Reading Terminal Market (Part 2)

MarketStEl · February 29, 2008

Funny I didn't spy you at the Souper Bowl, Bob -- I happened upon it just as the winners were being announced. I did say hi to Paul and Laura (I had applied for an editorial position at Where a couple of years back). Paul had mentioned this event to me the last time our paths crossed, but I had done a mental F&F on it.

Unfortunately, only about half the soups were still available by the time I got there, the snapper not among them. But the bisque was delish, and I also enjoyed Herschel's matzo ball soup.

Sony · March 6, 2008

Last September, I visited Reading Terminal Market for the 1st (but hopefully not last) time. I was able to haul home a freezer bag full of goodies, and thought I had exhausted the supply.....but hanging out in the back of my freezer was a hanger steak from Giunta's that I had somehow forgotten about until last night......

Oh my.

With simple seasoning, seared in a cast iron skillet till just shy of medium rare, it may very well be one of the best steaks I've ever had. And the credit must go to the quality of the meat. How fortunate you all are to have such a fantastic butcher shop!

rlibkind · March 13, 2008

A couple of interesting veggies popped up in Iovine Brothers' bins this week.

First, asparation. No, not as in a small burst of air, or the entry of secretion into the lungs. That's aspiration. I'm talking about asparation, which is the trademark name for broccolini, a cross between broccoli and Chinese kale. Didn't see a price, but given that it's a trademarked-veggie, I would expect it not to be cheap. But it did look interesting: a stalky broccoli, but of daintier proportions than broccoli rabe.

In the same bin could be found cardoon, a southern European winter vegetable. At first glance it looked like a giant, dull bunch of celery stalks, but botanically it's closer to the artichoke, as it is a kind of thistle. That means it takes a bit to prepare properly: trimming and de-ribbing, cutting and dipping in acidulated water to prevent browning before braising. It's $1.99 a bunch, which looks like it would be enough for four or five servings as an appetizer or side. Bet it would be good in a cream sauce after preliminary cooking.

The Mexican avocado crop has arrived, and that means lower prices. Iovine had medium-sized ones at 50-cents apiece. Limes, alas, are the same price. Outside of the various greens (I picked up some escarole to braise with raisins, capers, pine nuts and olives this week), one of the better veggie values was the frying peppers, $1.49/pound.

I'm still impressed with the South American late summer fruit at Iovine, especially the plums. Domestically, nice navel oranges, medium sized, were selling at 20 cents apiece.

With enough daylight at dinner time to fire up the grill, I picked up some beef (chuck with some short rib) ground to order at Harry Ochs yesterday, but when I passed Wan's Seafood I couldn't resist the sardines. They had already been headed and gutted and were selling for $2.99/pound. I was a tad wary, because other fish mongers were selling them whole for a buck more, but these were firm and smelled fine. They cooked up even better. I had a few right off the grill yesterday as an appetizer, but ate most the rest for dinner tonight after concocting a curry sauce for them to bathe in, trying to duplicate a curried pickled herring I tasted at Aquavit. It tasted delicious but, because of the textural delicacy of the grilled sardines, turned into a spread. Next time I'll also add some beet for color, because when sardines get mashed up, they are decidedly gray. I'll also start with pickled herring: the flesh is firmer and doesn't break up as easily.

I've gotten so used to microwave popcorn that I've forgotten how easy it is to make the old fashioned kind; the pot cleans up easily enough. Ben Kaufman has a couple of different varieties; the "red" popcorn I bought last week popped up fluffy white, with just a speck of red left in the nearly hulless hull.

According to a new video, 16 of the 73 shops at the Reading Terminal Market are owned by immigrants. That's the crucial fact behind the message of a video produced by the U.S. State Department aimed at foreign viewers. Featured are the owners of Nanee's Kitchen, Profi's Creperie, De' Village, and Tokyo Sushi Bar. You can find the two-minute video here.

Want an egg broken over your head? It will bring you good luck and go to a good cause. It's the cascarones tradition, which has been growing in popularity in the Mexican community, especially at Easter. The hollow eggs are filled with confetti then "cracked" over your noggin by a friend. The cascarones decorated by local children will be sold at the market March 19-22 to benefit the Cascarones Por La Vida Art Fund, which benefits children with HIV/AIDS. The project is led by local artist Marta Sanchez.

RTM General Manager Paul Steinke will be co-host with Sonny DiCrecchio of the Philadelphia Regional Produce Market when the National Association of Produce Market Managers holds its annual meeting at the Loew's hotel at the end of the month. Members of the 60-year-old association come from not just public markets and year-round farmers' markets, but wholesale markets, too. Among the speakers will be David O'Neil, who as RTM manager under the Reading Company helped plan its revitalization, and April White of Philadelphia Magazine.

Kelly Novak, the RTM's marketing and event coordinator, is leaving at the end of the month, so the search is on for a replacement. If you're interested in the job, check out the market's website for details.

mrbigjas · March 17, 2008

i was thinking of the discussion on this thread when we hit up down home diner today, for the first time in a while but not that long. it's an easy spot early on a sunday morning -- have some breakfast, get the boy a cheap short stack that he doesn't eat most of, and when we're done he can run around the market putting money in the pig and looking at the lobsters while i pick up a few things.

anyway, here's what i found:

1. service: ok. some odd pauses, but the food came fast

2. food: really good, actually. buckwheat blueberry pancakes, thick-cut bacon, over-easy eggs that had runny yolks and didn't have gelatinous whites. good sausage that could have been crisper. great bread for the toast.

the bad part was that they've abandoned a diner menu for a 'sunday brunch' menu. really the options are all the same things you'd order anyway -- pancakes, french toast, eggs, omelets, biscuits, hash -- but it just feels wrong. and it's friggin $8.95 prix fixe.

and ok besides the fact that that's too much, am i the only one that thinks there's something wrong with the phrase 'prix fixe brunch menu' in a place that purports to be a diner?

rlibkind · March 17, 2008

. . . the bad part was that they've abandoned a diner menu for a 'sunday brunch' menu. really the options are all the same things you'd order anyway -- pancakes, french toast, eggs, omelets, biscuits, hash -- but it just feels wrong. and it's friggin $8.95 prix fixe.
and ok besides the fact that that's too much, am i the only one that thinks there's something wrong with the phrase 'prix fixe brunch menu' in a place that purports to be a diner?
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The phrase may ring wrong, but the price doesn't.

Two eggs, bacon, home fries, toast and juice at a Jersey über diner, Ponzio's, will set you back $9.29 -- and that's without the coffee. And the food at Down Home Diner is much better than you'd get at Ponzio's or most other Jersey diners, where the pancakes taste like they come from a waxed container and the bacon is Armour institutional. It's real food at the Down Home Diner. And you'd have to look hard and long to find biscuits as good.

mrbigjas · March 17, 2008

interesting point, bob. since i don't get to the jersey diners often, i was comparing it to the various little petes's and the midtowns. we hit up the midtown... uh, III i think? the one on 18th st. and that same breakfast but with regular crappy diner food would run you about $5. at petes, maybe $7?

but yeah, the food was actually really good this time....

rlibkind · March 17, 2008

Calling it a "prix fixe", though, is silly. Why not "complete breakfast blue plate special"?

Holly Moore · March 17, 2008

Trying to grasp the implications.

Does Prix Fixe mean that on Sunday the Down Home Diner is only offering a limited version of their breakfast menus. Or is the full menu available but one has to order a full breakfast? Also, is the place packed on Sunday as it is on Saturday?

I figure a place that calls its meatloaf "pate" can probably get away with Prix Fixe, but Bob's suggestion of Blue Plate Breakfast seems more fitting.

mrbigjas · March 18, 2008

Does Prix Fixe mean that on Sunday the Down Home Diner is only offering a limited version of their breakfast menus.

yes, i think i can remember most of it:

eggs

french toast

pancakes

some pork and spinach thing

egg white omelet

all with choice of meat i think and potatoes and apples of course

eggs scrambled with sausage

biscuits and gravy (with eggs)

hash (with eggs)

also some kinda atkins thing with no potatoes or apples. i mean, all the stuff you'd usually order. but still somehow, not right.

Or is the full menu available but one has to order a full breakfast? Also, is the place packed on Sunday as it is on Saturday?

not at 8:30 a.m. maybe later.

rlibkind · March 22, 2008

<a href="http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1206179980/gallery_7493_1206_123152.jpg"><img'>http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1206179980/gallery_7493_1206_123152.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; width: 360px; height: 480px; cursor: pointer;" src="http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1206179980/gallery_7493_1206_123152.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>It's officially spring. No, I don't mean the movement of the tilt of the Earth on its axis to create the vernal equinox.

No, the true sign of spring can be found at Earl Livengood's stand at the Reading Terminal Market. To eat, he offered young, tender dandelion greens this morning; to enjoy visually (or tactually) you could purchase pussy willows.

<a href="http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1206179980/gallery_7493_1206_595990.jpg"><img'>http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1206179980/gallery_7493_1206_595990.jpg"><img style="margin: 10pt 10pt 10px 10px; float: left; width: 240px; height: 320px; cursor: pointer;" src="http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1206179980/gallery_7493_1206_595990.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>

Over at Iovine Brothers, Brother Jim explained how they manage to sell organic green seedless grapes ($1 a bag for a bag that, by my estimate, weighed a pound and a half) for less than the conventional variety ($1.99/pound): A Walmart or other big buyer "kicks" a lot, sticking it to the distributor who has to find another buyer. When a distributor has produce that just has to move, they've got the speed dialer on their phone set to Iovine's. (As always, click on a photo to see a larger version.)

Other relative bargains at Iovine's this morning: bags of California clementines for $3.99 and one-pound clamshells of Florida strawberries for $1.99. Not such a bargain, but still a welcome seasonal addition, were the baby artichokes, $3.99/pound. Lemons and lines still exorbitant at 50 cents each.

<a href="http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1206179980/gallery_7493_1206_663685.jpg"><img'>http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1206179980/gallery_7493_1206_663685.jpg"><img style="margin: 10pt 10pt 10px 10px; float: left; width: 320px; height: 240px; cursor: pointer;" src="http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1206179980/gallery_7493_1206_663685.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>The price of the gutted, headless sardines at Wan's seafood went up to $3.99/pound, but the price of whole sardines at John Yi fell to $2.99. The latter's refrigerator case of cephalopods, fresh water salmonids, and clupea harengus looked particularly attractive today.

<a href="http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1206179980/gallery_7493_1206_366789.jpg"><img'>http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1206179980/gallery_7493_1206_366789.jpg"><img style="margin: 10pt 10pt 10px 10px; float: right; width: 320px; height: 240px; cursor: pointer;" src="http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1206179980/gallery_7493_1206_366789.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Young's Flowers has given up its Saturday daystall in the market due to insurance costs. They are still expected to sell when the Headhouse market gears up later this spring.

Market management is near a deal to fill the vacant space most recently occupied by the natural food store and, before that, Margerum's. The new vendor will sell a range of packaged grocery items (trending to the gourmet/high priced side), so if you need that canned broth or ketchup to complete your recipe you won't have to make a second stop elsewhere. This will be the vendor's first expansion beyond his current single store in another section of the city.

MikeTMD · March 31, 2008

Gem of a Sandwich/ Philadelphia Terminal Market March, 2008

I was walking around Philly Terminal Market with no particular goal –I was still full on Geno’s Steak Sandwich, and all I was after was pictures of the market, it sights and it’s people (review is forthcoming).

For a brief moment, I glanced at someone making an Italian Hoagie - the colors were bright and magnetic, so I slowed down a bit and watched. Soon I caught myself waiting for another sandwich to be made. It was exciting to see what the next work of hoagie art would be. The name of the place is “Carmen’s Famous Italian Hoagies”

The guy behind the counter was friendly, and somehow we started chatting. He proudly showed me a picture of a sandwich one of the guys made a few days ago – it was spectacular! Good sign, I thought – not these guys make their own food look great and they enjoy eating it! In restaurant world it just doesn’t get any better than that. A second later, it occurred to me that my new acquaintance is Carmen himself.

Look at the picture – he is browsing his cell phone pics to show me – a passerby, not even a paying customer at that moment, something they have made. Great to see that kind of pride!

I couldn’t wait any longer – I had to try their hoagie. The choices were many.

All that, and they had a special!

Clearly, I needed some guidance. Carmen suggested a Special Italian - I pretty much interrupted him half-way through the meat ingredients alone. Speaking about meat - just looking at the choices was satisfying. Everything looked perfect. Ahhhh-hhhh… cured meats – life is good.

I choose white bread, sweet roasted peppers, vinegar and oil, lettuce, tomato and onions, with a dash of oregano. Then I just took a step back and watched.

First, they pile on the meat, then veggies and then a few finishing touches. Everything and everybody was in a perfect harmony. My sandwich was flawlessly made.

I took my edible treasure to the market’s Beer Garden, and took a bite. It was incredible! Bread was fresh and crisp, Italian meats were complimenting each other, with flavors intertwined in a fantastic medley and yet every bite would put an accent on the individual cuts, oregano added a nice finish, vinegar and oil created an incredible background for each and every flavor involved, and veggies would clean my palate for another bite.

I had a sensation like that once before – it was a popular everyday melody played by a symphonic orchestra – it was familiar, yet every sound was fuller and richer, musicians were taking turns playing brief solos, enjoying their every moment, audience was completely involved and mesmerized …. My hoagie was nothing short of a symphony of taste, with a crescendo of complete satisfaction.

Thanks, Carmen! I’ll be back.

Rich Pawlak · March 31, 2008

Since his days at the Bellevue Food Court, running Rooco's Famous Italian Hoagies, Carmen has been, to my mind, a true hoagie artist.

(DISCLOSURE: I was the PR Director at The Bellevue when I encountered Carmen and worked with him on many promotional campaigns, including his Atkins Diet-timely "Naked Hoagie"--a hoagie without bread)

That being said, the above pictures reinforce my opinion of his artistry and his commitment to what I have always called "hoagie purity": using the best ingredianets and assembling them with care and consistency. There is nothing like watching Carmen himself make a hoagie. Pure pride and he loves what he does.

Edited March 31, 2008 by Rich Pawlak (log)

KatieLoeb · March 31, 2008

...That being said, the above pictures reinforce my opinion of his artistry and his commitment to what I have always called "hoagie purity": using the best ingredianets and assembling them with care and consistency. There is nothing like watching Camrn himself make a hoagie. Pure pride and he loves what he does...
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That, of and by itself, is a beautiful thing, is it not? I daresay that's why we all spend so much of our precious little leisure time here on eGullet talking about just such an individual.

MarketStEl · March 31, 2008

And to think he was the third place I stopped in my hoagie quest in my second foodblog!

I got a sense of deja vu reading Mike's post. Carmen is clearly a master.

rlibkind · April 7, 2008

The new occupant of what was formerly Margerum's and, more recently, The Natural Connection, likely will be Dave Schreiber, owner of Jonathan's Best in Chestnut Hill. As of last week no lease agreement was signed, but the only remaining details to be worked out were some product offering specifics. Although everyone's optimistic, that could be a deal-breaker.

Jonathan Best has been around for about a quarter of a century, selling groceries and "gourmet" products. It's the only seven-day operation at the Chestnut Hill Farmers Market.

Bringing Jonathan Best to the RTM would restore the presence of a grocer in the market, something both management and merchants (even the sandwich vendors) wanted. Having a grocer with dry and canned goods and other staples means food shoppers don't have to make a separate trip to a supermarket to pick up the one or two extra items they may need for a recipe.

The problem for the grocer is that it's a low-margin business. So Schreiber is looking to add other items for sale which will allow him to earn a reasonable profit; canned goods and packaged grains just don't do it.

That's where the negotiating over product lines becomes complicated. Where Schreiber sells sandwiches at Chestnut Hill, that would be a no-no for a grocer at the RTM. It's hard to avoid overlapping product lines with other merchants entirely. This past winter, when Dutch Country Farms' expanded to baked goods, it caused consternation to an Amish section merchant selling baked goods, resulting in DCM having to pull the line of products from the Northeast's Haegerle's Bakery. Jonathan Best started out as a cheesemonger in Chestnut Hill, but the RTM already has two full-fledged cheesemongers and others who also sell cheese. Just about any higher-margin grocery item Jonathan Best could carry is also sold by another RTM merchant. So RTM management is faced with a delicate task: trying to limit significant competition with other merchants while providing Schreiber with the higher-margin products he needs to sell to be profitable.

At least one veteran merchant suggests lottery tickets might be the answer.

Product line note: The Cookbook Stall has added a few "green" household cleaning items: all-purposes cleaner, glass cleaner, dish and hand soap.

Edited April 7, 2008 by rlibkind (log)

KatieLoeb · April 7, 2008

Note to all: Sunday closing time at RTM is 4PM, not 5PM as I had envisioned. This revelation comes after parking my car in the lot and facing locked doors at 4:05PM today. I couldn't get my ticket stamped so it cost me $5.50 to park for 5 minutes for nothing. :angry:

I was supposed to pick up dessert to bring with me to dinner at friends so I did the next best thing. Two half pints of Capogiro - one Pear & Wild Turkey and the other Pistachio. I was still welcomed. :smile:

rlibkind · April 7, 2008

Note to all: Sunday closing time at RTM is 4PM, not 5PM as I had envisioned. This revelation comes after parking my car in the lot and facing locked doors at 4:05PM today. I couldn't get my ticket stamped so it cost me $5.50 to park for 5 minutes for nothing.
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Ouch! The Sunday hours are 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. No Pennsylvania Dutch on Sundays, of course. Otherwise, about two-thirds of the merchants participate in the Sunday hours.

KatieLoeb · April 7, 2008

Thanks Bob. For some reason I had it in my head that it was 10-5. I was wrong.

I still got to have Capogiro. :biggrin:

zeffer81 · April 7, 2008

I still got to have Capogiro.
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You definitely could have done much worse. Darn them for closing at four and FORCING you to get Capogiro instead :wink:

rlibkind · April 12, 2008

Another sure sign of warmer weather (as if we needed confirmation of what the thermometer says): soft shell crabs. John Yi had them today, at $6 apiece (or two for $10).

As promised in its weekly email, wild garlic could be had at Fair Food Farmstand. Over at Benuel Kauffman's Lancaster County Produce, local greenhouse tomatoes have appeared. Missing in action today, for the second or third Saturday in a row, was Earl Livengood. Apparently, nothing to sell yet other than stores of root vegetables from the fall, though I would imagine his spinach should be ready. We're still a while away from asparagus.

Today I picked up a deli treat I've neglected since Siegfried pulled up stakes: leberkase, the German style veal loaf. I ordered half a pound of the onion-inflected version from Dutch Country Meats and enjoyed some for lunch on rye bread from Le Bus.

I'm looking for some pork belly to braise this week, but it won't be from the RTM. Dutch Country Meats only has the salt pork version. I did spy some unsalted belly from Meadow Run Farm in the frozen case at Fair Food, but found the price (about $8/pound) exorbitant. Yes, I know it's expensive for small scale farmers to raise quality pork, but this was simply too much. You can buy quality apple smoked bacon (which, after all, is pork belly) for less -- and the bacon loses water weight, so it should be even more dear. I think I'll get some pork belly at one of the Chinese supermarkets instead.

Over at Iovine Brothers Produce, the price of some citrus fruits is easing. Limes now three for a buck, lemons four. A three-pound bag of end-of-the-season clementines was $3.99. Small navel oranges were selling for 5/$1, medium ones at 4/$1. Peruvian mangoes looked to be one of the better fruit deals, two for $1. They also had those not-so-bad-for-coming-from-so-far-away Bartlett pears from Argentina (I failed to note the price, but in recent weeks they've been priced at 99-cents to $1.49/pound). Red and green peppers from Mexican greenhouses 89-cents, orange varieties 99-cents.

If the rain stays away (it was thundering when I began writing this missive, but now the sun is peeking through) it will be grill time again for dinner. Over at Giunta's Prime Shop I picked up a hanger steak (total of about 1.25 pounds, priced at $6.99/pound) and a small whole Eberly's organic chicken (sorry, don't recall weight, but cost was less than $4). They'll both on the grill, with the quartered chicken to be consumed tomorrow.

rlibkind · April 21, 2008

Local asparagus made its debut last week at Earl Livengood's, Fair Food Farmstand, and Kauffman's Lancaster County Produce, with prices ranging from $2.25 to $5.99/pound (though it's usually priced by the bunch; I figured the range by weighing some bunches, which usually clocked in at about a pound.

Iovine Brother's Produce carried ramps last week at $3.99/bunch, but by Saturday only a handful were left and their condition had deteriorated a bit (still usable, but the greens were a tad ragged). Go for them when they first get it. Vinnie Iovine complained he couldn't get root parsley, which sometimes appears on seder plates in the karpas role. South American pears are still plentiful, with Bartletts priced at 50-cents/pound, Anjou's at 99 cents.

John Yi offered both organic and wild Alaskan king (chinook) salmon. The organic is farm-raised and was priced at $15.99; the wild (probably frozen since there's only limited trolling permitted in southeast Alaska until the main season begins about mid-May) sold for $20.

Sundays at the RTM largely seem to be a tourist/conventioneer affair, at least based on my visit yesterday, my first in months. Iovine's, though reasonably busy, seemed to have only two-thirds or less the staff they do on Saturdays. Other purveyors appeared to be operating with reduced staffs, too. Bassett's, however, could have used a few more scoopers!

Tim Dolan · April 22, 2008

I just got finished eating a totally unremarkable steak from Harry Och's that I bought this afternoon. I was feeling like splurging so I asked them to cut me off an inch and a half thick porterhouse. It looked great before it hit my cast iron pan and even better when it was finished, unfortunately the taste didn't measure up to the looks. There was no discernable difference between that steak and any piece of meat that I could pick up from Acme. And at $36, there should be.

Edited April 22, 2008 by Tim Dolan (log)

rlibkind · April 26, 2008

If you get there early enough, you're likely to find fresh-picked morels at Earl Livengood's stand in center court today. Sam Consylman, Earl's friend, said he's been picking them the last couple of days.

I'm planning on a creamy pasta sauce with them tonight, or maybe simply served atop some toast points.

rlibkind · April 26, 2008

The phone rang at 6:30 a.m. yesterday, long before I had intended to greet the new day. But Sam Consylman was preparing to go out mushroom foraging and didn't want to wait to relay his news.

The morels have popped in Lancaster County, reported Sam, forager extraordinaire. Not very large, but plentiful enough to pick in the local wood. Earl Livengood would sell what Sam picked the next day at the Reading Terminal Market.

I made sure to set my alarm for the following day (today, Saturday) so I'd be among the first to examine this year's crop. Another fungi lover (who had not received Sam's call) spotted them on her early tour of the market and was starting to pick through the fruiting bodies when I arrived to snap this pic and select some for my own consumption. (She Who Must Be Obeyed avoids all fungi and other "ook".) My fellow urban forager said she had to be sure to set aside some for herself, because her 16-year-old son devours mushrooms of all types. We agreed that even the humble white button mushroom can be cooked superbly (she suggested a Russian dish, sautéed then mixed with sour cream), but that morels were, to use that overused term, "special".

My two-and-a-half-ounce selection of morels (Sam picked black, common and red morels, though I'm told the "red" isn't a true morel but is close enough for culinary purposes) set me back $12.75, based on the $85/pound price. (Last year they were $80). Earl Livengood asked me if he had priced them correct. Alas, he had. Morels imported all the way from the Pacific Northwest, which arrive slightly dry though still quite useable, were selling over at Iovine Brothers Produce for $60, so Earl's price, though considerably higher, wasn't out of line considering the quality and freshness.

By the time I left the market at 10:30, Earl's stock of morels had been depleted by at least 50 percent. I would suspect that they would be totally gone by noontime or shortly thereafter. It's possible Sam will still be picking them next week, but don't count on it. The morel season lasts a nanosecond. They'll be my lunch today, sautéed with shallot, then turned into a cream sauce over toast points. Sautéed morels also work exceedingly well with soft scrambled eggs, or just about any other egg dish. One dish I particularly enjoyed a few years ago was a sauté of morels and asparagus tips surrounded by a ring of savory custard (at L'Étoile in Madison, Wisconsin).

Another sign of spring could be found at Iovine's: ramps. These wonderful examples of a wild allium were fresh, with nearly pristine leaves, were selling for $3.99/bunch. Ramps should be available through much of May. I'll be cooking these pungent wild leeks (both bulbs and greens) with potatoes sautéed in bacon fat to go along with reheated brisket for dinner this evening.

Jim Iovine reports he'll be directly sourcing some of his leafy vegetables this season from a South Jersey grower. This includes scallions, spinach, all varieties of cooking greens, lettuces, as well as radishes and other veggies. He and brother Vin will also continue their contract with Shadybrook, which serves as the vendor's main supplier of local corn in season. Jim said he hopes for another great crop of raspberries this year again from Shadybrook as well.

Fair Food Farmstand briefly featured another veggie foraged in springtime: fiddlehead ferns. They received a 10-pound case earlier this week from a local gatherer, but it sold out the same day. They expect to have them again next week, so, buy early. I know I will. (Try them in Chinese stir-fry dishes were you'd normally add string beans or asparagus for veggie crunch.)

Another foraged food you'll see this year (at both Earl Livengood's and Fair Food Farmstand) is wild dandelion. But I wonder just who "crafted" the wild dandelion greens at Fair Food. The label writer should teach a class in writing oxymorons.

Plentiful sardines still available, at least at John Yi's. Whole sardines (herring) were selling for $3.99 again today. We're still a few weeks away from fresh Alaskan salmon.

For Passover, Flying Monkey had some delicious macaroons, a buck apiece for the large cookies. Lots better than the Manischiewicz version that comes in the equivalent of a coffee can.

Lease negotiations are complete for Jonathan Best, which will operate a high-end grocery in the space formerly occupied by Margerum's and, later, the Natural Foods Connection. All that's left is signing on the dotted line, after which the space will be spruced up and altered before the store opens. RTM General Manager is anxious to place a "tenant obtained" sign over the long-vacant space.

Another problematic space at the market is the stall behind L. Halteman, currently used as exhibit space. Halteman's expansion into that space will be part of their lease renegotiations.