Welcome to our new J-Mart website!
We are very excited to become a part of the local community and bring to you a taste of Asian cuisines and cultures!
Why did we open in Sparta?
After speaking with a lot of people in the Sparta/La Crosse/Tomah areas, we found that there were a lot of people who experienced the same problems that we did over the last 4 years. If we wanted to buy foods and ingredients from Japan, Korea, and other Asian countries, we had to drive several hours away, and we decided that this was no longer acceptable. We wanted to make sure that all of our friends and families (that’s right, all of you!) who were interested in new cuisines or old favorites had a more local outlet to find what they were craving, without having to set aside an entire day, pack a bunch of coolers in the trunk, and travel without even getting to sightsee because “we have frozen stuff, so we have to go back home right away.” (Yeah, we’ve totally been there, too!)
Seeing that there was so much interest in such a spread out area, we decided that Sparta would be a good central spot to launch! And already, we have had such wonderful friends visit us from, not only the local areas of La Crosse, Tomah, and Fort McCoy (and, of course, Sparta!), but Winona, Viroqua, and Mauston as well!
Thank you so much for the warm welcome that you all have given us, and we look forward to serving you and all of your interests in Asian cooking, culture, and goods for the foreseeable future!
What’s the plan for the website?
Here at this website, we are hoping to be able to post stories about my culture, and descriptions of different ingredients that may be new to you. You can’t cook with something if you have no idea what it is, right? But what good is an ingredient if you don’t have a recipe? That’s exactly what we thought, too! (Great minds think alike!) So we will have a recipe section as well to bring you some of the dishes that we grew up with during our stay in Japan (and from other areas, too, that are just too delicious to pass up)!
Keep an eye out for some new ideas, ingredients, styles, and dishes that you can try out!
What’s the plan for the future?
We had, on our Facebook page, asked if there was much interest in cooking classes, and received an overwhelmingly positive response. We are still working on setting up these classes and looking for a good location to set them up, so stay tuned. Also, I have been working with AJ’s Asian Cuisine on bringing a line of lunch bento (Japanese packed lunches) to help introduce everyone to the different styles of cooking in Japan, which may spread out to Korean and Chinese dishes as well.
But, of course, we are listening to what *you* want, too! If you have any suggestions, please, feel free to let us know and we will see if that is something that we can set up or order for you! If there is anything that we can help you with, let us know. Like I said, we are part of the community now, and we fully intend to be active in our role in making our little part of Wisconsin one of the best places to visit and stay for everyone!
Again, thank you for the warm welcome, and we look forward to serving you and all of your Asian food and cultural needs!