The price gap between a Latin market in the Bronx and a Manhattan supermarket on the same products runs around 40%. On very specific items —panela, frozen soursop, masarepa— it is more than double.
These five are the ones we use.
1. Mercado Tres Fronteras — Fordham
The most complete on the list. Three aisles of Latin American products alone.
- Round panela, $2.80 each
- Yellow or white masarepa, $3.40 a kilo
- Frozen pulp of lulo, passionfruit, soursop and blackberry, $4.20 a bag
Open 7:00 to 21:00 daily. EBT accepted.
2. La Marqueta del Sur — Melrose
A covered market with twelve independent stalls. The appeal is that you can haggle a little, especially after six in the evening.
- Yuca, yam, ripe and green plantain, all by the pound and cheaper than any chain
- The back-right stall gets queso costeño and suero on Thursdays
3. Supermercado El Progreso — Hunts Point
It sits next to the wholesale market, and you can taste that in the fruit.
- The only one of the five where we regularly found granadilla and yellow dragon fruit
- Frozen white-corn arepas, ten-pack for $5.90
- The truck arrives Saturdays at 8:00: that is the hour to go
4. Bodega y Carnicería Los Paisas — Kingsbridge
Small, but a real butcher.
- Cuts for sudado and for bandeja, and chicharrón with the fat you have to beg for elsewhere
- Santarrosano sausage made on site, $7.50 a pound
- With two days’ notice they will get morcilla and chunchullo
5. Frutería La Guajira — Mott Haven
The smallest and the cheapest for fruit.
- Seasonal boxes of sugar mango, $12 for ten
- Large criollo avocado, $2.50
- Fresh juice to go, $4
Worth knowing
Cash. Three of the five add a card surcharge or take no cards at all.
Go early. The good tropical fruit is gone before noon, especially on weekends.
Compare panela. It is the product where prices vary most between stores: we saw the exact same brand between $2.40 and $5.10 in a single week.
For a full pantry run —panela, masarepa, beans, fruit pulp and arepas— the five averaged $38 against $61 at a Manhattan chain supermarket.
Getting there
All are under a ten-minute walk from a station: Fordham Rd (B, D, 4), Third Av–149 St (2, 5), Hunts Point Av (6), Kingsbridge Rd (B, D, 4) and 138 St–Grand Concourse (4, 5).
