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A Lincoln Park Doubleheader to Salute Farmers Market Week
- Bob Benenson
- 16 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Good Food and Friends at The Lincoln Park Farmers Market and Green City Market
Saturday (August 8) brought this year's national Farmers Market Week to a conclusion. And while Local Food Forum celebrates 52 farmers market weeks each year, I thought it would be appropriate to do one of my occasional market doubleheaders to mark the occasion.
This is unusually easy for me to do, because the Lincoln Park community just south of our Lakeview neighborhood home has two major markets within three-quarters of a mile.
The markets are a study in contrasts.
My first, early-morning stop was at The Lincoln Park Farmers Markets, located on a tree-lined walkway adjacent to Lincoln Park High School that extends well beyond what's shown in the above photo.
I made my way all the way down to visit my new friends at Lefty's Righteous Bagels (LRB), which has a brick-and-mortar store in suburban Evanston. The Montreal-style bagels in which Lefty's specializes were featured in a recent Local Food Forum article after my first encounter with them two weeks earlier.
I actually did not buy bagels on that visit because they also had bialys, a different kind of Jewish roll that I have a hard time resisting. This time, I bought a half-dozen of sesame bagels and — as a friend had already signaled to me — they are outstanding.
Montreal has a large Jewish community which produced, among others, legendary singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen (of "Hallelujah" fame). So bagels have a long heritage there, and tasting these from LRB, I can see why Montreal has legitimate standing in a running argument about whether they or my birthplace of New York City have the world's best bagels.
The stand for Archway pet food and treats was near the bagel stand, and it was an instance of my Local Food Forum and Naturally Chicago worlds colliding. The man in the photos is Co-Founder Gabe Huertas del Pino, and as a Naturally Chicago brand partner was one of six finalists who competed in the organization's Pitch Slam competition in May.
Archway Pet makes healthy dog and cat food and treats with silver carp, an invasive fish species threatening the ecological balance of our region’s waterways. From Archway’s website: Better for the planet and best for your pet. Archway food and treats are packed with hypoallergenic proteins for food-sensitive pets. We are committed to creating healthy, nutrient-rich products that don’t compromise the health of pets or planet.
I segued over to Green City Market. Whereas The Lincoln Park Farmers Market is a popular neighborhood-focused place, Green City Market is a destination market with huge crowds every Saturday and a legacy that earns it regard as Chicago's flagship farmers market.
There were a couple of significant new items I saw during my quick swing. Smits Farm (Chicago Heights, Illinois) had the first full-sized red bell peppers I've seen this year (they actually still had some tinges of green on them). A reminder that just because I haven't seen something, that doesn't mean that you haven't. The Chicago foodshed has a 200-miles-or-so radius, and markets that mainly source from farms in the southern end of the region often see an earlier arrival of new crops than we do here in Chicago.
Nichols Farm and Orchard, which in recent weeks had led the pack with multiple varieties of melons, has launched its watermelon season.
My market(s) haul:
From The Lincoln Park Farmers Market: far left, excellent kimchi from Pickled Prince, purple basil from Finding Justice urban farm, and (appropriately) on the toaster, the LRB bagels; from Daly's Donuts across from the market, two incredible blueberry streusel baked doughnuts; and from Green City Market (from left), Smits Farm red peppers; pasture-raised eggs and Massey Fish Michigan smoked salmon paté purchased from Jake's Country Meats (Cassopolis, Michigan); and okra, green beans and three varieties of tomatoes from Nichols.
Finally, worlds colliding on a plate: a toasted LRB bagel with an elevated schmear of Massey's smoked salmon paté = Sunday breakfast.
Peak season rolls on this week. Find a convenient market in our Chicago Region Farmers Market Tracker.
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