In The Hood: October

Community Comments

They Come For the Bread

Favorite Neighborhood Haunts
in the Sacramento Region

By Carol Chamberlain

The section of Fair Oaks Boulevard. between El Camino and Marconi avenues in Carmichael is not cobble stoned, but that is the only old-world element missing from a shopping experience at Naroe’s Bakery & Deli. 
    Owned by Russian-speaking Armenians, Kevin Petroysyn and his brother Armen, the grocery store caters to Slavic immigrants looking for customary foods, good prices and a familiar face. Customers frequent the shop regularly, glancing at newsstand headlines in their native tongue before entering the store. Inside, international phone card advertisements taped to the walls and sausage hanging on laundry lines creates an instant Euro
The section of ambiance. Symmetrical displays of sweets and pastries and a variety of fish, meats, cheese and fresh produce are enticing and buyer friendly. Jars of pickled everything imaginable imported from all over Europe are at customers’ fingertips. Nevertheless, they have come for the bread. 
    Baked frequently throughout the day, the savory breads come in a wide variety of shapes and tastes and blow out the door as fast as the Petroysyns can bake it. “We love our bread,” says Florin Ciuriuc, director of the Slavic Community Center, an organization that meets the legal, cultural and business needs of its community. He says the latest census information shows that the Russian community in the Sacramento Region numbers 100,000, a number that does not include the 20,000 or so children who have been born in the Sacramento region since their parents’ immigration. “That’s a lot of Russians,” says Ciuriuc.
Continued...

• Share
  • Digg This
  • del.icio.us
  • Newsvine
  • Facebook
  • Reddit
  • Furl It
  • !Y My Web
  • Google
• Email
• Print

Recommend This

Community Comments