San Diego Public Market

With our interest piqued by Darlene's recent post on the newly opened San Diego Public Market,

we decided to pay a quick "look see" visit this past Sunday...

Free parking can be found on the street OR in the back alley lot (look for the signs that say "San Diego Public Market parking"...You can't miss the bright orange of the historic Frasers building.



The entrance from the back where we parked...This side of the market had crafts and fresh produce.

I liked how this guy did his vegetable displays...

The door to the front end of the building, where two young men were playing live jazz. Real jazz not jacuzzi jazz.

The view from the front end (the fresh produce side).

This must be the vendor where Darlene got her bok choy. I didn't get any produce that day but plan to do so for our next visit.

The other half of the warehouse had the food vendors, like Belen Artisanal Bakers (based in Escondido). Many of them were giving our free samples.

This was from the booth our very own Jenny Williams (aka Jenny Wenny) - Jenny Wenny Cakes.  I spy macarons!

Her signage looked fabulous and retro! If you look at her photos of cakes on the table, the third one was my birthday cake this year (the one with the cattleya sugar orchids). I know this isn't a good view, but it's there! I didn't even know until she pointed it out. Jenny was speaking to a client when I initially stopped by.

Cupcakes, macarons, cookies, bar, and even English trifles (sadly, not pictured). I hope she makes the trifles again since I bought her macarons instead!

TC got the large watermelon lemonade from a drinks vendor ($4.50). Lots of different fruit flavors were offered. They even garnished her intensely flavored drink with fresh fruit, which was a nice touch.

Another vendor selling baked goods was Sweet Lydia's; Lydia was there herself giving out samples of her crowd favorite, the Honey Pecan Bar.

Everything looked so good! We ended up getting the Honey Pecan Bar ($3) in the hopes of savoring it later with coffee.

There were many fresh meat vendors, plus two seafood ones, like this. The lady was cracking open a sea urchin. A little girl was watching and was visibly grossed out. She refused to eat a sample of the orange roe.

Fresh uni!

Some of the other booths included one that was selling artisanal olive oils (he gave me several delicious samples), gourmet tamales (below), fresh coconuts, and a sushi food truck to name a few.

We got a couple of samosas ($2 each) from Masala Cottage...

They were also selling combos with rice, curry and several stews (one with chicken). We just wanted to snack on something small.

The thing about this place is that there is hardly any places to sit down and eat. Near the back entrance on the food vendor side were a few tables but all seats were occupied. We ate standing up which was a messy challenge.

We had our choice of sauces and chose the tamarind. Very messy since we were only given one napkin and no utensils. It was gone in no time so it didn't matter that much. These were filled with curried mashed potatoes and peas. I don't think any meat was in here.

Towards the front end of the food side was this Tamales stand that was also selling cups filled with fresh cut spears of fruit (watermelon, mango, cantelope, and jicama or a combo of all), along with refrescos (horchata, jamaica, sandia, and cantalope).

Their tamale offerings:

The cow "mascot" that greets you at the front...

Deciding on what flavors to get...

You have to unwrap these twice (first, the foil, then the corn husk) - We got one pollo (chicken) and one queso con rajas (cheese with pepper strips) - $2.75 each. A bit steep.

The chicken is on the left - now that one had a lot of kick since it had loads of green chile in there! I really liked the cheese and pepper strips tamal; both were pretty satisfying. TC found the chile spiked chicken to be a bit too spicy for her.

Now we are back to the back end (near the alley) of the produce and crafts side. Bert remembered seeing an Arrogant Bastard beer bottle converted to a drinking glass at the Make Good store in South Park a while back. Turns out this was the guy who makes them. This is his booth, Bottle Hood. They take recycled craft beer bottles and make them into drinking glasses by cutting off the tops and smoothing over the edges.

There were other cool designs like Rogue's - Hazel Nut Brown Nectar (we've tried that beer and it's pretty good as a beer float) and Rogue - Yellow Snow, local company Alesmith's Speedway Stout, and various designs by Stone Brewery. Each glass was $15, but with each glass purchase, you get another free glass (one with an 'imperfection'; i.e. - scratched label, fading letters or logo). Bert chose the Grey Goose as his freebie, so the glass was really $7.50, if you want to look at it that way. The lettering on the Grey Goose "vodka" letters was faded but you can't really tell.

Bert was very happy to have his "Man-Crafts". Now he has his own special glass to drink his beers (besides our beer mugs).

Below, a baguette I bought from Belen Artisanal bakery. We just had some of it earlier tonight with our dinner. The bread was all right but I'm starting to edge away from these breads with the hard dry crusts. Hurts sometimes to bite into them. Good with butter though! Pile it on, I say!

Here's that pecan bar from earlier that day...so sweet and sticky. Mmmmmm!



















Plus the macarons I bought from Jenny. Each bag of 3 macs was $3 each. I got one bag of each flavor - lemon, one  with dulce de leche filling (I forgot the actual flavor), and chocolate with chocolate raspberry ganache filling. My favorite was the last one. Same with Bert. TC liked the lemon. At $1 a piece, I thought these were well worth it!

Don't they look so cute all wrapped up with Halloween colored ribbons?

It was a fun morning checking out the market at a glance. We focused mainly on the food for this visit (really they were just snacks). The desserts were enjoyed later on that evening. When we do visit again (which should be soon), I want to be able to spend more time at the vegetable and fruit booths. Suzie's Farm had some really pretty purple beans. I hope they have them again next weekend. In any case, we're looking forward to our next visit...

San Diego Public Market
1735 National Ave
San Diego, CA

sandiegopublicmarket.com

plus a nice little write up on Jenny's treats from San Diego Magazine

It's cool that this market has reopened. Prior to this, it was a Mexican market. I hope that more vendors fill up the spots. Overall, there is a good selection here. Not as many crafts, but still, a decent variety if you're looking to buy local handmade gifts.

We were still a bit hungry since we didn't really have a full meal here plus Bert wanted some coffee. So off we went in search of another nearby place to fulfill both of our cravings...

And before this post ends, more info and a video on opening day:

Looking forward to Spring of next year when the market will have permanent stalls for the vendors!