The menu at Mekong Rainier.One of the first Counter Intel posts I wrote focused on Vientian Asian Grocery, a store I love for its selection of Lao and Thai ingredients, and also for its sweet employees and their chatter with my husband in his native tongue. So when I found out that another much-loved market in town is selling the flavors of Southeast Asia specifically–not simply offering a few cans of coconut milk and padaek (a common Lao condiment of fermented fish) on one aisle of a larger, generically Asian supermarket–I knew I had to go.Mekong Rainier at 3400 Rainier Ave. S. is somewhere between the size of a place like Viet Wah and the little mom-and-pop shops like Vientian that I love so much. Like most small markets, it’s fairly haphazard in design and layout, though the gently stooped older women who monopolize the narrow aisles seem to know exactly where everything is. Since I have a knack for showing up at exactly the wrong time, and we all know there’s no way of finding out hours for these sorts of places online, I stop by at 6:15 p.m. thinking that I’ve made it just in time for dinner at the market’s tiny cafe; in reality, the kitchen closes at 6 p.m. despite the 7 p.m. closing time for the rest of the store. There are exactly three very tired-looking fried chicken wings under a broiler that appears to have been turned off hours before. Nothing more.Do not make my same mistake–go early in the day to assure you get to try the tasty treats from the limited menu (fried tilapia, fried fish, fried shrimp–are you sensing a theme yet?). Also check the trays near the cash registers for ready-to-eat items like long strips of savory doughnuts, pork buns, and an assortment of gelatinous desserts made by local bakery Minh Tam, who apparently supply all the Asian markets in town with sweet snacks. Should you want those little cream puffs they hand out post-pho at Than Bros., you can find those as well. If you’re there to shop, as I was, then you’re in luck, even when there’s nothing to nibble immediately. The produce section offers bins of the standard potatoes and apples, but mainly focuses on the things you can’t find at your local Safeway: huge unripe papaya, bags of bean sprouts, tender long beans, stubby okra, and colossal bags of fresh herbs like Thai basil and mint leaves. There are a few aisles of frozen goods, but again this is unapologetically Southeast Asian, with packages of a green called pak wan, large pandan leaves, and bags of grasshoppers and mealworms. The meat section is largely made up of offal. I wander through the recently expanded seafood section and marvel at the glossy fish eyes peeking out from packages of tilapia, smelt, catfish, and something inexplicably named “Permit Fish 161.” The selection here, overall, is slightly better than Vientian’s, and in addition to Lao and Thai ingredients, they carry Cambodian, Vietnamese, and some Malaysian goods as well. While I can’t unfortunately attest to the deliciousness of Mekong Rainier’s prepared food, I can vouch for the staff being pleasant, the assortment being comprehensive, and the location being conveniently within a short drive of some of the best Asian restaurants in town, in case you miss dinner at the market.Follow Voracious on Twitter and Facebook.