I’m not sure how to start an appreciation for 99 Ranch Market, so I’ll begin with an old receipt that my mom found going through my grandmother’s stuff after she died in October. The receipt is from six years ago, from the 99 Ranch in Van Nuys.
All 99 Ranch stores are fun to explore. A good place to start is the bakery section, with shelf after shelf of loaves of sliced bread that’s specifically for toast, not sandwiches. The loaves come in different flavors — red bean, taro, walnut raisin — and are so tall, shaped like high, arched doorways, that they’re minor miracles of science. And they’re soft — unreasonably, almost disquietingly soft.
Sometimes she’d call me when she wanted to buy groceries. Other times, I might get an email with an all-caps subject line: “NEED A RIDE” or just the alarming, one-word “HELP.” Seeing an opportunity to cater to the tastes of Asian immigrants in the area, Chen opened a supermarket in Westminster in 1983 and another the following year. The stores were successful, and the chain slowly grew to what it is today — 55 locations in 10 states. It seemed a lot of people wanted to be reminded of home.
shows that in California, 30% of searches are for “Ranch 99” versus 70% for “99 Ranch.” And in Washington state, there are actuallyDo you see 99 Ranch ... or “Ranch 99?” Last week, I went to 99 Ranch with my mom in Milpitas — “the good one,” according to her. It’s a huge store, far bigger than the one in Van Nuys, but with a familiar layout. Hot food items on the far right side; tanks with live bass and spot prawns in the back; Chinese herbs and liquor locked behind glass sliding doors near the lottery ticket machine in the front.
We’d say “poo poo” for maternal grandmother, “gew” (hard G) for nine. Toishanese vs that HK Cantonese? Cool story, bro 🤣
You should write your grandson version of Crying in HMart, but as a 99 Ranch cookbook-memoir instead.