North Park Farmers Market: They’re Back … in North Park

After an absence of close to a year and a half, North Park's neighborhood farmers market is back. Reopened last Thursday afternoon on the south side of the CVS Pharmacy parking lot at Herman St. and North Park Way, the market has 37 vendors, many of whom are familiar to regular area farmers market shoppers.

So, who will you find along the aisles? Baba Foods and their spread of pitas, hummus, roasted veggies and tabouli. The ubiquitous Kettle Corn, of course. Hillcrest’s Bread & Cie. And Belen Artisan Bakers with Louise of Impeccable Taste, whom I met at the La Jolla Open Aire Market. She came prepared to sell her jams, pickles and mustards, along with the Escondido baker’s breads. World Famous Smoked Fish was there, with bags of fresh sea bass, salmon, albacore, mahi mahi and ahi, along with smoked yellowtail, ahi, salmon and albacore and dips they make from the tuna and salmon. And, some familiar farmers were there—both Smit Orchards, with their delicious plumcots and organic blueberries, and Rodriguez Farms, with its wide array of unusual produce.

So, what was Rodriguez Farms offering in North Park? Magnificent greens, which this time included purslane, called verdolaga in Mexico. Often considered a nuisance weed, this succulent is actually one of the most nutritious you’ll find, with more beta-carotene and Omega-3 fatty acids than spinach. Traditionally, it’s been used as a remedy for arthritis, but it may even lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

More to the point, of course, it’s very tasty. In Mexico, it’s eaten in omelets, sauteed as a side dish, rolled in tortillas or dropped into soups or stews. My friends Paula and Armando eat it all the time, prepared like spinach (steamed a few minutes with a little water, then drained and seasoned with a lot of lemon, salt and pepper). She says it's better a little al dente than too soft. You can also pull the leaves from its thick stems and eat it raw in a salad. Joe Rodriguez, owner of the farm, was at the market on Thursday and he suggested sautéing it with onion, garlic and tomatoes as a side dish or cooking it with pork. It also pairs well with cucumbers and is a great addition to a traditional Middle Eastern fattoush salad, which would include large cut up pieces of cucumber, tomato and onion, mint, along with parsley and stale pita and tossed with olive oil.

Rodriguez Farms also had some beautiful bunches of mizuna, a mild feathery green typically found in Japanese markets, but also a regular component of mesclun salad mixes. I bought a both a bunch baby bok choy and mizuna, which I’ll stir fry together with shitake mushrooms and shrimp.

I discovered some fun new vendors, new to me at least. If you have a hankering for jerky—from beef and turkey to ostrich, venison, salmon and even rattlesnake—head over to Lee Harris and his House of Jerky. If the products are unconventional, the flavorings will be familiar—natural, black pepper, teriyaki, habanero chile and cayenne and garlic.

I saw and tasted even more wonderful produce. Creekside Tropicals sells oranges, grapefruit, apples and lemon, but the most spectacular of their offerings are the mammoth Reed avocados, easily the size of a hefty grapefruit.

At the R&L Farms stand, I discovered the most astounding summer fruits I have tasted in a long while. Customers were thronging at this stall for gorgeous huge peaches and nectarines, both regular and white, as well as Santa Rosa plums and plumcots that while firm to the touch were almost pulsating with sweet juiciness. The flavors were so rich they tasted like they had been injected with liqueurs. I took home some of each and all were just as wonderful once I got them into my kitchen. They’ve made breakfast a treat.

Bakehouse Foods is full of nuts—great nuts. The charismatic Patrick offered me samples of fire-roasted Valencia peanuts, which were even better than traditional ballpark peanuts and far less salty. They have a terrific flavorful crunch to them.

If you’re a fan of glazed nuts, try the orange glazed pecans tossed in a green salad, on ice cream or with crunchy wheatberries (cook wheatberries like you would rice, only simmer them longer, say, for about an hour, drain and add sautéed onions and garlic, olive oil, a little balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper). They also carry three-ounce bags of glazed walnuts and almonds.

I saw the folks at Gourmet European Pastries and Lisko Imports at the OB Farmers Market but didn’t have a chance to take a good look. If you are planning on entertaining and want to impress your guests with some amazing desserts, check out their offerings. They have slices of baklava and little lemon bars, along with individual flourless chocolate cakes filled with chocolate ganache, upside down pineapple cake, apple streusel, pecan pies with a chocolate crust, Tahitian vanilla crème brulee and dreamy Belgian chocolate and white chocolate covered apples.

Sharing the space alongside the pastries is Lisko Imports—all part of the same company, I believe. I tried their rich roasted eggplant with feta mixture and their delicious sundried tomatoes, marinated in olive oil and balsamic vinegar. They sell several varieties of olives: garlic-stuffed greens, black rounds, kalamatas brined in red wine vinegar, green olives and yummy wrinkled olives layered in Mediterranean sea salt, which are actually very mild and not at all salty.

Also try their cheese. They offer a hearty Bulgarian feta and lighter Greek feta, a semi-soft manouri from Greece—wonderful topped with honey and walnuts—and the firmer, tangy Kashkaval cheese. This is a hard yellow table cheese from Bulgaria, often called “the cheddar of the Balkans.” Use it in a salad or shred it on pasta or pizza.

You can also satisfy your appetite with gourmet tamales of a variety of flavors. The owners brag that these are made without lard. I tried a sample of the sweet corn with poblano and cheese and found it light and, well, sweet. There are tamales for vegetarians and vegans, but also more traditional fare like shredded beef, pork loin and chicken, as well as dessert tamales like pineapple, coconut and raisin; orange mango and pumpkin spice. They freeze well, so are worth stocking up on.

Next to the tamales was a stall with empanadas (an Argentinean stuffed pastry) and chimicurri (a wonderful condiment made of parsley, garlic, olive oil, vinegar, oregano and paprika). These folks can be found online. At the market, they sell chicken, beef, corn, spinach and mushroom empanadas as well as choripan, an Argentinean-style sausage.

And, of course, you’ll find several stalls of magnificent flowers, a massage booth, jewelry, plants, clothes and some unusual garden mobiles.

The market is open every Thursday from 3 p.m. to sunset in spring and summer, and from 2 p.m. to dark in autumn and winter.

The North Park Farmers Market is located at the CVS Pharmacy parking lot off of University and 32^nd St.

Have some thoughts about the North Park Farmers Market or other farmers markets in San Diego? Do you have a favorite neighborhood market or shop that carries unique or unusual foodstuff? Let me know or add to the conversation by clicking on comments below:

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Caffé Calabria: Full of Beans in North Park

One Wednesday last October, the LA Times food section devoted most of its space to coffee. Where to find great roasters. The best brewing methods. Recipes that incorporate coffee. I’m not a coffee fanatic, but I do enjoy the stuff and, because my rebellious body can now only tolerate decaf, I’ve felt challenged to find a truly flavorful roast.

So, I scoured the stories for any hints on where to buy good decaf beans in San Diego. They were filled with great information, but the Times doesn’t cover San Diego anymore so I was left to my own devices. Research led me to Caffé Calabria on 30^th St. in North Park, a coffee roaster and coffeehouse that also serves panini and desserts. And, the lovely and very knowledgeable folks who work there, in turn, led me to two different coffees: their full-bodied decaf Costa Rica, a hard-bean Arabica that is indescribably flavorful (not just strong for strong's sake) and their decaf Calabria blend, a rich house-blend espresso that is so much better than the canned Illy I've been using on the weekends with my Gaggia classic.

At the time, I told the saga of my frustrating quest to one of the baristas, who called over owner Arne Holt. He stopped what he was doing and showed me around the premises, which are far more than a mere coffeehouse storefront. It’s a full on coffee mecca with 22- and 45-kilo roasters, the latter a restored 1958 German machine with gleaming stainless steel.

In a back room, he was preparing to set up a retail space for selling home brewing equipment and accessories. Upstairs are the business offices. In the basement, bags and burlap bags of coffee beans. He told me about his plans to add an authentic Italian pizza oven. All this, and I was just a person who had walked in off the street looking for a good cup of coffee.

I stopped back a couple of days ago to buy some more coffee and the first thing I noticed was the blue-and-white tiled beehive-shaped pizza oven, still a work in progress, but a formidable presence in the coffeehouse.

Holt was in, having just returned at 5:30 that morning from a trip to Italy where he had bought a coffee bar that will be the centerpiece of a remodeling aimed, as he says, “to bring the culture of Italy to our front door.

“We’ll serve coffee and panini during the day, and five nights a week we’ll shut down at 3 p.m. and re-open at 5 p.m. as an enoteca, or wine bar, and serve pizza,” he says. “And, it will be verra pizza Napoletana,” he emphasizes, “authentic, true Neapolitan pizza."

In fact, the oven is being constructed out of materials from Naples by Neapolitan builders. Holt has also brought over master pizza maker Ernesto Caciolli from Naples to train the staff. Stay tuned for the opening date; there’s a lot of remodeling to take place, including the addition of mezzanine seating, before pizza will be served.

In the meantime, however, there’s always the coffee. Caffé Calabria roasts between 1,000 and 1,200 pounds a day, both for the store and customers throughout Southern California and beyond. Holt counts 15 varietals and numerous blends among the offerings. A full listing can be found on their website, www.caffecalabria.com.

And, for tea lovers, the back room, still in transition mode for the retail space, has endless canisters of teas, blended by the staff and sold under the name Sochi Teas.

In the coffeehouse, I noticed a stack of burlap bags below a cup with the lettering, “Get Smart,” and asked Holt what this was all about. Before I knew it, we were heavy into a discussion on Fair Trade issues. He explained that for years, they regularly piled the bags there for people to take, but that they have started a donation project, Get Smart, to raise money to help pay for children in Matagalpa, Nicaragua, to attend school. Take a bag, put a little money for it into the cup and help provide an education, with Caffé Calabria matching donations.

More than that, though, it represents a larger effort spurred by a profound skepticism Holt has with the Fair Trade certification program. “I don’t think the money’s going to the right people,” he says. Concerned about abuses in the program, he has decided to visit the farms he buys beans from to determine for himself if they meet his criteria, which includes using organic fertilizers and compost, maintaining the land and trees and treating the people who work on the farm with respect. “I want to see that they’re growing coffee with the earth, making sure everything is sustainable, whether they are ‘certified’ or not,” he says. “It’s a matter of treating the land with love and the people who work on the farm with love.

“The goal is to have all our coffee purchased under this criteria,” he notes. “The larger goal is buying consciously.” His first farm visit was to Matagalpa, where he’ll be returning soon. Hence, the burlap bag donations.

While buying sustainably is commendable, ultimately, the coffee has to taste good or there are no customers. Monday through Friday, Caffé Calabria holds coffee cupping sessions, a technique to evaluate the flavor profile of a coffee. (Coffeegeek.com has a good step-by-step guide to this.)

“Coffee is so volatile,” says Holt. “It’s always changing. It can start out with a fruity flavor, then develop more citrus tones. We need to cup it out everyday to make sure we’ve got a good product.”

As if the pizza and sustainable buying projects aren’t enough, Holt has one more novel twist to add to the business, a Clover bar.

If you haven’t heard of this, it may be because San Diego doesn’t yet have one and they’re only just springing up in other parts of the country. Three years ago, two entrepreneurs, Zander Nosler and Randy Hulett, started The Coffee Equipment Co. (in Seattle, of course) to developed a sophisticated machine they call The Clover. At its most basic, The Clover produces upgraded drip coffee by the cup, combining vacuum brewing with the French press. So, we’re talking brewed coffee, not espresso, but this isn't any old drip coffee. The technique of matching the brewing to the specific flavor profile of the bean creates a coffee experience that is apparently far superior to and more complex than any brewed coffee you’d get out of traditional equipment. If this appeals, head on over there May 10, when Holt says that The Clover will be installed and ready for action.

Caffé Calabria, which has been in business for six years, has become a gathering place for more than buying a pound or two of coffee or tea. They hold tea tastings on the third Saturday of each month from 10 to 11 a.m. and the San Diego Home Roasters meet there on the first Saturday of the month at 10 a.m. I was also happy to find that Caffé Calabria is dog friendly.

Oh, and if you go in to buy coffee beans at lunchtime, pick up the grilled vegetable panini (a wonderful melding of eggplant, zuccini, red onions and tomatoes on crunchy foccacia) and have the barista make you a Café Viennese. This (decaf, for me) espresso concoction made with steamed milk, honey and cinnamon is layered with so many delicious, complementary flavors, it made me weak in the knees with pleasure.

Caffé Calabria is located at 3933 30^th St., just north of University.

Have some thoughts about Caffé Calabria or other coffee roasters in San Diego? Do you have a favorite neighborhood market or shop that carries unique or unusual foodstuff? Let me know or add to the conversation by clicking on comments below: