than send me home hungry. That alone gets them a «family atmosphere» rating in my book.
For manchego go to Las Ventas:
For a good convenience store you have Don Quijote.

Don Quijote is around the corner from me so if I need a jar of sofrito, a soda, or some flour, this is my spot.
I have to disagree with Eric on a few things — I love Don Quijote for its convenience and for staying in business despite the yuppification, but I’m not going to romanticize it. First of all, you can find most of these Goya products at Shaws. Also, there ARE tortillas here — they are in the refrigerated case. You just have to ask.
I wouldn’t call this a «Spanish food market.» I would call it a bodega/​convenience store. It’s bigger and has more stuff than most bodegas, but it’s not as cheap as other markets that carry a lot of the same and more products (e.g. Hi-​Lo, Market Basket). I have never seen anyone, Latino, white, or otherwise, doing a significant amount of grocery shopping here.
Also, it’s true that a lot of the clientele know the owners and bring their kids in, chat, etc. There are kids getting popsicles, and there isn’t a line so much as a cluster of people talking and taking their time. Fine. Friendly. Not your white bread American stand-​in-​an-​orderly-​line-​and-​make-​minimal-​conversation. But if you listen to the conversations (in Spanish or English), many of them revolve around lottery tickets and a numbers game that seems to be going on. Which is fine by me, but again, let’s not get all romantical about the «family atmosphere.»

So, in Boston, when you say «Spanish food,» or a «Spanish market,» do you mean to include all Spanish-​speaking countries?
I ask because I couldn’t find manchego cheese – a staple of Spain – at this market, although they did have an impressive assortment of Latin spices and other items.

One of the great things about the South End is it’s diversity. Don Quijote is a tribute to that. This Spanish food market has the little items that you can’t find in «American» supermarkets that are essential for creating Latin food. What’s great about this place is that when you walk in you can see that it’s not the usual grocery store where you buy your things and leave. Locals, especially Spanish speaking ones seem to hang around and chat about with the people that work there. It has a real family atmosphere to it.
You’ll find a good mix of Latin products along with everyday «American» food given the store’s size. My one gripe which is keeping me from adding another star is their lack of tortillas. As a staple of Latin food I would expect a wide variety of them.
For those not accustomed to cookie Latin food you can even find prem-​made Taco Bell kits. I’m not sure if that is something for the store to be proud of, but hey… it works.