Only the Looney: Maxwell St. Market at Dawn

Only the Looney: Maxwell St. Market at Dawn

Sometimes -- maybe you’ve had this experience – you find yourself wondering just what is wrong with you. For instance, what kind of obsessive-compulsive moonbat blows down to Maxwell St. Market on the coldest morning of this holiday season?

Last Sunday, instead of looking in the mirror to answer that question, I went to Canal Street as dawn clawed her way out of the permafrost with rosy fingers I now believe were likely raw with frostbite. I was there early enough that there were still cars dropping off stuff and moving up and down the street. Parking was excellent -- got a spot just north of Taylor.

It was really very cold.



I think this vendor was way optimistic about the number of folks who might be interested in picnic seating on a day like it was:



Anyway, I live indoors most of the time, so it was interesting, in a macabre way, to experience the excruciating discomfort of having my extremities go numb.

Honestly, I don’t know how these guys manage to make it into the stands - you know, set up, make food for almost no one -- and as it turned out, many of my favs (Oaxaca Tamal, Greenhouse and others) simply didn’t show.



Re: shopping, I made a really stupid f*cking mistake that I'll relate to you. I needed gloves -- that was actually the main reason I made the trip. I stopped at the first stand I came to, and the nice man had exactly the kind I wanted (black leather, Thinsulite). Mistake #1: I told the guy they were exactly the kind I wanted. The guy said ten bucks. Mistake #2: I said, through blue lips, that the price was right. Mistake #3: I bought them. 100 yards further south, I saw the same pair of gloves for five bucks. A Maxwell St. Market morality tale. Thus endeth the lesson.

David,

Isn't one of the Maxwell street maxims: "We cheat you fairly."

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:David,

Isn't one of the Maxwell street maxims: "We cheat you fairly."

Regards,

"The Cheat You Fair" -- though I didn't feel cheated. I could have bargained and should have. It was just so cold.

At high noon today, temps were creeping below zero at the Maxwell St. Market, so there was a lot of street parking just steps from the action, such as it was.



Unlike years past when the weather has been just about as merciless, there were significantly fewer vendors set up today. No more than 20, I’d say, maybe less.



Still, you have to kind of wonder why anyone would come at all on a day like today. However, if you have produce that’s getting riper, or if someone is paying you to be there, I guess you have no choice. Or maybe it’s that you just get into the habit, and it’s Sunday morning, and churches and temples are not part of your routine, so you go where you always go on that day.



The hawk was flying; it was horribly cold, the kind of unreal freeze that makes you think, yeah, if I had to spend a day in this wind and bluster, I’d be one cold corpse by quitting time. Yet, there were people at the market, as there are every Sunday, probably because, like me, they wanted to be.

Wow, David - I tip my hat to you. I thought longingly of the vats of champurrado for a minute this morning as I write in my warmest flannel pajamas, and then turned up the heat a notch.

Good for you; hope you came up with something exciting for your Christmas dinner...

David Hammond wrote: many of my favs (Oaxaca Tamal, Greenhouse and others) simply didn’t show.

Do you know if they sell those tamales anywhere other than the market? 'cause I need a fix but not bad enough to risk frostbite and also I won't be in town the next couple of Sundays.

David Hammond wrote: Re: shopping, I made a really stupid f*cking mistake that I'll relate to you. I needed gloves -- that was actually the main reason I made the trip. I stopped at the first stand I came to, and the nice man had exactly the kind I wanted (black leather, Thinsulite). Mistake #1: I told the guy they were exactly the kind I wanted. The guy said ten bucks. Mistake #2: I said, through blue lips, that the price was right. Mistake #3: I bought them. 100 yards further south, I saw the same pair of gloves for five bucks. A Maxwell St. Market morality tale. Thus endeth the lesson.

Last winter/spring, I went down there with the kids on a day that ended up being much colder than I'd anticipated. Since it was colder than I thought it would be, I needed to pick up a hat and gloves for the baby, so that's where I went first. I found some that I thought would fit, asked the lady how much. Six dollars, she told me. I thought, well, that's a little high for the market but I better get the kid warm. So I paid it without arguing. Then she came around the table to help me put them on the boy, and didn't like the way the gloves fit him, then insisted on throwing in a larger, warmer pair of gloves and would not let me pay for them.

I guess that's kind of what "cheat you fair" means to me.

JimTheBeerGuy wrote:

David Hammond wrote: many of my favs (Oaxaca Tamal, Greenhouse and others) simply didn’t show.

Do you know if they sell those tamales anywhere other than the market? 'cause I need a fix but not bad enough to risk frostbite and also I won't be in town the next couple of Sundays.

Oaxaca Tamal does not have a brick-and-mortar place; Greenhouse used to, I think, but I'm not sure where it was or if it's still open.

I forget what side of town you live on, but I think you're southwest, so you might try Manolo's (http://www.chicagoreader.com/cgi-bin/rr ... &numb=4055)

Tweeted about an hour ago:

LocalFamily Crackdown @ maxwell st - vendors carted off in 'cuffs

David Hammond wrote:Tweeted about an hour ago:

LocalFamily Crackdown @ maxwell st - vendors carted off in 'cuffs

per further updates from rob -- the vendors were selling counterfeit purses, not food.

At Maxwell St. Market today, I noticed two new churro stands, positioned back-to-back, one offering standard, prepared-before-hand-and-stored-in-a-plastic-box pastries, and the other serving somewhat fresher ("made recently") versions (ours was warm but lacked just-out-of-the-fryer crispiness).



The old blue van seems to be still extruding the dough and frying right before serving, which is really the best way to eat these beautiful babies.



Speaking of beauty, I noticed several vendors selling this quick and easy way to look like a flower child:

It was a beautiful day for running 26+ miles or wandering around Maxwell Street Market eating fried masa – I chose the latter.

If you remember the large tent labeled “Ricos Huaraches” at the “old” MSM on Canal, you might not recognize the new place, which is much smaller:



I bought a bandera that had been sitting in a pool of grease. Fortunately, the grease was apparently pretty fresh and the flavors were good though the food was a little...heavy. Due, in part, to the constrained space (only three tables instead of the huge space they used to have) the traffic seems limited so there was not a lot of movement and stuff sat around for a while, getting soggy…still, not bad, though I think they’ve raised the price. My huarache was $4.50.

I don’t believe I’d ever had a taco of costilla de salsa verde:



Flavor was excellent – tangy sauce balancing fatty rib meat – but it was way harder to eat than a pork chop sandwich: there were three rib bones hidden beneath cilantro and onion, so basically one must chew the tasty bones and eat the saucy taco separately, which seems kind of crazy.

Speaking of crazy, I love stuff like this, as it reminds me of the eccentric entrepreneurial jive I used to see at the Maxwell Street Market when it was still on Maxwell Street:

Management change at MSM, as reported in Sun-Time:

http://www.suntimes.com/news/cityhall/1 ... 20.article

Has the market closed this winter, or have they not been setting up if it's too cold lately? I could have sworn that in years past they were out there heat or cold, rain or shine (as evidenced by the posts and pictures above), but today I drove by at about 10 am and there was nary a soul to be seen. Same thing a couple of weeks ago.

Did you go by the right (new) location?

Hi,

I drove past on the expressway last weekend suggesting to my Mom going to Maxwell St as an alternative to Chinese breakfast. Going 60+ miles per hour, I didn't see a lot going on on the frontage road. I was wondering if there was an issue with cold weather, too.

(I know this statement would be far more usefull if I jumped off at Taylor/Roosevelt for a looksie.)

Regards,

Mike G wrote:Did you go by the right (new) location?

I was under the impression that it is now near Roosevelt and Des Plaines? Not that it matters, I drove all over, If it was happening I definitely would have seen it.

EDIT: I just spoke to my father and it turns out he tried to go as well - no luck. He stopped at Jim's for a Polish as he was leaving, and was told by the fellow there that the city will no longer allow the market to happen if they don't have enough vendors confirm that they will be there that day. If true, looks like the description earlier in this thread of a day when there were only twenty or so vendors is now a thing of the past.

Mister Beefhead wrote:

Mike G wrote:Did you go by the right (new) location?

I was under the impression that it is now near Roosevelt and Des Plaines? Not that it matters, I drove all over, If it was happening I definitely would have seen it.

EDIT: I just spoke to my father and it turns out he tried to go as well - no luck. He stopped at Jim's for a Polish as he was leaving, and was told by the fellow there that the city will no longer allow the market to happen if they don't have enough vendors confirm that they will be there that day. If true, looks like the description earlier in this thread of a day when there were only twenty or so vendors is now a thing of the past.

MSM is on Desplaines, north of Roosevelt to almost the expressway. I peered down Desplaines today (admittedly from a distance -- headed into city on Green Line), and I didn't see anything, though I was hoping my eyes were decieving me.

That certainly makes it sound like the city is trying to kill Maxwell Street by discouraging vendors, then declaring that the vendors themselves have a lack of demand, doesn't it?

i drove through the market today, driving down taylor street. vendors were set up on either side of taylor on desplaines. (taylor is one block north of roosevelt). yes, it was cold and there werent as many people darting in front of my car and parking illegally as usual, but they were there. there were also many cars parked illegally(but the police dont seem to ticket them) on roosevelt, for several blocks west of the market. justjoan

justjoan wrote:i drove through the market today, driving down taylor street. vendors were set up on either side of taylor on desplaines. (taylor is one block north of roosevelt). yes, it was cold and there werent as many people darting in front of my car and parking illegally as usual, but they were there. there were also many cars parked illegally(but the police dont seem to ticket them) on roosevelt, for several blocks west of the market. justjoan

Thanks for visual confirmation, justjoan. Glad to hear it was just a scaled back day at MSM.