Asian supermarket iFresh opens in Carle Place

The Chinese food on Long Island keeps getting better and better — and not just at the restaurants. iFresh, a sparkling, new Chinese-owned supermarket, opened last month in Carle Place, where it took over what used to be Golfsmith.

Almost a quarter of the 23,000-square-foot store is given over to produce, and there’s hardly an Asian fruit or vegetable you won’t find: bok choy, Shanghai bok choy, choy sum, Chinese mustard greens, fresh bamboo shoots, flowering chives, burdock root, lotus root, durian, dragon fruit, pitaya — not to mention parsley, grapes and onions.

The fish department stocks more than a dozen whole fish, plus jellyfish, conch, razor clams, geoduck clams, live turtles and frogs.

Between the fresh and frozen meat counters, you’ll find virtually every part of the pig and the steer — ribs, loins, stomachs, intestines, feet, tripe, ears, snouts, tails.

Packaged goods include grocery items from all over Asia: rice, noodles, condiments, tea, snacks, soft drinks, preserves and housewares.

The store has a bakery and, in the coming months, plans to open a hot-food station that will include Chinese roast meats such as soy-sauce chicken and char siu pork.

iFresh is the latest location opened by iFresh, Inc., a chain that operates five New York Marts in New York City, and six other stores in Florida, Massachusetts and Connecticut.

The first Asian supermarket on Long Island, Oriental Groceries in Stony Brook (est. 1993) was Chinese-owned, but during the next 25 years, Korean-American supermarkets came to the fore, with H & Y opening in Hicksville and Hmarts opening in Great Neck, New Hyde Park and, most grandly, in the 60,000-square-foot former Waldbaums in Jericho. A year later, in 2017, Chinese-owned Super FL Mart opened in a 45,000 square-foot location that used to be a King Kullen.

iFresh is at 192 Glen Cove Rd. (at Voice Road), Carle Place, 516-294-0937, ifreshmarket.com.