Titan (pronounced TEE-TAN, I am told and not TIE-TAN) Foods is just a short drive away from the International Meat Market (see previous post) and it had a dizzying 
array of Greek groceries and pastries. The store had a good selection of olives, with several bowls of olives set up at an olive bar for customers to select what they like. In the refrigerated section they had several cans of the most spectacular anchovies on display. There were darker varieties and lighter ones as well… and highly salted to lower sodium content. My wife is an anchovy die-hard, so we got some of the anchovies to munch on back in the apartment and they were delicious. In addition to the impressive selection of anchovies was one of the widest selections of feta cheeses I have ever seen. There were at least a dozen different types of cheese and it was mind-boggling (or was it the jet lag?) and a pleasant jerk to the senses…
I have always liked good extra virgin Italian olive oil but a VERY VERY CLOSE 
number two on my list is a good fruity Greek olive oil. I find the Greek oils have tremendous flavor and in some cases, the most appetizing color. They are superb on fresh salads, with no cooking involved. So I was in oil nirvana facing this stack of Spitiko olive oil in the green cans. I purchased some to be packed away in a balikbayan box that will be on its way home to Manila soon. Be careful, they have faulty plastic caps that tend to leak, so wrap them well with plastic for shipment! There were several (dozens, in fact) of types of oil but this is one that was introduced to me several years ago and I have just gone back to it again and again.
The store also sells lots of dips that are terrific with pita sections or sliced bread. 
We purchased some eggplant, fish roe and other cheese based dips for pica-pica. We also spied an impressive array of incredibly tempting but characteristically super sweet greek desserts such as baklava that just screamed pastry, pistachios and honey or sugar! Titan also had several rows of canned, bottled and packaged Greek groceries which were just too varied and plentiful to remember. The store wasn’t thrilled with me taking photos so the ones I got aren’t of the finest quality. Nevertheless, this was a terrific store to stock up on your Greek staples. Titan Foods is located at 25-56 31st Street, Astoria Queens, telephone 718-626-7771.
19 Responses
HiMM am now here in Athens just arrived a while ago and jus managed to sit down, made a list what to shop tomorrow.
Weekend is farmers market in my area,am off to cheese shop tp buy my feta.
Bakalava??? am off to my pastry shop tomorrow to get some.
Great to be back in Greece, Oslo food scene is fantastic but costly. They dont have markets and the meat are frozen.
By the way we had 6 hrs lay over in Zurich today, as soon we got out went straight to the train station with my shopping bag. Took a train to St Gallen and went to our favourite butcher. Today there were small artisans producers selling smoked air dried meat.Got some terribly smelly Swiss cheese, had lunch at my husbands favourite cafe, went to the kondetorei where he used to meet up with mother for coffee and did more shopping. Few hours later with 2 extra hand carry we arrived here in Athens.
Hope you are having a great time with all your gourmet explorations.
Hi Schatzli, glad to hear you are back home in Greece, if only for a visit. Figured you would have a comment on my foray into the Greek section of Queens. My nephew is in Greece now on his honeymoon. I came to NY for his wedding! Will put another week of NY posts then it’s back to the Manila food scene! Regards.
One of the things I really miss from Greece (aside from baklava) is Greek yogurt. I used to have it for breakfast with fresh peaches or honey and nuts. I can’t find any good substitutes here in Manila :-( If you know of any kindly point me in the right direction…
am a very ignorant person with regards to travels and vacations but ‘coz of your shared experiences and great pictures, i find your site very interesting and educational. hope to visit your site everyday. i’ve just connected to the internet.
Hi. Am curious – so how much do anchovies sell in New York? I’ve always been an anchovy die-hard and for me, no anchovy, no pizza.
‘Stumbled into your site via some blog link somewhere and well, I just keep coming back! … ‘always looking foward to see what your newest ‘ingredient’ is, hehe — sort of the same feeling one gets when that flamboyant dude Kaga Takeshi reveals the secret ingredient in that now-defunct show ‘Iron Chef’ … well, you don’t really get to do battle with some other dude here but it’s fun to see how you transform local ingredients back home into delectable creations.
So when are you doing a piece on a monitor-lizard dish? :))
eD
https://www.pbase.com/what_i_see
Speaking of virgin oil … I read somewhere that coconut virgin oil is sort of making a come back in PI. What’s your take on it? Is it as healthy as the virgin olive oil?
Joey, I haven’t found a source of the yoghurt you seek. If there are any readers out there, please comment. I did find a natural unflavored yoghurt from ScanAsia in the grocery which at least isn’t the sweet stuff. Bugsybee, I’m sorry. I was so jetlagged I didn’t take note of the price of the anchovies! We were flash buying through Queens and between my wife, sister and I we can’t recall the price per pound. I tried to look it up on titanfood.com but they don’t sell the anchovies online. I must say they tasted really good. The lightly salted version was superb. It went great on pizza, eaten on toast, etc. Edrid, thanks for visiting the site and glad you enjoy it, welcome to the net. eD, I have seen several purveyors of extra virgin coconut oil, a clear substance that I have not yet explored. Will do that sometime in the future and put a post. Thanks all for your comments and visits!
Anchovy prices range between $18. to $ 23. a lb.
Sounds pricey but a quarter lb. of anchovies is about 20-24 pieces, enough for 40 servings of Caesar salad dressing or 4 large pizzas! Anchovies were sold at Titan dry packed whole in salt or filleted in olive oil.
Coconut oil was a primary ingredient in making very crisp commercial crackers and cookies for generations. Concern abbout cholesterol levels led to using other vegetable oils and contributed to the downward slide of the coconut oit industry.
Processed coconut oil, or copra, is what is used in industrial products and still available for cooking in any market. However, the “reintroduction” of virgin coconut oil is a growth area these days. VCO is either uncooked (pressed from the milk/gata, oil skimmed from the seperation) or lightly cooked (not like copra which used higher boiling points to seperate the oil). New books are out on the health uses of VCO, linking improved immune responses and a whole slew of cures (anti-cancer, anti diabetes, etc). Use it if you like the flavor or mix with other oils like canola if you want the “health benefits” without tasting the coconut essence.
I love Titan, especially when the staff all sit around smoking cheap cigarettes and flipping through seedy Greek magazines. The oils are great, especially the one (mis)-labeled as ‘strange,’ ‘smart,’ and ‘special.’ Whatever could that mean? And the feta, PLEASE, when you ask for a pound, the guy behind the counter reaches over and punches you!!!!
Irene Says: The Greek olive oils are really number 1. Whatever is left over after the FIRST COLD pressing in Greece is then shipped to Italian oil companies and they repress the residue with their oils. Their PR companies do a better job of promoting their oils. If SPITIKO oil is not marked FIRST COLD Pressed, then you are getting an oil of lesser quality than you think. There are some very good Italian oils that are also First Cold Pressed.
no comment I need to know if you have and e mail so I can request that you mail me some products
mindy740@aol.com
Peter, I don’t sell anything, I just write about food…
Hi I love coming to Titan. Shopping all the Greek pastries and cheeses. Only problem is that the cashiers not all but most have attitudes they don’t even say thank you I mean thats rude. I will still come to your store but this has to change. Like one time when I came to your store some young cashier started talking back to me you don’t do that to customers.
liz, I am not connected with Titan, just write about food, you have hit a food blog in Manila, Philippines… you should direct your service complaints to Titan owners… and read what you have brought up on your computer a bit more carefully before you file a complaint…
Those cashiers are rude because they are Greek. It goes hand in hand. (theyre my people so i can tell you this)
I would like ti buy snails. Do they have them at Titan? Or is there another store in Astoria that has them?
Paula