Last Chance for Farmers Market shopping

[Jim Dixon]

Grab your umbrella and get down to the Park Blocks for the last market of the year. Last week there were fewer vendors but still a decent selection of fall produce. I found some nice Newtown apples, small Bartlett pears for only 35 cents/pound, lots of mushrooms, and plenty of winter squash. If you haven't had tried the Greener Pastures chickens, you really should pick one up. Better than even the free-range birds at Whole Foods and New Seasons, and the livers are incredible.

I'm going to have to shift into winter shopping mode...no more Saturday mornings wandering around under the elms, yakking with the other hard-core food folks I see every week. I get more disappointed with Wild Oats every time I shop there, so I'll drive up to New Seasons instead of walking to my old neighborhood Nature's. I'll have to make the run to Big City Produce more often, too. It's owned by a friend, but also has great deals and a nice selection of stuff.

Where do the rest of you market shoppers get your produce fix between now and April?

Jim

ps: I'll be there, too, with olive oil and salt. Say hello if you come by.

[chefrodrigo]

Jim,

I've roasted a greener pastures chicken once a week for the entire market season. That is the best chicken I've had.

There really is no substitute for the farmers market. I usually end up going to Whole Foods because its walking distance for me.

I'll see you there. I'm at Sahagun (the handmade chocolate booth)

Rodney

[ExtraMSG]

I'll do my part and go over purchase as usual. I've been cleaning out my frig and pantry lately making up all kinds of things up. Now that I'm out of anything fresh, I'm making odd things using frozen peas, canned beans, and wilted carrots. I've made so many flatbreads over the last two weeks I think I have fingernails permanently encrusted with flour. It'll be nice to eat something fresh.

I do most of my produce shopping at Fred Meyer's anyway. But I like to supplement it in the summer with the farmer's markets. But I also supplement with the usual suspects: Whole Foods, Zupans, New Seasons, Wild Oats, and my favorite, Pastaworks. Not a very big selection there, but generally excellent quality. And I like going there for the cheeses and cured meats.

For me, though, winter ushers in braises and soups, really some of my favorite things to eat. Produce takes a bit of a back seat to meats, except the heartier produce like winter squash.

Does anyone have a good winter source for freshish corn? Cachapas (a corn pancake, essentially) need fresh corn to be good at all, imo. I guess frozen uncooked ears of corn would be fine.

[rachaelLK]

I do my non-organic produce shopping at Sheridan. I wish they'd carry more organic goods...but I do love the bulk section! For organic options, I go to Limbo (next to TJ's on 39th and Holgate.) I'd shop their more - great quality, decent value - if not for the owner's politics.

[tsquare]

I forgot to post last month after making a run to Portland, in part to buy Jim's salt from Portugal and olive oils from Italy, for myself and some friends. The market was having a pumpkin festival and the day was comfortably warm and dry. I thought it was a great set-up, with the campus providing restrooms, running water, fountains, and a pretty setting amidst the trees. I loved having so many of Portland's fine bakeries in one spot, meeting Jim, surveying the produce, listening to the music, and smelling the scent of sausages and other booth foods cooking. Jim has the real deal on those oils and salt.

I also took a long walk around town to see the changes, visit the Chinese Garden and have tea (skip the dumplings). Dinner was at Pambiche - they stay open throughout the afternoon, and I ended up there at the end of their lunch prices. Loved this place, and ate (1/2) my festive pork platter while staring into the dessert case. Wow. Took home a piece of cake for the end of the drive home. Nice reward. Nice day.

[ExtraMSG]

I wonder how this snow will affect things.

[Alberts]

You could sense the gloom at the market last weekend. One more to go.

Rumor has it, and only rumor mind you, that the Sunday Hillsdale market will stay open on a limited basis over the winter. Anyone heard anything?

Also, I am aware, that a couple of the regular market vendors deliver boxes all winter long. Has anyone done this? Granted, I will miss the market experience, but it might be nice to support the farmers in the off season.

We end up at New Seasons Sellwood for organic produce. I have been a little disappointed with the quality of Limbo.

[chefrodrigo]

Rumor has it, and only rumor mind you, that the Sunday Hillsdale market will stay open on a limited basis over the winter. Anyone heard anything?

Alberts

Hillsdale will have a holiday market Dec 7th and then one per month in Jan, Feb, and March.

[ExtraMSG]

Does anyone know the status of the permanent market? Last I heard they were thinking of placing it in the building next to where the Saturday Market is.

[chefrodrigo]

Does anyone know the status of the permanent market? Last I heard they were thinking of placing it in the building next to where the Saturday Market is.

The last I heard they still hadn't decided on a space and it sounded like it was still 2-3 years away.

Rodney

[ExtraMSG]

They're too busy trying to get a baseball team to come here and be unsuccessful.

[Alberts]

Thanks for the info.

Regarding the public market, they have a website www.portlandpublicmarket.com. I got on their mailing list, and there was word that a city council hearing would take place in the past week regarding the location of the market across the street from the Saturday Market. I don't know if it actually happened.

I love the idea of a community market year round, but I am afraid that the produce would be primarily wholesale stuff, much like Safeway. As I understand it, that is the situation with the Pike Place Market, very little being local.

[ExtraMSG]

I love the idea of a community market year round, but I am afraid that the produce would be primarily wholesale stuff, much like Safeway. As I understand it, that is the situation with the Pike Place Market, very little being local.

I think there'd have to be some concessions in the off-seasons. But I would hope they would regulate it in such a way that it was clearly trying to showcase Northwest products. Certainly some items such as meat, dairy, fish, and poultry could be local year-round. I imagine a good method would be some regulatory board that reviewed leases based on whether the vendors appeared to be making a good faith effort to sell local ingredients. You could also have requirements that half of all items sold must be local. That sort of thing. I would hope they would define local to give preference to Oregon, but also to give decreasing preference as you move out of Oregon geographically, so that items from Washington, Idaho, Northern California, British Columbia, etc, would get preference over items from Chile or Mexico. These types of things are hammered out in service level agreement contracts and the like everyday in businesses. I'm sure they could come up with something good enough to keep it from being Safeway with multiple vendors. The Farmer's Market and Saturday Market in Portland seem to have done a pretty good job.

I've never been to Pike Place in the winter. Does it suck?

[ExtraMSG]

Just looked at their website (thanks for the link). Looks like they haven't been very active lately. No newsletters on the site at least since April and nothing on the upcoming calendar. Not a good sign. It's been four years since they organized this thing. How come Taco Bell can put up a new restaurant in less than a month down the street, but it takes so long for something like this? Ugh. Too many comittees. They need a benefactor to come in and say he's going to do it and just get it done. Maybe instead of the James Beard Market it should be the Nike or Intel or Pacificorp or whatever-it-takes market.

[Alberts]

Interesting ideas.

I was in San Francisco over the summer at the Ferry Building Market, which has a refurbished interior, now with stalls for merchants. There was a wine store highlighting local wines, an olive oil kiosk for local oils (Sonoma Valley), as well as a butcher stall. I think that Cow Girls Creamery also had a semi-permanent stall.

It would great to see something like this in Portland, but built into a pre-existing structure. The new market planners are intending to construct a new building.

I have been to Pike Place in the winter and I love it just the same. I would never count on the market there for necessarily local goods, though.

[ExtraMSG]

Yeah, I went to Ferry Building Market this summer as well. Wasn't very filled out, but looked like it would be nice. That location for Slanted Door looked like it would great.

I'm just not sure what building they could use unless they displaced some existing businesses. Downtown and Pearl seem like the obvious locations, though.

[chefrodrigo]

What about that giant open building just behind Powells? I think its just used as a parking garage now. It's about the size of a football field inside.

rodney

[ExtraMSG]

What do you mean by "behind"? N, S, E, or W? There's Sur La Table and Mio Gelato to the W, right? Where's PF Chang's? Is that on the block with Sur La Table or Powell's? Obviously to the south there's stuff across Burnside. That'd be a terrible location over there anyway. And to the E, I think they have galleries and stuff now. Are they building some condos to the N of Powell's, or is there nothing there, or is that where PF Chang's is? For some reason I can't picture it. I wonder how happy Whole Foods would be if that moved in right there next to them. I guess in some ways it might help them since you wouldn't be able to get a lot of basics at the market. But their produce should drop through the floor in summer.

Edited November 21, 2003 by ExtraMSG (log)

[chefrodrigo]

This building is on the northside of Powells and east of the building that PF changs is in. Its tan and looks like an airplane hanger (sp?) inside. Its not a new building but probably one of the originals in that neighborhood.

rodney