Asia’s Best brings a pan-Asian hub to Fortuna | On the Table

At about 8,000 square feet, the newly opened Asia’s Best grocery store in Fortuna (727 S. Fortuna Blvd.) can seem a bit overwhelming in a neighborhood accustomed to small, narrow-aisle Asian grocery stores, let alone a town that used to have no Asian grocery stores at all.

To the left, pallets of drinks are stacked and shelved, from canned sweetened coffee to bottles of nata de coco cubes floating in pastel-colored fruit juices. The back wall is lined with freezers, three doors of which are crammed with meat buns and dumplings, while another pair contains half a dozen varieties of lumpia and, beside them, packs of Filipino, Laotian, Hmong and Chinese sausages. The freestanding freezers hold tiny young pigeons, black chickens, bouillon bones and offal, and whole, salted and filleted fish. There are refrigerated shelves full of dragon fruit, fresh lemongrass stalks, coconuts already pierced with straws, and containers of taro and fist-sized bananas. And in between are aisles of snacks, dry rice noodles, condiments and a dizzying corridor of instant noodles.

Feda Ignacio smiles and waves her hand toward the space, admitting, “All my family and friends know that I was hesitant to open a big store at first, but my husband loves the challenge.” After finding success with Eureka Asia’s Best despite the small space and hidden location (2085 Myrtle Ave.) behind Sacred Heart Catholic Church, she and her husband, June Ignacio, wanted to expand. While Fortuna seemed an unlikely choice, the Ignacios found a welcoming and culinary cultural exchange with new and already familiar customers.

“I was born with it because of my parents,” June says in his buttoned-up Asia’s Best vest. In Pampanga, the midsize city on the Philippine island of Luzon where the couple attended high school together, June’s parents ran a grocery store and an attached meat processing and wholesale business. June and Feda also owned a grocery store in Las Vegas, importing and distributing food to other stores and casino kitchens.

After coming to the North Coast and with an MBA from Humboldt State University under their belts, June and Feda opened the small shop in Eureka to test the waters. He says he was cautious about focusing on Filipino food because the Filipino community he found here was so small. Instead, they expanded their selection to include foods and ingredients from across Asia. “When I opened in Eureka, I was nervous at first,” he says, because of the small Asian population. “But we have a lot of customers who aren’t Asian,” especially those who had served overseas in the military in countries like the Philippines and Japan and developed a taste for Asian foods that aren’t available everywhere.

“We try to have a little bit of everything for Asian cuisine,” says Feda, who adds that most of the frozen ready meals, like the small section with Malaysian paratha and Indian dishes, are made to customer request. At the Eureka store, which Ignacios says will remain open, they have more customers from Laos, Hmong and Micronesia, the latter of whom come for white and red betel nuts and leaves to chew. Not so much in Fortuna, where demand is higher for Korean products and sushi-grade fish cuts, as well as the tomahawk steaks in the freezer section. The Filipino avocado ice cream, which initially surprised some Mexican customers, has since grown on them and become a favorite.

The Ignacios say their own tastes are simple. Besides snacks that range from crispy fried chiles to novelty potato sticks with a nice dash of lime pop rocks, their favorite food is rice crackers wrapped in nori. “That’s why we fit so well together,” Feda says with a mischievous laugh. But they also swap recipes with customers, sometimes trying things from their own stash for the first time or in a new way, like the spiced vinegar some white customers have used to make salad dressings, or the fried turkey tail recipe they got from a Micronesian customer.

“You can also do this in an air fryer,” says June.

Feda, an accomplished cook and former caterer, wrinkles her nose. “Fried is better.”

As he walks between the stacks of drinks, June explains plans for a fish counter in the back corner and a kitchen for takeout food. That will take some time, but he says the plans are in the works. Asia’s Best has also been a supplier to restaurants and food trucks, and June hopes to do more of that in the Eel River Valley. In the meantime, Feda has a meeting today to finalize the process of making the store EBT-ready.

A regular customer, originally from Eureka and now living closer to home in Fortuna, comes in with a bag of tomatoes for the couple. He and June bump elbows and June says, “Thanks, brother.”

At the new location, June says, there is no feeling of starting from scratch, as the couple meets regulars they didn’t even know were driving to Eureka from the Eel River Valley and southern Humboldt.

June grins at Feda as he remembers the freshly caught fish and other gifts brought by customers who have become friends. “We’re here because of them.”

Jennifer Fumiko Cahill (she/her) is the Journal’s arts and features editor. Reach her at (707) 442-1400, ext. 320, or (email protected). Follow her on Instagram @JFumikoCahill.