Any Reports on Oak Park and Green City Markets?

Does anyone have an update on the Oak Park or Green City Markets, in terms of the really good things popping up for sale in the last few weeks? Just curious? I plan on making a trip to both this Saturday, and wondered if anything has been surprisingly good or outstanding in the last week?

At the Saturday morning GCM in Lincoln Park we've gotten several items we've really enjoyed over the past several weeks:

• little red new potatoes from Nichols, as described here:
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=4824

• baby eggplants at Nichols, baby bitter greens (spigarielle, bietolini) at Kinnikinnick, as discussed here:
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=4678

• fresh shallots and red onions at Nichols

We didn't make it last week but perhaps will tomorrow; those new potatoes were fabulous.

Antonius

I'd have liked to think that someone reads my Oak Park market reports...

http://www.vitalinformation.blogspot.com/

I visit the Nichols stand every Tuesday morning. This past week, they had the season's first lima beans. It took The Lovely Donna and I forever to shuck 9 pounds of them.

And the white corn can't be beat.

MJN wrote:Does anyone have an update on the Oak Park or Green City Markets, in terms of the really good things popping up for sale in the last few weeks? Just curious? I plan on making a trip to both this Saturday, and wondered if anything has been surprisingly good or outstanding in the last week?

this week's report is here:

http://vitalinformation.blogspot.com/20 ... arket.html

Ann Fisher guest blogs the Oak Park Farmer's market this week with a dousy of a post.

http://vitalinformation.blogspot.com/20 ... rmers.html

Not nearly as artful or as poetic as Ann Fisher's report, but the latest from the Oak Park Farmer's Market is here:

http://vitalinformation.blogspot.com/20 ... arket.html

Not Ann Fisher, but my report of the latest Oak Park market is up.

http://vitalinformation.blogspot.com/20 ... arket.html

I have been shoping and stocking up but not blogging. Here's an overdue market report:

http://vitalinformation.blogspot.com/20 ... us-un.html

The Oak Park Farmer's Market wrapped up this week. Unlike previous years, it remained fully stocked all the way to the end. I'm not sure if the food tasted so good this year because of my new full committment to "eating local", the hot weather, or something else. This week's apples were as good as last week's pears, as prior weeks grapes, and berries, peaches, and appricots, cherries from strawberries to the earliest rhubarb which is the one fruit which is really a vegetable. Same thing on the other side of the aisle. From the first asparagus to still vibrant fall vegs like rhutabagas and califlower, the VI family fully enjoyed taking in our vitamins. Some may say the best thing going in Chicago is the avante-garde, Aliniea, Moto and Avenues. To me, the best thing is the retrograde, the farmer's markets.

See here for more.

Rob

Vital Information wrote:To me, the best thing is the retrograde, the farmer's markets.

Indeed.

There always a period of adjustment from late summer vegetable bounty to the more limited autumnal offerings, but that sense of loss is intensified for me this year on account of the successes of our own garden.

Our farmers' market ended last week and he still had some good tomatoes, though one had to pick through a lot to get them... I savoured the last pa amb tomàquet and the last fresh tomato sauce this week (and they were still pretty darn good), but it was, after all, at a surprisingly late date...

He also had some nice Brussels sprouts... New season, new vegetables, but no more farmers' market...

Antonius

Sorry if I missed this in your posts, VI, but what are folks' recommendations on cooked chow? I'm going next Saturday to the opening and I won't have time for lunch (so many appointments!). So besides the fresh donut at the church, does anyone know who usually cooks up tasty chow at the Oak Park Farmer's Market that I can eat on the way out? (I'm not including fresh fruit & veggies, as those will become dinner.)
Thanks

Pie Lady wrote:Sorry if I missed this in your posts, VI, but what are folks' recommendations on cooked chow? I'm going next Saturday to the opening and I won't have time for lunch (so many appointments!). So besides the fresh donut at the church, does anyone know who usually cooks up tasty chow at the Oak Park Farmer's Market that I can eat on the way out? (I'm not including fresh fruit & veggies, as those will become dinner.)
Thanks

no ready to eat food as far as I recall. must be against the rules.

Pie Lady wrote:Sorry if I missed this in your posts, VI, but what are folks' recommendations on cooked chow? I'm going next Saturday to the opening and I won't have time for lunch (so many appointments!). So besides the fresh donut at the church, does anyone know who usually cooks up tasty chow at the Oak Park Farmer's Market that I can eat on the way out? (I'm not including fresh fruit & veggies, as those will become dinner.)
Thanks

Assuming that you really aren't going to just buy ONE donut, and you can deal with the blood sugar spike of the carbs afterwards, you might be surprised at how many donuts you're gonna scarf down. They are GOOOD. If I recall correctly, isn't there usually a seller of prepackaged goods too? Like a cheese / jam seller, maybe? A (ahem)"couple" of donuts, a few cheese chunks might make a decent lunch. Other than that, a few blocks west on Lake is a grease joint named Tasty Dog that has a drive through. It's a "salad on a bun" type place (which I tend to enjoy - even though most think it's heresy) lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, pickles, relish, onions, peppers, mustard is a standard hot dog w/ everything there.

You're right, there were no ready-to-eat prepared foods.
But those donuts...holy cow. I bought two, thinking I'd save one for Pie Dude...

The universally available items at the Oak Park market this weekend were asparagus and rhubarb, both beautiful. Asparagus became my bed for broiling Italian sausage, rhubarb became a delicious crisp with lemon zest, ginger, and brown sugar. Brunkow curds as fresh and squeaky as ever. Donuts sublime, though somehow nobody ate any of the dozen we brought to a barbecue (though perhaps that was because there were enough Uncle John's tips and links for 50 people, and we were but 11).

I bought strawberries this morning at Evanston Farmers Market, as well as rhubarb, morels, cavolo nero (black kale), pear butter from Seedlings, duck eggs, and fingerlings.

Wasn't expecting to see the berries, but apparently they were grown under a plastic tarp.

If there were a dish that involved asparagus and strawberries, it would have been the salvation for Green City Market yesterday, as plenty of both were on hand. A little sunshine might have helped too; we were among the hardy few in a decidedly sparse crowd.

I stopped by a new cheese vendor, Saxon Homestead Creamery, variously recommended by the likes of Michael Morowitz and Mike Sula. We sampled our way down the line and to our surprise, even the 7-year-old voted for the slightly funky raw milk Green Fields cheese, as well as one called Evalon LaClare Farm cheese.



At Cafe Floriole we got something to nosh— in this humidity, the crusts were soggy but the good stuff in the middle was still plenty good, I was very happy with a little goat cheese and green onions. A moment later I spotted something else someone (I think Monica Eng) had recommended:



Apple cider donuts! Okay, I don't think I went quite as gaga for them as she did, but they didn't exactly last long, either.



By the time I got to Fruitslinger's stand I had three quarts of strawberries, so I didn't really have any need to buy any more from him, but we chatted for a moment. I asked him about the fraises des bois (wild strawberries; they were planted, as a sort of cliffhanger, last year on his blog and they turned up recently on his Twitter feed.) He said ten minutes earlier Mark Mendez from Carnivale had bought everything he had. Then he searched around and produced one for me to try. Tart, not that different from the other strawberries. Wait another week or two, he said. When they're good... his eyes rolled back in his head. (Here's what happened to them at Carnivale.)

Got some green tomatoes from Growing Power, I'll make fried green tomatoes in a day or two. Got a new glass bear full of that great black raspberry honey, some pork shoulder and hamburger from a new beef supplier, some eggs (all sold out closest to the parking lot, still available closer in). We went home, damp but happy. Tonight I made strawberry shortcake, tomorrow a strawberry-rhubarb pie and probably an asparagus tart.

Oak Park yesterday had strawberries and asparagus everywhere and bummed growers sorry that they'd gotten up at 3:30 given how few customers there were in the heavy rain.

I had a discussion with one of the growers about what it would take to get some really sweet berries this year. His answer was warmer weather. The first cherries I've seen were available, very good. Tomatoes, not yet summer perfect but pretty good. Oh, and huge tomato plants, already in flower, for $5. I knew I procrastinated for a reason!

I came made the first BLT of the season, with Red Hen chiabatta, the tomatoes, Wettstein's bacon, and great leaf lettuce from Genesis. Wonderful!

Continuing my Green City post...



I made a strawberry rhubarb pie with some of it— but not the asparagus, of course.  For that, first I made a paté brisee, then I blanched and cooled one bunch of asparagus.  I sauteed some prosciutto and onion, added some flour and water from the asparagus, and made a sort of roux with it, letting it cool and adding some lemon zest:



A layer of each...



...topped with gruyere, then another layer of each:



Close the crust, seal with an egg wash:



And it makes a wonderful summery-tasting French tourte.



The recipe comes from Susan Herrman Loomis' French Farmhouse Cookbook, which I've always enjoyed as an unthreatening intro to French cooking, all very rustic and approachable.

Mike G wrote:I stopped by a new cheese vendor, Saxon Homestead Creamery, variously recommended by the likes of Michael Morowitz and Mike Sula. We sampled our way down the line and to our surprise, even the 7-year-old voted for the slightly funky raw milk Green Fields cheese, as well as one called Evalon LaClare Farm cheese.

I like Saxon cheeses a lot, as they all have a remarkably fresh and creamy taste where the quality of the milk really shines through. The one problem I have found, however, is that they don't hold up to storage as well as other cheeses - once cut from the wheel, you really need to eat these cheeses within a day or two. It's not that they spoil, but that they seem to lose a lot of moisture, rendering them a bit unpleasantly dry. I've tried many storage methods, including the website-recommended process of removing the wrapper, rubbing with oil, and storing in a ridged tupperware container. That helps, but I still recommend consuming these cheese relatively quickly after purchase (unless you are purchasing a whole wheel with the rind).

Best thing this last week at Oak Park was shelled English peas. Two big scoops for $4. I put some in a soup, but mostly I've just been eating them out of the bag like popcorn. Wonderful!

fleurdesel wrote:I bought strawberries this morning at Evanston Farmers Market, as well as rhubarb, morels, cavolo nero (black kale), pear butter from Seedlings, duck eggs, and fingerlings.

Which farmer's market was this, do you remember? There are two in Evanston this year, but I always went to the one on University Drive near Green Bay.

seebee wrote:Other than that, a few blocks west on Lake is a grease joint named Tasty Dog that has a drive through. It's a "salad on a bun" type place (which I tend to enjoy - even though most think it's heresy) lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, pickles, relish, onions, peppers, mustard is a standard hot dog w/ everything there.

I tried a Tasty Dog today. Mine was served with lettuce, tomatoes, pickle slices, cucumber slices, mustard, and onions. No relish or sport peppers. The hotdog was cold, the bun slightly stale. The price was $4.19 for a hotdog with fries. It sucked.

Cogito wrote:

seebee wrote:Other than that, a few blocks west on Lake is a grease joint named Tasty Dog that has a drive through. It's a "salad on a bun" type place (which I tend to enjoy - even though most think it's heresy) lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, pickles, relish, onions, peppers, mustard is a standard hot dog w/ everything there.

I tried a Tasty Dog today. Mine was served with lettuce, tomatoes, pickle slices, cucumber slices, mustard, and onions. No relish or sport peppers. The hotdog was cold, the bun slightly stale. The price was $4.19 for a hotdog with fries. It sucked.

Without going into it, several on the staff there are incredibly careless, self-absorbed [nouns] that should never be in the service industry, much less the food service industry. If you don't take pride in a business and support what they do and their product, DON'T APPLY FOR A JOB THERE. Hot dogs there do indeed suck, and from my perspective, careless personnel is why.

Donuts


Rubarb


Shallots


Turnips


Herbs


Asparagus


Flowers


Beet Sprouts


More Flowers


More Flowers

Green City Market was very crowded today by 9AM in spite of the threatening skies (to say nothing of the rapture!).

I grabbed some lovely purple asparagus and rhubarb, missed out on the last piece of an awesome tasting piece of Ewe's Bloom from Prairie Fruit Farm (dang alarm clock), found excellent looking thyme, tarragon and a hopefully good green zebra tomato plants. Decent bacon from Mint Creek. A real find: Beef Bones (aka Osso Bucco) with what looks to be like a fine hunk of marrow and some serious beef from Dietzler, a steal @ $2/lb. We'll see how they cook up.

The food demo from Chef Melissa Trimmer of C-House was excellent, aside from the fact that she verbally slammed celery (plants around the universe cringed). But she taught me to string rhubarb, something I've never done to anything except, yeah, my celery and my banjos.

All in all, a good day and we beat the rain!

The Wettsteins are having a sale on their great meat at the Oak Park market this week and next. Here's the email. I can recommend everything! That sale on their incredible ham hocks is particularly impressive. I also love the bags of backs and ribs. Emailing what you want is always smart.

We are having a SALE on our larger Whole Chickens any chicken 5# or larger is reduced $1.00 a pound, so that means that the larger birds are now $3.50 a pound. Also we have plenty of backs and ribs for $1.00 a pound for broth or deboning. I also have extra Cured Pork Hocks or Fresh Hocks that would be great with beans will be on SALE for 1/2 price. These are now $2.00 a pound. The Beef Roasts - Arm, Chuck, Sirloin Tip, and Rolled Rump will be $1.00 a pound less per pound. Please let me know what you would like so I am sure to bring enough up. Can you tell I am begging so that you folks will order a whole bunch. Please let me know by email. dennis@wettsteinorganicfarm.com