Marvelous Martinez Sunday Farmers Market – Moon glow pears, Polish garlic, Chinese pink garlic and Nuernberger’s German Bakery

[rworange]

NUERNBERGER'S GERMAN BAKERY sells at a few farmers markets like Concord. They are currently looking for a storefront. Right now they are only selling cookies, but in about a month they will be selling German bread.

The very nice owner said he sources his ingredients from Germany. I had a sample of an iced spice cookie (sorry forgot the name). It was very good. I’ve bought these cookies before imported, but it is amazing how tasty a fresh, well-crafted version can be.

Other noteworthy vendors that I haven’t seen before.

Love, love, love … love … ROSE LANE FARMS from Oakley.

They had the Moon Glow pears. I haven’t tried them yet as they need to ripen.

They also had the Polish garlic and Chinese pink garlic … being Polish … well, had to buy it. The Chinese garlic was tinged pink. Will try soon.

Beautiful tomatoes … beautiful …all colors and flavors of cherry tomatoes ... purplish, green, orange, red, pink and even pale ivory. The tomatoes were delicious.

MEE VANG FARM had the prettiest Asian veggies I have ever seen … ever. So prettythat for $1 I bought a huge bunch of spectacular amaranth … some leaves deep green and some intensely scarlet … even though I had no clue what to do with them

Ideas for amaranth - aka African spinach, callaloo, Indian spinach, tampala
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/545459#

The equally gorgeous basil, also $1 for a huge bunch, perfumed that part of the street and my car on the drive home. They had the most beautiful tiny yellow peppers that were still attached to the leaves. Great pea shoots and perfect bird chilies.

GRANNY JAN'S HOMEMADE FUDGE was just what I was craving. Recently I was thinking it was hard to find good fudge. They sell small pieces for $1. It was very nice. I probably didn’t do it justice as it melted a bit in the hot car. It reminded me of the chocolate frosting that Just Desserts once put on their chocolate cakes in the early days … and I loved that chocolate cake.

Another bakery I haven’t seen before is EDITH'S BAKING COMPANY from Modesto. They had loaves of bread and rolls. Didn’t try anything though.

PAREDEZ FARMS had delicious Albion strawberries for $2.50 a basket. Considering that I haven’t seen strawberries for less than $4 at other markets … this was quite the deal.

Other vendors from the Martinez Market's Vendor List
http://www.cccfm.org/pages/vendors_martinez.htm

Alhambra Valley Farms
Calderon Farms
Cottage Kitchen
Diaz Farms
J & J Farms
J & M Ibarra Farms
Mehl Berry Farms
Mora Farms
Ortiz Farms
Ruvalcaba Nursery
Swank Farms
Upper Crust Baking Co.

Martinez had the vendor trifecta of …

East West Gourmet – Bolani Afghan Food
Quick-n-Ezee Indian Food
MJ Kettle Corn

It isn’t a farmers market without at least one.

This is really a pleasant farmers market along two shady blocks of Main Street. The produce vendors border Estudillo, the prepared food Alhambra. Parking on Castro or the lot on Castro in back of Bulldog BBQ puts you right in the middle.

And if you park in the lot, wander across the street to take a gander at the beaver dam

The Bitter Beaver Battle
http://209.85.141.104/search?q=cache:...

There was an excellent guitar player as music. Bulldog BBQ, Victoria Cafe and La Tapatia (with outdoor tables) are open. La Tapatia which looks sort of slick and hasn’t gotten great reviews on yelp, but DOES have 100 tequillas. They also just started an all-you-can-eat champagne buffet and one of the tables seemed to be enjoying it. The buffet is both Mexican and American. The waffle looked good.

Starbuck’s is open on one end of the market. Luigi’s 99 Cent & Up store has a good soft drink selection. They have sidewalk tables. You can also pick up a beaver doll or t-shirt there.

I really like this market. It has a lot of good vendors I ‘d like to explore more.

There's a sense of community. People seem to know each other and there's a little color. The people who were taking their bull cobra snake for a Sunday stroll ... it enjoyed a little romp (if snakes romp) in one of the street planters ... were telling Luigi that his kids made the Sunday paper (in a good way).

It is not crowded and rushed like most markets. Very relaxed.

It’s only a little more of a drive for me than Saturday El Cerrito and I’m thinking I may shift to shopping here for a while.

-----
Bulldog BBQ
601 Main St, Martinez, CA 94553

La Tapatia
536 Main Street, Martinez, CA

Sunday Martinez Farmers Market
600 Main Street, Martinez, CA

Luigi's 99 Cents & Up
680 Castro St, Martinez, CA

[rworange]

I'm really liking this farmers market. The prices are lower than most markets. Even Iberra was less expensive than at El Cerrito. The quality of vendors is better than most markets with the exception of the top markets. Also, it is just so relaxed and pleasant.

This weeks finds were The Cottage Kitchen jams and jellies and Sindirich dry-farmed Bartlett pears.

The pears were quite the deal at $2 lb. There were three boxes with three stages of ripeness. The vendor picked out a stellar pear for me to eat today and it was just perfect, the beautiful yellow skin not marred by a dot of blemish. It was exactly at the right ripeness to enjoy ... juicy, sweet with deep flavor and everything good about Bartlet pears.

Cottage Kitchen had lemon curd, three pepper jellies and over a dozen fruit jellies.

The lemon curd and Royal Blenham apricot jelly samples were good, but the standout was the jalapeno pepper, slightly sweet with a nice kick of heat. There was also sweet red pepper jelly and peach pepper jelly .

The other fruit flavors: apricot & rhubarb, blueberry & apricot, blueberry & orange, boysenberry, olallieberry, peach & strawberry, pear (Alhambra Valley), raspberry & peach, rhubarb, strawberry & rhubarb, tayberry, white nectarine & plum, California sunshine jelly.

They sell every other weekend at Martinez.

There was a cooking demo ... well, in this case it was panzanella, Italian bread salad, which involved mixing fresh veggies, bread, olive oil and vinegar. It was a tasty sample. They even had recipe sheets.

The music was classical guitar and flute this week. There was a stand dedicated to "maintaining the Martinez beavers through responsible stewardship" because the beavers are 'worth a dam".

BTW, as far as last week's purchases ... the moon glow pear had a crispness like Asian pears. The Polish garlic was the strongest I've ever tried. The Chinese pink garlic wasn't as hot but still packed a punch .. but with some restraint.

I also checked out the $12.99 all you can eat champagne buffet at La Tapatia. More info here.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/547479