Lee Asian Market
Pelican Place 1056 Pine Ridge Road, Naples, Fl
Reposted (with some edits) from another much angrier social media site on January 9, 2022
*Whoever can tell what the title of this article is referencing will have a delicious taco purchased for them.
This is a post about a fantastic local market. It's not a restaurant but it's worthy of great praise. Not sure if any of you have been to Lee Asian Market on Pine Ridge near 41, but it's a gold mine and an absolute blast to stroll through.
One of the things sorely missing in Naples is a terrific dim sum place. As a remedy, Lee has about as large a frozen and refrigerated selection as you'll find in a great dim sum spot in NY, LA or San Fran. (Fun Fact: Dim Sum is supposed to be breakfast...very delicious breakfast).
They also have really great asian sauces, oils, a killer sake section, weird Japanese beverages (Japan seems to have a fetish for weird bevos), a vast array of Asian utensils and a small Asian produce section. My daughter is obsessed with two things here. First, this weird Japanese soda that I have no idea what it's called but requires you to puncture a hole in the top and push down a marble to carbonate. Sort of like pachinko meets Jarritos.
The second thing she loves is the crazy array of American snacks altered for the Japanese market. They have Lay's in all sorts of unique flavors like shrimp, bolognese, seaweed and some others that probably won't be huge hits in Des Moines (is there a large Asian or wacky potato chip loving community in Iowa?).
For those of you who are patriotic in your purchasing, a lot of the products are made in the US by Asian-American companies; who doesn't love a good immigrant success story? The aisles are well stocked and organized and the staff couldn't be nicer (see the smiling people below!)
For all you intellectual gaming types, they also have chess Sunday afternoons.
When you go there, tell them Daryl and/or Smaller Bites sent you. They will have no idea who I am and will probably look at you completely confused, but at least you'll drive away with a cart full of tasty Far Eastern deliciousness
😋