Thanks to the caring proprietors at Nak's, I've discovered a superior brand of Thai fish sauce and other Oriental ingredients. Full disclosure: I usually don't make standard Asian preparations like sushi and the like with the things I buy here; I use these items for experimental fusion cooking, but good ingredients help any cooking style.

The small cold case includes hard-to-find ingredients that are great for various Asian preparations -- or for creative fusion cooking at home. Photo: Susan Hathaway

I've bought marvelous, fresh, Japanese-grown, highly prized matsutake mushrooms at Nak's that Ken sold me for an itty-bitty price. He'll bring in things he thinks his customers might like such as Korean ginseng root and ghost peppers (the hottest in the world, reportedly). Nothing seems too exotic, such as hoshigaki, which are difficult-to-find, hand-massaged, dried persimmons with an incomparable taste. When he was still alive, Steve Jobs used to come to Nak's to buy them in quantity.

Impossibly fragrant kaffir lime leaves, fresh tofu from a plant in San Jose, fresh galangal root (Thai ginger) -- these are just some of the special things available here. I've been talking to Ken about finding some fresh wasabi root and fresh yuzu, that uniquely aromatic Japanese citrus that is so hard to find outside four-star restaurant menus. I have no doubt he's looking for sources this very minute.

With only about 700 square feet of space in the store, the shelves at Nak's overflow with a variety of items. Photo: Susan Hathaway

A recent addition is seasonal tropical fruit like mangosteen, lychee, golden kiwi, dragonfruit and rambutan. After a request, Ken even carried durian -- that Southeast Asian fruit with a smell like a ripe compost pile -- before his neighbors started complaining.

Beyond the short, cluttered grocery aisles -- Nak's contains only about 700 square feet of space -- are irresistible take-out edibles like dim sum and pork buns that Ken gets in Chinatown in San Francisco. His assistant, Sergio, is making fantastic fresh sushi on alternating Saturdays, utilizing skills learned from years spent in a South Bay Japanese restaurant. Ken often happily hands out samples to anyone walking in.

A gorgeously cut, unique style of take-out sushi is available at Nak's that's hard to beat at twice the price in Japanese restaurants. Photo: Susan Hathaway

This may be called an "Oriental" market but Nak's probably has one of the largest selections of Dutch packaged foods in the region. Beginning years ago to support a customer request, the supply now takes up a couple of rows and Dutch residents of the Bay Area regularly stream through the store to buy the crackers, licorice, chocolates and sweets that make them homesick. One can find odds and ends of Indonesian, Chinese and other grocery items in this many-sided little market.

Nak's opened in 1968 and was named for its initial proprietor, Fred Nakamura. Twelve years later, recent Japanese immigrant Seikichi Kurose took it over from his brother-in-law, Nakamura, keeping the name unchanged. Eventually working with his wife, Ikie, in the store, Kurose lived nearby and practiced a humble but incredibly warm style of customer service that built loyalty that has lasted decades.

Nak's has become the go-to spot for Dutch residents seeking nostalgic treats from their homeland. Photo: Susan Hathaway

Kurose was known as "Sam" to his customers because, he once told me with a twinkle, the mispronunciation of his name by well-meaning Western patrons came out sounding like the word for male genitalia in Japanese. Or maybe he was pulling my leg.

Sam ran the store from 1980 on, dealing with high rent, a neglectful landlord (the scuffed old floors have never been replaced) and the usual economic vicissitudes that can be particularly acute for small businesses. He eventually remortgaged his house and took out additional loans a few years ago to keep it afloat. The stress, his age -- he's currently in his 70s --- and an undiagnosed malady caused him to collapse in mid-2013.

American-born son Ken had been working in high tech, then as a successful antiques dealer, but seeing the enormous community reaction to the possibility of closing the store -- with petitions and emails of support flying around -- made him feel that he was honor-bound to continue the operation of beloved Nak's, which has now been around for 46 years.

It's not the fancy looks, expansive size or modern interior that have turned Nak's customers into fanatical fans all these years. Photo: Susan Hathaway

"I give the service my parents always gave," he explains. Since he literally grew up in the store, Ken spent his life seeing how his mom and dad treated their customers, with politeness and extra care.

But it hasn't been an easy financial path given his costs and continued worry about his father's health. That hasn't kept him from focusing on customers, however. If just one customer requests an item, "I buy it," says Ken. "I know you don't make money that way but I do it. I saw my dad do it that way. If they really, really want it, I want to make them happy."

In an era of supermarkets and discount grocery stores with bored, inattentive staffs who seem to look forward more to the end of their shift than the needs of their customers, Nak's is a venerated anomaly. It would be distressing not to be able to buy the things I can find only at Nak's if this delightful, somewhat ramshackle little store were no longer around. But it's downright depressing to contemplate a time when such classic mom-and-pop neighborhood treasures might become extinct.

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Nak’s Oriental Market: This Mom-and-Pop Offers Personalized Service Along with Asian and Dutch Ingredients