Vista, north of and just outside of the city of San Diego, claims to have the oldest, longest running Farmers Market in the county.
I found it to have all of the great stalls and vendors of the Wednesday night’s Ocean Beach Farmers Market… with none of the funny cigarettes… ha.
What better way to kick off a weekend visit to outdoor markets than eating A Stuffed Hash Brown, or as I will now call it, Serious Competition For All Breakfast Burritos! My breakfast was the “Egg Head,” and I don’t know how they got that much bacon in there, but mmmmmm is all I can say. The Husband was equally pleased with his “Speedy” full of carne asada, pico de gallo, cheese and avocado. You can go to SpudzPotato.com and see where they will be next.
Other specialty vendors include The Brothery selling bone broth- very tasty I thought. Bone broth has become one of the latest health crazes, which kinds of amuses me since most of our grandmothers have been making it since time began. God have mercy on me if my father ever caught me throwing out the carcass of my Thanksgiving turkey instead of turning it into soup! If you don’t make your own broth (after you’ve carved up a baked or rotisserie chicken put the remaining skin, bones, and bits into a large pot; cover with 6-8 quarts of water; simmer for 3, 4, or more hours; strain and refrigerate the broth to use for soups or to sip when you have a sore throat or cough), The Brothery (at TheFlavorChef.com) is available in several local health foods stores and the Vista Farmers Market.
This location is large enough to support two different bands on opposite ends of the market without stomping on each other’s musical footprint or the listening crowd’s earspace.
Beautiful piles of fruits and vegetables poured out of baskets and across tables from the farmers’ stalls. My brain sluggish recall is that the prices seem on a par with most local grocery stores for organics grown locally. This leads me to believe that if Whole Foods is selling organic locally grown red seedless grapes for $3.99/lb, same as the farmers market, then the farmers are cutting out the middleman at these markets and keeping more of the profit for themselves. And as I understand it, they work on thin profit margins.
My favorite purchases today, besides those stuffed hashbrowns, are the cocoa dusted almonds and the Mexican Chocolate Almond Butter we picked up from Hopkins AG (also at the Ocean Beach Farmers Market), and a beautifully delicious baguette from my now favorite boulanger- Le Rendez-Vous. Nothing beats dusting off your French skills and purchasing a baguette en même temps. Chouette! He sells at the Welk Market on Mondays, and the tiny Carmel Valley Market on Thursdays if you want to track down Le Rendez-Vous.
branching out... on a limb 