Crossroads Specialty Foods

The 2021 Trader Joes brandy bean shortage has continued and still haunts us today. I join others online in angry rants - we feel hopeless they will ever return and all of us go into crisis mode scrambling to find them while we start to finger point and assign blame. Is president Biden responsible for lack of brandy beans at Trader Joes? I'm not sure but if your more into economics than I am please let me know to whom I shall shake my fist at. I could dwell in my own pity without brandy beans or could just do something about it. I drove myself here to Palo Alto - come rain, sleet or snow I'm going to get my brandy beans. Brandy beans they had - The shooters in various liquor flavors and the "weinbrandbohnen" in both small and large boxes. While I was there I grabbed some tea and bread and some chocolate squared. If you live around here and haven't checked out the place - what are you waiting for?

Wonderful family owned gourmet foods and fresh produce. Croatian, Georgian, German, Halal &Kosher meats - European style butters and cheeses - pantry products, wines, etc. Excellent personal service in a tidy space located on San Antonio Rd just after Middlefield (driving towards 101 entr

Pretty great selection of Eastern European sweets, frozen and dry goods, desserts and produce. The store is close to where the old Milk Pail market is, but with more space. The items are super tidy and the produce seems fresh, very perfect looking tomatoes. Big selection of frozen pelmeni and vareniki including a case of self serve, sausages and other preserved meats/ fish, and pickles and jams. Also a lot of bagged spices for cheap and Turkish delight by the register. Overall glad to have this here on the peninsula without having to head into the Richmond for Eastern European goodies, even if the prices were a bit on the higher side.

What an awesome selection of Ukrainian beers!Also, don't miss the Ukrainian sunflower halva (Zolotoi Vek).

I love this store and I drive quite a bit to get there but I do not mind the distance especially when I have time to wonder around. I can get lost in it looking for my next thing to try. Such as chicory, european panckakes, spanakopita, russian or canadian sour cream, cherry blintzkys, many varieties of chocolates and other groceries. Currently, I ran out of their 3 in one or 2 in one coffee variety and I am missing their endless variety of deserts and fresh fruits and veggies.

Crossroads Specialty Foods Palo Alto CA Fri 8/4/23©Excellent selection of products here. Turkish, Israeli, Polish, Russian, Greek, from all around the world. Cottage cheeses, feta, hummus, original and flavored Kefirs and other dairy. Polish sausages, smoked sausages and meats, pickles and pickled cabbage (sauerkraut), mushrooms, Russian rye, pirozjki and pelmeni, Armenian treats, wines and spirits... Plenty of Eastern European choices. Fresh produce, too! Artisanal breads, delicious jams and preserves. It's all great, very reasonably priced, and the Crossroads indeed. In my review 8 years ago I noted one thing regrettable was that the former owner, Hani, who used to be there all the time when they first opened, didn't frequent the store as often, thus at some point in the past customer service took a quick dive. The store has changed ownership couple of years ago, and new owner Murat is keeping the inventory plentiful and selections meaningful, he brought it up a notch or two, that's for sure! They're working on layout improvements, new freezer equipment & about to open up a deli section. Roomy interior offers plenty of space for expanding the offerings! Thank you Murat for continuous efforts to make the Crossroads yet better every year! *I did my best, it wasn't muchI couldn't feel, so I tried to touchI've told the truth, I didn't come to fool youAnd even though it all went wrongI'll stand before the Lord of SongWith nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah![ Update Review count remains #771 on Aug 4, 2023 ]

This store has been a community trove for many years, but since it was purchased by the family of its current owners, it has become even better. Now you can buy Gravenstein apples from Sonoma county during their short season and while it is very hard to find them elsewhere. You can buy fresh red currants often, and Mexican onions, and fresh Italian prunes which are also hard to find elsewhere, and cleaned up radishes, and succulent fresh dill in LARGE bunches (and not a measly packaged amount as at Trader Joe's) and other fresh goodies. The entire family works at the store and family members are often at the cash register, greeting customers.I regularly get Lifeway's Greek kefir, Labne (very thick Middle Eastern yogurt wonderful in dips), Russian farmers' cheese, Finnish whole rye crackers, German whole rye bread, Russian sour cabbage (Russian sauerkraut made without vinegar), Norwegian herring, Turkish delight... it is a world tour.There is also an impressive frozen section. You can buy, frozen, tiny true Russian cranberries which are different from American cranberries. And this is also the only place I know where you can get frozen sea buckthorn berries. I have experimented with them and settled on making the following hot drink (my own recipe!): take a handful of frozen sea buckthorns, add boiling water, put a cinnamon stick and thrown in a few star anise pods. Brew for a while. It is delicious and to me taste it does not require any sweetening.Thank you to the family of owners, a Russian speaking family from Uzbekistan. I hope you are here to stay.

A family-owned business with the most kindhearted, hardworking, and hospitable owners and employees. The produce is always fresh and ripe. The melons the owner handpicked for me was pure honey. There are so many products from all over that walking through the isles is like traveling around the world. I can't wait when they open the deli to taste the delicious Uzbek plov and other Middle Asian delicacies.

Great store to adventure into foods you normally don't see at a Safeway. Multiple options of each food. For example, 4-6 kinds of tahini, 3-4 kinds of fresh feta cheeses (French, Israel, Bulgarian, etc.). Lots of fruits that you can not buy elsewhere. They sell capers including the largest (size of a grape) that you might have not seen. Staff is very nice as well and helpful.Plenty of parking.

The store has an impressive selection of Ukrainian products: deep-frozen Roshen Kyiv cake (yes, brought from Kyiv!), Roshen chocolate, wafers and sweets, including Mont Blanc. Everything fresh and delicious.Also, you can buy Veres pickled cucumbers and A Lot of other pickled veggies. Almost all the time there's Ukrainian buckwheat on the shelves. And if that's not enough, take a look at fresh fruit and vegetables section: the prices are great, and the quality is higher than in Whole Foods or even Draegers Store.Additionally, there are Latvian, Lithuanian, Estonian, Israeli, Italian, Georgian products. I can buy here almost any Eastern European product I crave. Thank you, the owners family, for doing such an amazing job and bringing all these delicious products to the area!