What's your favorite GreenMarket stall?

[Vinotas]

Even though I live a few miles uptown, I've been going more and more often to the Greenmarket at Union Square.

So I am curious what are folks' favorite farmer's stalls, ie who's your "go to" for most fresh products? From whom would you say you buy the most produce?

Thanks in advance!

Cheers!

[slkinsey]

My favorites are:

Stokes Farm for non-parsley herbs, and definitely for heirloom tomatoes.

There are some guys right across from Stokes that sell amazingly huge, delicious cauliflower later in the season.

I like Paffenroth Farms for parsley, onions on the stem, carrots, kale, chives, leeks (practically all white!), punterelle, radishes, baby fennel, baby beets, fresh garlic, etc.

There are some other guys across the aisle and further down the dogleg that I like best for salad lettuce.

Ronnybrook's milk and cream, especially from the greenmarket, are so far superior to any other locally available dairy that it's almost like a different category of product.

Migliorelli Farms is good for greens such as broccoli rabe and the like. In the Spring, they're the go-to place for English shell peas, sugar snaps, and fresh borlotti.

Knoll Crest Farms are worth the annoying wait and absurdly slow service for the best fresh eggs in the City. I also prefer their small chickens (around 3 pounds, which is perfect for roasting).

Quattro's Farm can sometimes be hit-or-miss with poultry, in my experience. It's worth asking if they have any capons, but I find their chickens a bit to large for my tastes. On the other hand, it's the go-to place for things like fresh duck eggs.

Blue Moon has amazing seasonal fish. Show up early and stand in line. Actually, this could be said of most of the best places a the Greenmarket. It's always been true that if you show up after around 10 AM, most of the very best is already gone.

The mushroom guys selling button, crimini, oyster, etc. are always very good.

There are a few other boots I go to at different times of the year... some people just down from Paffenroth on the same side sell the best asparagus in the Spring and the most tender Brussels sprouts in the Fall, and have amazing fresh onions on the stem for a few weeks in the spring. There are some other guys a little closer to the center on that same dogleg who have the best sweet corn (5 for $2) in white, yellow or bicolor.

Don't bother buying anything baked.

Coach has a booth. I've never had the impression the cheese they were selling was any better than their cheeses you can get in stores, or any different.

[weinoo]

My favorites are:

Stokes Farm for non-parsley herbs, and definitely for heirloom tomatoes.

There are some guys right across from Stokes that sell amazingly huge, delicious cauliflower later in the season.

I like Paffenroth Farms for parsley, onions on the stem, carrots, kale, chives, leeks (practically all white!), punterelle, radishes, baby fennel, baby beets, fresh garlic, etc.

There are some other guys across the aisle and further down the dogleg that I like best for salad lettuce.

Ronnybrook's milk and cream, especially from the greenmarket, are so far superior to any other locally available dairy that it's almost like a different category of product.

Migliorelli Farms is good for greens such as broccoli rabe and the like.  In the Spring, they're the go-to place for English shell peas, sugar snaps, and fresh borlotti.

Knoll Crest Farms are worth the annoying wait and absurdly slow service for the best fresh eggs in the City.  I also prefer their small chickens (around 3 pounds, which is perfect for roasting).

Quattro's Farm can sometimes be hit-or-miss with poultry, in my experience.  It's worth asking if they have any capons, but I find their chickens a bit to large for my tastes.  On the other hand, it's the go-to place for things like fresh duck eggs.

Blue Moon has amazing seasonal fish.  Show up early and stand in line.  Actually, this could be said of most of the best places a the Greenmarket.  It's always been true that if you show up after around 10 AM, most of the very best is already gone.

The mushroom guys selling button, crimini, oyster, etc. are always very good.

There are a few other boots I go to at different times of the year...  some people just down from Paffenroth on the same side sell the best asparagus in the Spring and the most tender Brussels sprouts in the Fall, and have amazing fresh onions on the stem for a few weeks in the spring.  There are some other guys a little closer to the center on that same dogleg who have the best sweet corn (5 for $2) in white, yellow or bicolor. 

Don't bother buying anything baked.

Coach has a booth.  I've never had the impression the cheese they were selling was any better than their cheeses you can get in stores, or any different.

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Good run through, Sam...but of course I'll throw in my 2 cents!!

Tello's eggs are just as good as Knoll Crest's, and there's never a line! At least there on Wed. and Fri.

If you cant get there first thing, Blue Moon will still have some very high quality stuff - the top of the line may be gone, but whatever they sell is still light years ahead of any retail...scallops, mussels, squid, flounder, and the like are still available after noon.

I'm liking the baked goods from Bread Alone - (I think I first heard about their stuff from Fat Guy). Their whole grain loaves, baguettes, and boules are all organic and naturally leavened. Their whole wheat and plain sourdoughs are as good as I've had in the city.

The pretzel vendor has great pretzels.

The last two weeks I've had some starchy corn a few times - and also some amazing, fresh, sweet juicy corn. I tend to buy from a few different farmer's to compare, so can't really say who has the best...gotta try it before you buy just to be sure!

[Sethro]

Visconti's Farms, for strawberries, blueberries and watermelon.

[slkinsey]

Blue Moon has amazing seasonal fish.  Show up early and stand in line.  Actually, this could be said of most of the best places a the Greenmarket.  It's always been true that if you show up after around 10 AM, most of the very best is already gone.

If you cant get there first thing, Blue Moon will still have some very high quality stuff - the top of the line may be gone, but whatever they sell is still light years ahead of any retail...scallops, mussels, squid, flounder, and the like are still available after noon.

Yea, everything they have is very high quality. My later remarks were more directed at the produce vendors. The main time-related worry with Blue Moon is that they might run out of something.

Don't bother buying anything baked.

I'm liking the baked goods from Bread Alone - (I think I first heard about their stuff from Fat Guy). Their whole grain loaves, baguettes, and boules are all organic and naturally leavened. Their whole wheat and plain sourdoughs are as good as I've had in the city.

I suppose it depends on what kind of access you have to fresh baked bread. The Bread Alone stuff is very good compared to what you can get at, e.g., Fairway or Whole Foods. But compared to the best bakeries in the city... in my opinion the Bread Alone stuff doesn't compare well. Now, mind you, I'm sure that the Bread Alone people know what they're doing and make excellent bread. But there's only so good it can be when it has to be baked the evening before, schlepped two hours+ to the greenmarket from the Catskills, and stored more or less out in the open at much higher than ideal humidity. For artisinal hearth bread, I'm going to Silver Moon around the corner from my apartment, Sullivan Street Bakery or Amy's Bread when I'm in Hell's Kitchen or the Chelsea Market, and Balthazar Bakery when I'm downtown (the latter three "export" to various retail outlets, and the product available there doesn't measure up to the quality of the stuff sold at the bakeries). I don't think Bread Alone at the greenmarket can touch these places, but they can touch some of the prices if you know what I mean. I would love to try some of their stuff when it's in better condition, though.

Edited to add: The above is less true for larger, longer-storing breads, such as a gigantic pain de campagne, although I'd still prefer to buy from an actual local bakery (Silver Moon makes 100% natural leavening for some of their breads, and I assume this is true of the others as well).

Edited September 9, 2007 by slkinsey (log)

[Vinotas]

Wow!

Thanks so much everyone, I'll be looking for these folks next time I go. I live on the UES, and it can be a real gastronomic wasteland sometimes. Even though it's a long walk, I think it's worth it to get fresh ingredients.

Depending on my work schedule (I work from home), I usually hit the market between 9:30am and 2pm.

As it turns out, I have eggs from Tello that are fantastic. In my opinion, they're the closest to European eggs (which are denser and richer than American eggs). My Mom, who is French, even says that they're almost like the European ones she eats on her trips to the Old Country.

And I picked up some great leeks from Paffenroth the other day, making linguine with spicy leeks and fresh tomatoes, and a delicious extra-sharp leek vinaigrette.

Glad to see I may have found some of the better places to shop.

Thanks again!

Cheers!

[Fat Guy]

There are three Greenmarkets on the Upper East Side. They're only about a millionth as extensive as the Union Square Greenmarket, however they share several common vendors. Here's the Greenmarket map. You want 17, 18 and 20. Not that Union Square is all that hard to get to. Still, if you can get food right around the corner, it's worth looking into. Also, it's not that the Upper East Side is a gastronomic wasteland. If money is no object, there's not much reason to leave the Upper East Side to shop. Eli's, Vinegar Factory, Lobel's, Agata & Valentina, Dean & DeLuca, Grace's . . . these are fantastic stores, just expensive compared to, say, Fairway. But you can certainly get a lot of Greenmarket-quality produce at, say, Eli's. In season they actually buy a lot of stuff in much the same way as a good restaurant does, from Greenmarket and other local vendors. Then they charge you for it. Finally, if you're super-serious about produce, for next season be sure to look into the Yorkville CSA.

[Fat Guy]

I suppose it depends on what kind of access you have to fresh baked bread.  The Bread Alone stuff is very good compared to what you can get at, e.g., Fairway or Whole Foods.  But compared to the best bakeries in the city...

I take your point about freshness and storage conditions, but Bread Alone bread is fantastic. I don't think anybody in the city is making a bread that has quite the flavor of the Bread Alone organic whole wheat sourdough. If you grab a loaf in the morning either at the Greenmarket or at Fairway it tends to be quite fresh -- I imagine it's baked sometime after midnight, which is about as much as you can be sure of with a local bakery anyway. As you mentioned, some breads hold better than others, and a bread like Bread Alone's organic whole-wheat sourdough doesn't suffer much for a few hours' sitting around. I used to feel strongly about buying bread from local sources -- hey, it's New York City, why should we be getting bread from out of town? -- but Bread Alone changed my thinking on the matter.

[slkinsey]

As it turns out, I have eggs from Tello that are fantastic.  In my opinion, they're the closest to European eggs (which are denser and richer than American eggs).

This might be for another topic, but I don't believe that European eggs are necessarily any more dense or rich compared to American eggs. This is perhaps true when one compares American supermarket-level eggs to European supermarket-level eggs, because supermarket-level eggs are on average fresher and higher in quality in Europe (well, let's say France and Italy) than in America. However, I wouldn't say that, in my experience, European eggs are any more rich or dense than good-quality American eggs I've bought. The main difference is that European eggs tend to have a much darker yellow colored yolk, but this is merely a function of the pigmentation in their feed (marigold in particular), which I don't think has much of an impact on flavor, richness or density. One thing that does greatly affect density is age. The fresher the egg, the more dense the white and the less the white will spread from the yolk when it is fried, poached, etc. If greenmarket eggs seem significantly more dense than supermarket eggs, this is a function of age: the greenmarket eggs are only a few days old at most. For sure, any eggs you get from anyone at the greenmarket are going to be a lot better than anything you can get a the supermarket, and compared to the prices I've seen at Whole Foods, sometimes even less expensive.

[weinoo]

For artisinal hearth bread, I'm going to Silver Moon around the corner from my apartment, Sullivan Street Bakery or Amy's Bread when I'm in Hell's Kitchen or the Chelsea Market, and Balthazar Bakery when I'm downtown (the latter three "export" to various retail outlets, and the product available there doesn't measure up to the quality of the stuff sold at the bakeries).  I don't think Bread Alone at the greenmarket can touch these places, but they can touch some of the prices if you know what I mean.   I would love to try some of their stuff when it's in better condition, though.

Edited to add:  The above is less true for larger, longer-storing breads, such as a gigantic pain de campagne, although I'd still prefer to buy from an actual local bakery (Silver Moon makes 100% natural leavening for some of their breads, and I assume this is true of the others as well).

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Agree, and sometimes, I'm willing to bet, you even bake your own

[Vinotas]

As it turns out, I have eggs from Tello that are fantastic.  In my opinion, they're the closest to European eggs (which are denser and richer than American eggs).

This might be for another topic, but I don't believe that European eggs are necessarily any more dense or rich compared to American eggs. This is perhaps true when one compares American supermarket-level eggs to European supermarket-level eggs, because supermarket-level eggs are on average fresher and higher in quality in Europe (well, let's say France and Italy) than in America. However, I wouldn't say that, in my experience, European eggs are any more rich or dense than good-quality American eggs I've bought. The main difference is that European eggs tend to have a much darker yellow colored yolk, but this is merely a function of the pigmentation in their feed (marigold in particular), which I don't think has much of an impact on flavor, richness or density. One thing that does greatly affect density is age. The fresher the egg, the more dense the white and the less the white will spread from the yolk when it is fried, poached, etc. If greenmarket eggs seem significantly more dense than supermarket eggs, this is a function of age: the greenmarket eggs are only a few days old at most. For sure, any eggs you get from anyone at the greenmarket are going to be a lot better than anything you can get a the supermarket, and compared to the prices I've seen at Whole Foods, sometimes even less expensive.

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This is actually what I was trying to convey, as most of the eggs I used to buy in NYC were from the Food Extortium downstairs, while when renting places in Europe they're usually (not always, however) from farmers' markets. I really notice it when beating the eggs for omelettes. In Paris and Beaune, they were denser and the end product was one of the best I'd ever made. In NYC, supermarket eggs make so-so omelettes, whereas the Tello eggs I've been using lately are coming as close to the French ones.

Fat Guy,

As for the other Greenmarkets on the UES, I've visited the one at 82st and have to say I wasn't impressed with the choices. And you're right, if money's no option, there's plenty of places to find good ingredients on the UES. But I'd rather support the farmers than the big boys. And since I'm doing the kitchen over, I'm trying to watch my ducats.

So, I don't mind the trip to Union Square.

Thanks for the link to the Yorkville CSA, I'll look into it.

Cheers!

[slkinsey]

I suppose it depends on what kind of access you have to fresh baked bread.  The Bread Alone stuff is very good compared to what you can get at, e.g., Fairway or Whole Foods.  But compared to the best bakeries in the city...

I take your point about freshness and storage conditions, but Bread Alone bread is fantastic. I don't think anybody in the city is making a bread that has quite the flavor of the Bread Alone organic whole wheat sourdough. If you grab a loaf in the morning either at the Greenmarket or at Fairway it tends to be quite fresh -- I imagine it's baked sometime after midnight, which is about as much as you can be sure of with a local bakery anyway. As you mentioned, some breads hold better than others, and a bread like Bread Alone's organic whole-wheat sourdough doesn't suffer much for a few hours' sitting around. I used to feel strongly about buying bread from local sources -- hey, it's New York City, why should we be getting bread from out of town? -- but Bread Alone changed my thinking on the matter.

I'd definitely buy Bread Alone stuff at Fairway and stores like that. Once the bread is baked and transported to the market, the local bakeries lose their freshness advantage.

There are many reasons, most too technical for me to get into in this thread in any detail without going widely off-topic, why sourdough breads have better storage properties (e.g., lactic and acetic acid act as preservatives) and also why whole wheat sourdoughs tend to have more true "sourdough flavor" compared to white sourdoughs (total acidity is dependent on the buffering power of the dough, which is higher in whole wheat doughs). So it's no surprise that their whole wheat sourdough is awesome. Neither Amy's nor Sullivan Street are hardcore sourdough specialists and can't compete on that basis (although it's worth noting that Bread Alone can't compete with, e.g., Sullivan's signature pane pugliese). Both Balthazar and Silver Moon have pretty outstanding pain de campagne and other rustic wholegrain and white sourdoughs that I've found to be better than any bread I've bought at places like Fairway. I can only assume this is related to freshness and other handling factors, since my experience is that Balthazar bread bought at Balthazar is a lot better than the same bread bought at Fairway.

To my thinking, you're right on the money about BA's whole wheat sourdough boule. Not all of their breads are naturally leavened, by the way, only the ones called "sourdough" (they also call their sourdoughs "yeast free" which is unfortunate and inaccurate). The BA whole wheat sourdough boule definitely the one to get, especially if you're planning on keeping it around for a few days.

I should hasten to add that I'm not saying the BA product isn't outstanding. I'm just questioning whether it's worth it to buy it at the greenmarket when you can get the exact same bread in several city groceries, and if you're willing to make a trip to get outstanding bread I think you can do better at the above-mentioned bread bakeries. This is all the more true because my experience is that the BA bread they're selling at the greenmarket is likely to actually be in worse condition than the BA bread you can get in the likes of Fairway, although this is probably fairly dependent on weather conditions (I've never understood buying bread from them at the greenmarket when it's raining).

[DutchMuse]

Is it common to find ratte potatoes at the US Greenmarket?

[Mayur]

Yes. The stall one east from the Northwest corner of the Greenmarket (can't remember the name) often has them.

[Vinotas]

Yes. The stall one east from the Northwest corner of the Greenmarket (can't remember the name) often has them.

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Indeed, bought a pound of Ratte for next to nothing from them. Quite delicious when tossed with duck fat and garlic and roasted.

Cheers!

[flinflon28]

Last year I bought a quart of kimchee at the Greenmarket in Union Square but for the life of me I can't remember were exactly. If I had to guess I was facing thr Barnes & Noble when I was making the purchase. Great kimchee but haven't seen it since or am not looking in the right place. Does anyone know?

[bshapiro]

Dont forget the Cheese!

Cato Corner Farm: Hooligan - an american classic - wonderfully stinky Connecticut version of raclette made from raw cow's milk.

3-Corner Farm: Brebis Blanche - delicate fluffy sheep's milk cheese - like eating a cloud! (Also - Karen's lamb is incredible - had the chops last night).

Valley Shepherd: Oldwick Shepherd - Sophisticated raw milk sheep's cheese with fantastic nutty flavor from NJ.

B