Sacramento's best fruit and vegetables?

[poot]

I'll be passing through on a Monday and would like recommendations for farm stands and grocery stores with excellent local lettuce, citrus, Asian pears, rapini, and anything else that's terrific these days.

[poot]

I shopped at Corti Brothers and at the Kaveri grocery. The former is a very good store, with good crusty bread, good vegetables, and interesting regional wines (I like Mokelumne Glen's zweigelt). The latter's a good Indian grocery store, perfumed with hing. I was able to visit Kaveri Madras Cafe a few days later, and had some very good steam-table food plus a masala dosa and a perfect uttapam.

[nasv]

I know you mentioned you'd be passing by on a Monday, but right underneath Hwy-50 in downtown, every Sunday all year long is the flagship farmers market of the area... SPECTACULAR.

[toodie jane]

time of day?

[souvenir]

8am-Noon.

http://www.california-grown.com/Marke...

[souvenir]

Passing through from where to where via which highways? The first place that comes to mind for local lettuce and citrus is Newcastle Produce, but it's not really Sacramento, more accurately Newcastle/Auburn,
http://www.newcastleproduce.net/

[poot]

Thank you, but it would be hard to justify using so much petrol to improve the quality of my salads. I'm bound for Hope Valley, traveling along 50 out of the capital. A store in Sacramento would be best.

[souvenir]

Ah.

An easy off and back on Hwy 50 on a Monday, I would probably stop at 59th and go to Corti Brothers (59th and Folsom Blvd).

They have a small selection of fairly local produce suppliers, and really good butcher, deli, wine sections. If you haven't ever been, it's worth a stop. Not all their produce is local, but where things are from are well-marked.

I can't think of any year-round farm stands off 50; I'd be interested to know of one!

Further on up 50 in Folsom is a recently opened Whole Foods.

Disclaimer: these aren't my local markets; my knowledge is based upon periodic shopping when visiting friends or working in the area. Hopefully some other folks will contribute suggestions if there are other good options.

[poot]

Thanks very much. I'm now planning to visit Corti Brothers, then scoot over to Kaveri Madras Cuisine, then continue on my way to Hope Valley.

[souvenir]

I haven't been to Kaveri, but just looked it up and plan to check it out when I am in the area...

If you are interested in fresh bread without making an extra stop (and you will have access to an oven), Corti's carries a par-baked pugliese loaf. You have to ask for it; it's kept somewhere in the back of the store, not on display. It is really great after 10-15 minutes in the oven.