Once you’ve trekked down to Sheepshead Bay and stumbled through the fresh fruit and veggie market at 1414 Sheepshead Bay Road, you’ll discover at the back of the room what looks like your typical, automated doorway into a supermarket. But this is no ordinary grocery store.

“A baza is so much more than a market,” said Karina Ioffee, a journalism student of Russian decent. According to her mom, “It’s where you went for the stuff that just didn’t exist in other stores, like a depot.”

Her mom couldn’t be more on the money.

As I wandered through the aisles, admiring neatly stocked shelves of Eastern European products, I found myself suddenly starving…and wishing I could read a Slavic language. I deciphered most of the jam flavors with the help of the fruit illustrations on the labels, but the meat was another story.

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If you’re craving the supremely Spanish dish callos a la madrileña-a stew featuring garbanzos and tripe, head to J & R (NY) Supermarket at 1406 Avenue U in Sheepshead Bay for all your animal body part needs.  In this nation of animal body part phobias, J & R offers all those organs and appendages you can’t find anywhere else-and at bargain prices.

Though traditional callos recipes vary depending on who’s grandmother you ask, many depend on tripe, cow’s feet, cow’s snouts and ham bones for that oh-so-animalicious flavor that leaves you wanting more. At J & R you’ll have your pick of animals.  Many organs come in three sizes: pig, chicken and cow.  more…