We watch a lot of Food network and cooking/competition shows and are exposed to the trendy ingredients.
In the Seattle region you could find pretty much any world cuisine done well and we would try different things. There were also shops that sold ethnic groceries. In the shopping area near my old home, we had a Vietnamese based (large, it was in an old Safeway) grocery store (Viet Wah). Closer to hubby's work was Uwajimaya, mostly more Japanese, another large supermarket sized shop. If you ever have a couple hours near the Airport, I really recommend their hot bar for really excellent quick hot food, better, cheaper, and larger portions than the Panda place... We also had a Saar's in the neighborhood (until it closed) a lower cost supermarket chain that did cater to the lower end/ethnic budgets, including a lot of Hispanic as well as Halal foods and meat. Also a shout out to Pabla for Vegetarian Indian food, bakery, and shopping, they are rated Parve (ok for Kosher). We also had the DK world market, fresh vegetables from all over, including things from Africa and things like Banana Leaves. A lot of middle eastern stuff too, they tried to get the regions that otherwise didn't have options. Many little tiendas (some with Carneceria/butcher shop) and Halal shops. That was all within 5 miles of my house!
Going slightly further I had even more options, 99 Ranch is a HUGE market, with a live seafood section, bakery, and hot bar. It is in a mall with many restaurants and specialty shops, including a couple different bakeries. Lam's Seafood (a lot of Taiwanese products) and has a nice group of little food stands, and then H Mart a HUGE Korean based shop, also with some prepared foods. Our Costco also had an ever growing section of Indian groceries and many things in the frozen section we don't have here. Here we have frozen crust-less PBJs.
Now I have one small Asian market. They have many of my usual ingredients, but different brands than I'm used to -- I'll adjust. Instead of every Safeway or whatever having the section of Hispanic spices in small bags, I can't even get dried chilis here easily, but we do have a small Hispanic store with butcher shop. I understand there is a pretty good Indian spice shop a town over.
The main reason home cooks can't get restaurant results are because of our stoves don't get hot enough. When we bought our new oven, the models with a wok ring were higher priced than what we wanted, but hey normal gas and a wok work better than an electric coil. The other things is just a touch of subtle flavors, so for some Chinese dishes, you need just a bit of white pepper (one of the things I ordered), and a few drops of sesame oil (already had)
One of our local Krogers is one of them being shut down -- it sadly has a high problem population and you are greeted with security cameras and there is a security officer full time. Husband stopped by and said basically everything left is on sale for 40% off or something, I'm going to go out today and hope for some Whole Cloves, Whole Allspice, and maybe some other things. I already know their spice section and that I wasn't impressed with the variety/couldn't find what I was wanting but a good chance to get maybe some Caraway seeds or something I would like but am not inclined to otherwise buy
