MercatoMaestra's Profile
food events in San Diego
Celebrate the Craft is one of the best events in town. Also San Diego Bay Wine and Food Festival at the Embarcadero in November (maybe the 15th this year? for the Grand Tasting) a tons of chefs, lots of wine. Not until next spring now, but Mama's Day for Mama's Kitchen always has a great group of chefs too.
New Farmer's Market-Little Italy SD
And yes, pickypicky, isn't Springhill Farms wonderful? They grow the feed for the livestock and make the cheese in Petaluma. The farmer's niece lives here in San Diego and he ships to her each week.
New Farmer's Market-Little Italy SD
I'm going to assume you really were in Little Italy since you mention Rey Knight. Perhaps you think each block of tables is only one farmer? Because the first week we opened, in June, we had Lone Oak Ranch, Kawano Farms, Gama Farms, Koral Tropicals, Polito Family Farm and one other farmer (strawberries, watermelon and more - around August he quit having enough crops to particpate due to reduced water allocation). That is the smallest number of farmers we've ever had selling produce. Assuming from the date of the OP you were there in late September. Since late June/early July we've also had Campbell Ranch, Rainbow Heights, Sage Mountain Farm, Santiago Soto and JR Organics, Schaner Farms, Smit Orchards and Suncoast Farms participating each week. Along with small, short-season farmers that come in just for a matter of weeks. I have to log which farms are there each week so I have records for any week you could have been there.
Maybe you define produce differently than we do? We're talking fruits and vegetables, right? Did you make it to the north side of the street, and from India to Columbia to State Street?
Again, you have every right not to love the Mercato, but these dozen-plus farmers get up early, haul produce to downtown San Diego and set up each week. It's simply not true there are only three of them there.
Breakfasts and Lunch in Downtown SD/Gaslamp?
I'd second Cafe 222 and the Cheese Shop. Cafe Chloe serves a wonderful breakfast daily as well.
New Farmer's Market-Little Italy SD
Buonasera! I'm going to be careful what I say since I know there are guidelines regarding comments on your own business and I am the Little Italy Mercato developer and manager. I did want to correct some factual information in Honkman's post, though.
While I'm sorry you didn't like the Mercato, and suppose that's a subjective thing, this info is simply not true: "Finally had the chance to go to the Little Italy Farmers Market two weekends ago... There were just three vendors with produce, only one of them organic, one from Central Valley which I wouldn't call local, one sold a lot of stuff which looked not ripe etc. "
That weekend there were 13 certified growers selling produce on the north side of Date Street, in our designated Certified Farmers' Market portion of the Mercato. Many of those do grow their produce organically, though I believe only 3 are Certified Organic. (Some of our most dedicated farmers balk at what they see as capricious bureaucratic regulations in the certification process.) Almost all are from San Diego County or southwestern RIverside County (Temecula etc). While we should rightly be able to include Mexican farms in a 100-mile diet here, we don't since they aren't certified CA growers.
I could also respond to some of the comments about certification, home grown produce and the economics of farming and farmers' markets, but again I'm not sure about the restrictions of commenting when I'm an involved business.
Mangia bene!
