When we first moved to Azusa near Covina we noticed that there was a Ralphs market on the west side of Citrus Avenue just south of Puente Street. It was one of the closest supermarkets to us and we went there many times. They had a good selection of stock such as beef stock or chicken stock. But we also noticed that whenever we went there, it was fairly devoid of other customers. There is a large Ralphs a few miles away in San Dimas. In spring 2008 we heard that the Citrus Avenue Ralphs was closing. They had a going-out-of-business sale lasting about a month. We got some spices at greatly reduced prices, though their expiration dates were earlier than usual, some within the year. After the Ralphs finally closed in May 2008, the building remained empty for a while. They replaced the Ralphs sign along Citrus Avenue with a blank sign.
In late summer or early fall 2009 we saw signs that said a King Ranch Market was moving into the space vacated by Ralphs. I hadn’t heard of King Ranch Market before though I had heard of other ranch markets such as 99 Ranch Market and others local ones named after the street or neighborhood. At one of my former workplaces my coworkers at the time and I used to get lunch from a local ranch market. They had good tacos made with corn tortillas and beef. This new King Ranch Market in Covina opened in mid-November 2009. I think they’re a small chain market. According to their website they have locations in Nevada. Their mascot is a colorful cartoon lion.
After King Ranch Market opened we starting thinking about when we could visit. It was hard to find time given our schedules, weekend chores, and tendency to always have something going on during the weekends and even during the week. Finally, on Saturday, November 28 we got an opportunity. We had done our food shopping for the week but when we started gathering together the ingredients to make dinner we realized we neglected to get bay leaves needed for the recipe. Since it was still a bit early for dinner we decided to try getting them at King Ranch Market. It didn’t take long to get there and when we did we noticed that they served many hot prepared foods in the part of the store that used to be the bakery in the old Ralphs. They also had baked goods in the aisle nearby including cookies and pan dulce. With all their prepared foods and tables for dining in we could come there for a meal sometime. While there we noticed their large selection of meats and sausages, the largest slabs of chicharron we had ever seen, their extensive aisles of both regular and ethnic food, and their produce section with apples for under $1 per pound. We found the bay leaves and several other things. They had six different kinds of apple soda including our favorite, Sidral Mundet. We purchased three including two-liter bottles of Sidral Mundet and Sidral Aga. The other three kinds we didn’t get were made with HFCS. We also got some Caprice shampoo (champu?).
We figured we could go to King Ranch Market for dinner during the week because they’re close by, they have an interesting selection of prepared foods, and they’re relatively inexpensive. We had originally planned to go on Thursday, December 10 but we heard it was going to rain so we went on Tuesday, December 8 instead. We left home before 7 pm and as we drove through downtown Covina we saw something interesting on the marquee for the Covina Center for the Performing Arts. Usually we see announcements for current and upcoming shows such as the recent announcement for a Christmas show and an Elvis-themed show in January. But this time it looked like they were having technical difficulties. All that appeared on the north side of the marquee was a MS Windows “New Folder” icon and, on the south side, an arrow pointing to a computer mouse. Well, now we know that the marquee is controlled by a Windows computer.
It always felt oddly familiar and unfamiliar to park at King Ranch Market. There were many other people there also ordering prepared foods, though they had carts and ordered their food to go. We examined everything they had: both in a display case with signs next to the actual menu items and a more organized menu above and behind the counter. There were so many things to choose from: carnitas, pork ribs, large pork bellies, beef tripe, traditional tamales wrapped in yellow corn husks, larger Central American tamales wrapped in green leaves, beef in red sauce, beef empanadas, pupusas, half chicken meals, fried plantains, chili rellenos, pozole by the bowl. I’m sure I’m missing some things. The menus also listed food made to order: many different types of tacos made with small corn tortillas; and tortas or sandwiches made with Mexican bolillo bread. The tortas could be made with crispy chicken (torta de pollo), pork, ham, breaded steak, head cheese, and avocado. There was also the torta Cubano that contained multiple fillings. After spending a long time thinking over all the choices we placed our orders at 7:15 pm. We paid at the register near the display case and our total was only around $12.
It took about 15 minutes for them to make our orders and it looked like the employees taking the orders were also the ones making them. They had to prepare at least one other order before ours. We waited at the high tables near the counter and when they were ready I think an employee just called out that two tortas were ready. They came on one tray and I grabbed some extra napkins from a box near the cash register. We then went to sit at the table of more traditional height that was a bit farther away from the counter than the high tables. I’m glad I got the napkins because our tortas were very messy. They had toasted the bolillo bread so it was crunchy on the outside. I had the crispy chicken torta though it was a bit of a misnomer since the chicken was grilled rather than fried to a crisp. But it was still very good and tasted like it was soaked in a tangy, spicy marinade. There was lots of mayo and guacamole in the torta. I had told them to hold the sour cream and they complied, though initially I thought the mayo was sour cream. It contained a slice of tomato and large chunks of spicy jalapeno pepper. There was spicy salsa that included chunks of carrot. It was a great combination of flavors, though it would sometimes fall apart. They had cut it in half and I liked it better than the torta from Super Tortas.
My wife had the torta Cubana that was made with a toasted bolillo and contained breaded steak, ham, pork, head cheese, avocado, cheese, and salsa with carrot. She enjoyed it very much and it didn’t seem as messy as mine. Maybe she was just more careful. The tortas amounted to a lot of food and we didn’t need any dessert or anything else. Except a sink; I wanted to wash my hands before we left but they didn’t seem to have a public restroom. Other than that, we were completely satisfied as we drove home.
I tried doing some food shopping at King Ranch Market on the following Saturday, December 12. I found everything I needed except the kielbasa sausage. The only kielbasa they had was Hillshire Farms brand that had MSG. Their other cooked sausages only came in boxes of 2.5 pounds, much more than we needed. I ended up just getting Farmer John brand Polish sausage at Fresh & Easy. King Ranch Market was very crowded that day and I noticed that their shopping carts were wider and longer than those at most other stores. It was raining hard outside. When I left I noticed people waiting outside the store with all their shopping bags. I thought they may have been waiting for the rain to subside but later my wife mentioned that King Ranch offers shuttle service and they may have been waiting for that. King Ranch had only been open for two months and we had already been there three times.
In late summer or early fall 2009 we saw signs that said a King Ranch Market was moving into the space vacated by Ralphs. I hadn’t heard of King Ranch Market before though I had heard of other ranch markets such as 99 Ranch Market and others local ones named after the street or neighborhood. At one of my former workplaces my coworkers at the time and I used to get lunch from a local ranch market. They had good tacos made with corn tortillas and beef. This new King Ranch Market in Covina opened in mid-November 2009. I think they’re a small chain market. According to their website they have locations in Nevada. Their mascot is a colorful cartoon lion.
After King Ranch Market opened we starting thinking about when we could visit. It was hard to find time given our schedules, weekend chores, and tendency to always have something going on during the weekends and even during the week. Finally, on Saturday, November 28 we got an opportunity. We had done our food shopping for the week but when we started gathering together the ingredients to make dinner we realized we neglected to get bay leaves needed for the recipe. Since it was still a bit early for dinner we decided to try getting them at King Ranch Market. It didn’t take long to get there and when we did we noticed that they served many hot prepared foods in the part of the store that used to be the bakery in the old Ralphs. They also had baked goods in the aisle nearby including cookies and pan dulce. With all their prepared foods and tables for dining in we could come there for a meal sometime. While there we noticed their large selection of meats and sausages, the largest slabs of chicharron we had ever seen, their extensive aisles of both regular and ethnic food, and their produce section with apples for under $1 per pound. We found the bay leaves and several other things. They had six different kinds of apple soda including our favorite, Sidral Mundet. We purchased three including two-liter bottles of Sidral Mundet and Sidral Aga. The other three kinds we didn’t get were made with HFCS. We also got some Caprice shampoo (champu?).
We figured we could go to King Ranch Market for dinner during the week because they’re close by, they have an interesting selection of prepared foods, and they’re relatively inexpensive. We had originally planned to go on Thursday, December 10 but we heard it was going to rain so we went on Tuesday, December 8 instead. We left home before 7 pm and as we drove through downtown Covina we saw something interesting on the marquee for the Covina Center for the Performing Arts. Usually we see announcements for current and upcoming shows such as the recent announcement for a Christmas show and an Elvis-themed show in January. But this time it looked like they were having technical difficulties. All that appeared on the north side of the marquee was a MS Windows “New Folder” icon and, on the south side, an arrow pointing to a computer mouse. Well, now we know that the marquee is controlled by a Windows computer.
It always felt oddly familiar and unfamiliar to park at King Ranch Market. There were many other people there also ordering prepared foods, though they had carts and ordered their food to go. We examined everything they had: both in a display case with signs next to the actual menu items and a more organized menu above and behind the counter. There were so many things to choose from: carnitas, pork ribs, large pork bellies, beef tripe, traditional tamales wrapped in yellow corn husks, larger Central American tamales wrapped in green leaves, beef in red sauce, beef empanadas, pupusas, half chicken meals, fried plantains, chili rellenos, pozole by the bowl. I’m sure I’m missing some things. The menus also listed food made to order: many different types of tacos made with small corn tortillas; and tortas or sandwiches made with Mexican bolillo bread. The tortas could be made with crispy chicken (torta de pollo), pork, ham, breaded steak, head cheese, and avocado. There was also the torta Cubano that contained multiple fillings. After spending a long time thinking over all the choices we placed our orders at 7:15 pm. We paid at the register near the display case and our total was only around $12.
It took about 15 minutes for them to make our orders and it looked like the employees taking the orders were also the ones making them. They had to prepare at least one other order before ours. We waited at the high tables near the counter and when they were ready I think an employee just called out that two tortas were ready. They came on one tray and I grabbed some extra napkins from a box near the cash register. We then went to sit at the table of more traditional height that was a bit farther away from the counter than the high tables. I’m glad I got the napkins because our tortas were very messy. They had toasted the bolillo bread so it was crunchy on the outside. I had the crispy chicken torta though it was a bit of a misnomer since the chicken was grilled rather than fried to a crisp. But it was still very good and tasted like it was soaked in a tangy, spicy marinade. There was lots of mayo and guacamole in the torta. I had told them to hold the sour cream and they complied, though initially I thought the mayo was sour cream. It contained a slice of tomato and large chunks of spicy jalapeno pepper. There was spicy salsa that included chunks of carrot. It was a great combination of flavors, though it would sometimes fall apart. They had cut it in half and I liked it better than the torta from Super Tortas.
My wife had the torta Cubana that was made with a toasted bolillo and contained breaded steak, ham, pork, head cheese, avocado, cheese, and salsa with carrot. She enjoyed it very much and it didn’t seem as messy as mine. Maybe she was just more careful. The tortas amounted to a lot of food and we didn’t need any dessert or anything else. Except a sink; I wanted to wash my hands before we left but they didn’t seem to have a public restroom. Other than that, we were completely satisfied as we drove home.
I tried doing some food shopping at King Ranch Market on the following Saturday, December 12. I found everything I needed except the kielbasa sausage. The only kielbasa they had was Hillshire Farms brand that had MSG. Their other cooked sausages only came in boxes of 2.5 pounds, much more than we needed. I ended up just getting Farmer John brand Polish sausage at Fresh & Easy. King Ranch Market was very crowded that day and I noticed that their shopping carts were wider and longer than those at most other stores. It was raining hard outside. When I left I noticed people waiting outside the store with all their shopping bags. I thought they may have been waiting for the rain to subside but later my wife mentioned that King Ranch offers shuttle service and they may have been waiting for that. King Ranch had only been open for two months and we had already been there three times.
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