Ferry Plaza Market, San Francisco

[chezcherie]

don't save your oyster binge for swan. binge twice. once at hog island, and once at swan. word. (and don't forget, as the lovely gentleman next to me on my last visit did, that swan is cash only.)

[rancho_gordo]

The Tuesday market is much smaller so you really need to visit on Saturday to get the full effect. If you're cooking here, my favorites are greens at Star Route are famous, potatoes from David Little, bread from Della Fattoria, apples from Stan deVoto, rice from Massa, assorted vegetables from Catalan Farms, and of course I hear the beans from Rancho Gordo are worth the lines!

The Doc is being very kind. Unfortunately, I've "retired" from the market as I've actually grown too big for my britches (literally and figuratively) so I only make special guest appearances now. Joan and Sarah are much nicer (and prettier) and they will serve you well.

[mukki]

If you visit the Sat. market, definitely try some of Soyoung Scanlan's cheeses (Andante Dairy). Delicious cheese and very hard to get hold of outside the Bay Area.

More info:

Andante Dairy

[jsmeeker]

Lots of people really like the Charles Phan restaurant The Slanted Door. That's Vietnamese (mainly). I've never been; apparently there's always a line.

←

The Slanted Door is crazy, crazy popular. Always busy. Can be tough to get a table there.

If you like cocktails, I urge you to check out the bar. Really fantastic work going on there.

[grayelf]

The Tuesday market is much smaller so you really need to visit on Saturday to get the full effect. If you're cooking here, my favorites are greens at Star Route are famous, potatoes from David Little, bread from Della Fattoria, apples from Stan deVoto, rice from Massa, assorted vegetables from Catalan Farms, and of course I hear the beans from Rancho Gordo are worth the lines!

The Doc is being very kind. Unfortunately, I've "retired" from the market as I've actually grown too big for my britches (literally and figuratively) so I only make special guest appearances now. Joan and Sarah are much nicer (and prettier) and they will serve you well.

←

Did I read that right? No more Rancho Gordo at the Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market? Not even on Saturdays? I can't tell you how many directives I have received to visit your booth, and now that I am coming to SF in mid-April, I hear this? May have to rethink the entire visit... Seriously, though, might one of your special appearances happen to be on April 19?

edited to fix typo in date of visit

Edited March 14, 2008 by grayelf (log)

[jenc]

Cowgirl Creamery Mt. Tam cheese. Really yummy. And then Comte, because I love it.

Barbeque the dude carving the pork from a truck on the side. Yummy.

Cookies/Dessert place pass on the macarons from that sweet shop. do try the nougat. It's harder than I like at first, but it grows on you.

That nouveau japanese place has interesting things to see. depends on your taste if you'll like it though!

If I could just get through my napa photos, I'd be able to show you my shots from all these places T_T And you know, details, names, etc.

[Carolyn Tillie]

The Tuesday market is much smaller so you really need to visit on Saturday to get the full effect. If you're cooking here, my favorites are greens at Star Route are famous, potatoes from David Little, bread from Della Fattoria, apples from Stan deVoto, rice from Massa, assorted vegetables from Catalan Farms, and of course I hear the beans from Rancho Gordo are worth the lines!

The Doc is being very kind. Unfortunately, I've "retired" from the market as I've actually grown too big for my britches (literally and figuratively) so I only make special guest appearances now. Joan and Sarah are much nicer (and prettier) and they will serve you well.

←

Did I read that right? No more Rancho Gordo at the Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market? Not even on Saturdays? I can't tell you how many directives I have received to visit your booth, and now that I am coming to SF in mid-April, I hear this? May have to rethink the entire visit... Seriously, though, might one of your special appearances happen to be on April 19?

edited to fix typo in date of visit

←

The booth and the product are still there -- more than aptly manned by his trusty side-kick, Joan. But the Man Himself, Steve Sando, I believe is now taking weekends off after working 7-days a week for the past five or six years...

[grayelf]

The Tuesday market is much smaller so you really need to visit on Saturday to get the full effect. If you're cooking here, my favorites are greens at Star Route are famous, potatoes from David Little, bread from Della Fattoria, apples from Stan deVoto, rice from Massa, assorted vegetables from Catalan Farms, and of course I hear the beans from Rancho Gordo are worth the lines!

The Doc is being very kind. Unfortunately, I've "retired" from the market as I've actually grown too big for my britches (literally and figuratively) so I only make special guest appearances now. Joan and Sarah are much nicer (and prettier) and they will serve you well.

←

Did I read that right? No more Rancho Gordo at the Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market? Not even on Saturdays? I can't tell you how many directives I have received to visit your booth, and now that I am coming to SF in mid-April, I hear this? May have to rethink the entire visit... Seriously, though, might one of your special appearances happen to be on April 19?

edited to fix typo in date of visit

←

The booth and the product are still there -- more than aptly manned by his trusty side-kick, Joan. But the Man Himself, Steve Sando, I believe is now taking weekends off after working 7-days a week for the past five or six years...

←

Many thanks for the clarification. While it would have been great to meet Mr Bean (sorry, couldn't resist) himself, I'm sure Joan can help us out.

[CaliPoutine]

The Tuesday market is much smaller so you really need to visit on Saturday to get the full effect. If you're cooking here, my favorites are greens at Star Route are famous, potatoes from David Little, bread from Della Fattoria, apples from Stan deVoto, rice from Massa, assorted vegetables from Catalan Farms, and of course I hear the beans from Rancho Gordo are worth the lines!

The Doc is being very kind. Unfortunately, I've "retired" from the market as I've actually grown too big for my britches (literally and figuratively) so I only make special guest appearances now. Joan and Sarah are much nicer (and prettier) and they will serve you well.

←

Did I read that right? No more Rancho Gordo at the Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market? Not even on Saturdays? I can't tell you how many directives I have received to visit your booth, and now that I am coming to SF in mid-April, I hear this? May have to rethink the entire visit... Seriously, though, might one of your special appearances happen to be on April 19?

edited to fix typo in date of visit

←

The booth and the product are still there -- more than aptly manned by his trusty side-kick, Joan. But the Man Himself, Steve Sando, I believe is now taking weekends off after working 7-days a week for the past five or six years...

←

Many thanks for the clarification. While it would have been great to meet Mr Bean (sorry, couldn't resist) himself, I'm sure Joan can help us out.

←

Wow, I guess it was my lucky day back in September when I met Steve on a Saturday.

[grayelf]

The Tuesday market is much smaller so you really need to visit on Saturday to get the full effect. If you're cooking here, my favorites are greens at Star Route are famous, potatoes from David Little, bread from Della Fattoria, apples from Stan deVoto, rice from Massa, assorted vegetables from Catalan Farms, and of course I hear the beans from Rancho Gordo are worth the lines!

The Doc is being very kind. Unfortunately, I've "retired" from the market as I've actually grown too big for my britches (literally and figuratively) so I only make special guest appearances now. Joan and Sarah are much nicer (and prettier) and they will serve you well.

←

Did I read that right? No more Rancho Gordo at the Ferry Plaza Farmers' Market? Not even on Saturdays? I can't tell you how many directives I have received to visit your booth, and now that I am coming to SF in mid-April, I hear this? May have to rethink the entire visit... Seriously, though, might one of your special appearances happen to be on April 19?

edited to fix typo in date of visit

←

The booth and the product are still there -- more than aptly manned by his trusty side-kick, Joan. But the Man Himself, Steve Sando, I believe is now taking weekends off after working 7-days a week for the past five or six years...

←

Many thanks for the clarification. While it would have been great to meet Mr Bean (sorry, couldn't resist) himself, I'm sure Joan can help us out.

←

Wow, I guess it was my lucky day back in September when I met Steve on a Saturday.

←

I don't know when Sr Steve stopped working weekends (sounds like it was well deserved though) but I must say I was looking forward to meeting him after hearing so many good things about him and reading his great posts. Guess I'll have to head to Napa again one of these days...

[robert40]

Very glad I got to meet Steve last July. Great guy and outstanding product.

[Carolyn Tillie]

I don't know when Sr Steve stopped working weekends (sounds like it was well deserved though) but I must say I was looking forward to meeting him after hearing so many good things about him and reading his great posts. Guess I'll have to head to Napa again one of these days...

←

The first of the year...

[rancho_gordo]

Thanks all!

I'm still working a lot but I really got burnt out on doing so many markets. I now mostly work just 5 days a week. It's such an odd concept. But I do go in about once a month.

Unfortunately mid April I'm doing that IACP conference in New Orleans so I think that won't be in the city on April 19th. But Joan, Sarah or Dan will take very good care of you! Remind right before you come so we can make a fuss.

You know, several years ago when I was still new and fresh and not so grey haired, we had a huge bay area eGullet get together at Carolyn Tillie's house in Napa. I'm in touch with most everybody still! I couldn't get into the SF market then and was doing lots of smaller markets. And how many dozens of eGulleters I've met now thanks to the markets. I get a little sentimental thinking about it! But no so much that I'll give up sleeping in on Saturdays!

[grayelf]

Thanks all!

I'm still working a lot but I really got burnt out on doing so many markets. I now mostly work just 5 days a week. It's such an odd concept. But I do go in about once a month.

Unfortunately mid April I'm doing that IACP conference in New Orleans so I think that won't be in the city on April 19th. But Joan, Sarah or Dan will take very good care of you!  Remind right before you come so we can make a fuss.

You know, several years ago when I was still new and fresh and not so grey haired, we had a huge bay area eGullet get together at Carolyn Tillie's house in Napa. I'm in touch with most everybody still! I couldn't get into the SF market then and was doing lots of smaller markets. And how many dozens of eGulleters I've met now thanks to the markets. I get a little sentimental thinking about it! But no so much that I'll give up sleeping in on Saturdays!

←

I've never met another person who posts on or reads eGullet -- I guess I'll have to settle for the virtual Rancho Gordo but since I just discovered you have a great blog that should be enough Will definitely look up the RG staffers in April though. Enjoy your Saturday sleep ins!

Edited March 17, 2008 by grayelf (log)

[Shaya]

After reading all the enthusiastic posts on this and related threads, we chose to spend our layover time on our way to Los Cabos (see here for details of that trip ) in San Francisco here at the Ferry Plaza Market. We had a few hours leading up to our dinner reservation at A16, and here is a little of what we did...

A sampling of fresh oysters at the oyster bar - delicious

Thick and creamy Greek yogurt with nuts and honey

Buying cheeses, fresh potato chips and bread for our week in Los Cabos

Needless to say we really enjoyed some fine sandwiches while spending our days on the beaches in Los Cabos!

And of course, no visit to the Market is complete without chasing down the pigeons!