MEGABODEGA – 4th Street Food Center

Infiniti sold separately

We’re well past the time for another exciting chapter of American Troyalty’s MEGABODEGA (sorry about that). MEGABODEGA is American Troyalty’s mission to exhaustively catalog and review each of Troy’s bodegas, urban marketplaces, mini-marts, or cornerstores.  Ladies and gentlemen, I proudly present to you, for your 100% legal and entirely legitimate snacking, boozing, smoking pleasure :

4th Street Food Center – 106th 4th Street, Troy, NY (between Congress and State Street)  – (not to be confused with the Fourth Street Market which is on the corner of 4th and State)

Quick Facts:

Credit Cards: Yes – Visa, MasterCard & Discover

Produce: None

Prepared Foods: None

ATM Fee: $1.50

Beer: Yes

Milk Expiration Date: +7 days (whole milk only)

Price of a Redbull: $2.25

This joint’s pretty much your run of the mill urban bodega, with a heavy emphasis on all the vices associated with the modern urban consumer.

Booze: The beer selection was entirely macro brew, but not entirely domestic (They had Heineken and maybe a one or two other common imports). You should know without asking that there was also cornucopia of malt liquor tallboys and 40s. For those who prefer their drinks to come in shade of neon, the 4th Street Food Market thoughtfully stocks six exciting flavors of Four Loko. But since the nanny state has neutered everyone’s favorite caffeinated jungle juice, who drinks it? Rot in Hell Chuck Schumer.

Lotto: They”ve got a full slate of lotto tickets, including probably a dozen varieties of scratch off prominently displayed immediately upon entering. There’s a reason people come to the 4th Street Food Center, and it’s to GET RICH. But if you really feel like gambling, you should wait until they fire up the decrepit Carvel soft serve ice cream machine they have collecting dust in the corner, presumably waiting patiently for those dog days of summer.

Tobacco & “Tobacco” Accessories: This category was the real hot ticket item during my visit. I’m not sure why so many people needed to buy rolling papers without also needing to buy the loose tobacco thoughtfully stocked behind the counter, but its probably because they’re  buying their tobacco elsewhere, most likely from one of this city’s many fine high-end Tobacconists. Numerous glass pipes are also available, in a variety of colors and styles.

Apparrel: A surprisingly large portion of the store was devoted to the sale of flat brimmed hats, crisp white t-shirts, and sweat pants. I can’t say you’ll be the height of the fashion world, but if you crap your pants at LaPorto’s it’s probably your best bet.

Electronics(!): Not only does 4th Street Food Market carry a nice selection of prepaid cellular phones, they will save you a trip to Best Buy! They’ve actually got SEVERAL bluetooth earpieces hung up behind the counter. I didn’t have the chance to test drive them, but they appear to be high quality, name brand stuff.

Slushies:  For those who choose to remain loyal to their favorite bodega, Stewarts, or grocery store, this might be the only reason to step foot in the 4th Street Food Center. There are THREE Tropical Flavors of Slush spinning away. With summer coming, my sweet tooth might get the best of me.

Beyond these points of interests, its mostly about what you’d expect. Chips, snacks, sodas, some packaged ice cream treats in a freezer case,  cleaning supplies, paper products, canned food, etc.