If you’re interested in fresh produce you definitely want to make it to the Saturday morning market. Here’s their website, www.saturdaymorningmarket.com/, a map, and some pretty pictures I took at the market: German bread, pastries, and very fresh fish and Saturday Morning Market.

Midweek, my favorite places to buy fresh produce are City Produce, any day, and Gulfport Fresh Market on Tuesdays.

For very, very fresh seafood, I recommend Island Seafood Market and Bistro.

There are other markets and specialty shops–too many to easily mention–but, the above are my usual produce and fish shopping haunts. For more possibilities, visit the Index page of Inkwatu at inkwatu.com/index/ and look under the Food category.

The tagline of Inkwatu is “Delights, Near and Far.” Many of these delights are independently owned food establishments (restaurants or markets) with tasty food, pleasing ambiance, friendly staff, ethnic authenticity, inventive dishes, and reasonable prices. Some of these delights are activities, events, locations, artists, buildings, aspects of nature, books, and non-food businesses that grab me, that contribute to a sense of well-being, that make living fun.

One of those delights is seeing local entrepreneurs with great ideas become successful. One instance is Ester Venouziou, founder of LocalShops1.com. She began LocalShops1.com (in her own words), because “Many small businesses don’t have the time or money to invest in a quality Web site or a huge marketing campaign. So we wanted to create a place where they all could be listed, for free. We want to show the world the creativity, beauty and uniqueness that Indies have!”

She continues, ” I grew up in Brazil, and some of my favorite memories have to do with shopping, mostly with my grandmother and my sister, on Saturday mornings. We’d go to the produce market, chat with the vendors as we picked up fruits and veggies. Then it was off to a meat market, or to the fish guy. Along the way we stopped at the newsstand, where my grandmother picked up the daily paper. Eventually we’d end up at my parents’ shop, a fabric store named after my mom.”

Ester’s concept—creating an interactive community of local shoppers and shops—is well thought out. As she points out, “On a typical November day, the Tampa Independence Business Alliance reports, if all taxable purchases in Hillsborough County were made at locally owned independent businesses instead of national chains, it would make a $28 million dollar difference to the local economy. Economics aside, supporting the independents helps link us to the past, and ensures our communities retain charm and character in the future.”

The depth and importance of this idea wasn’t lost on local movers and shakers: LocalShops1.com recently won a $250,000 media package sponsored by Humana &. Fifth Third Federal Bank, Tampa Tribune, WFLA news Channel 8, tbo.com, 820 AM newstalk, 1040 ESPN Tampa Bay, Tampa Bay Business Journal, and Tampa Bay magazine. What a tremendous achievement for only having been in operation one year.

Ester—she’s very much a “first name” personality–creates this community through a number of different avenues:

• a magazine (online copy of first issue) managed by Marisa Barbosa,
• expert branding and ads by Malcolm Out Loud,
• a gang of coordinators who are a big part of LocalShops1.com‘s success: Latoya Brown, Gulfport/Beaches/south Pinellas county coordinator; Pat Largo, Pasco county coordinator; Brenda Smoak, Manatee/Sarasota counties coordinator; Jennifer Steele, St. Petersburg/North Pinellas coordinator,
• on facebook: www.facebook.com/localshops1com,
• on twitter: www.twitter.com/LocalShops1com,
• various events such as parties, clothing swaps, etc., and
• where it all comes together, the website: LocalShops1.com.

I have a shopper’s membership with LocalShops1.com. I encourage you to get one, too. It’s free. The website is your key to checking out LocalShops1.com. When you go there, you’ll notice that the front page lists the latest news regarding local shopping including the coming LocalShops1 social gatherings which are key to the success and uniqueness of what Ester has created. Examples are (at the time of the writing of this post) a party at Bradenton Beach and a Clothes Swap in Dunedin as well as a contest with a $50 prize.

On the website, you’ll find a list of more than 800 businesses listed, making it Tampa Bay’s largest network of local, independent businesses and independent-minded shoppers. I say “more than” because the list expands, daily. An important website page is the 1CardOffers page which lists a number of outstanding offers by businesses. This is a page you’ll want to print out and keep in your car. You’ll also want to print out the Sales page which lists current sales, in addition to the above promotions, from the business members. Be sure to check the News page for all the latest on local shopping events.

I want to say it again because it’s so important: memberships for shoppers and basic listings for businesses are FREE!.

There are also expanded plans for businesses starting at 55 cents a day. You can contact LocalShops1.com by email, phone (727.637.5586), or mail (P.O. Box 530144, St. Petersburg, FL 33747). Ester says, “we’re always looking for journalism, marketing and web interns to join our staff; as well as smart, happy, not-pushy experienced salespeople.” Whether as an intern, a volunteer, a business, or a shopper, LocalShops1.com is a phenomenon–you definitely want to be a part of it.

SLICED FRESH FIG

Almost everyone has enjoyed a Fig Newton. Perhaps, fewer folks have had dried figs, and fewer still fresh, ripe, juicy, sweet figs like those (pictured here) which were for sale last week at my favorite local produce stand here in St. Pete, City Produce Fruit Market (2701 4th St. N., St Petersburg, FL 33704; 727-822-4876; map).

FRESH FIGS

It had been since I was a child that I’d had fresh figs. In that case it was off fig trees in the backyard of my aunt Zo and uncle Doc’s yard in southern Mississippi. These days, the south still produces a lot of figs (see this article on Mississippi figs, Fruitful harvest: sumptuous homegrown figs are favorite mid-summer treats, from Mississippi Magazine, July-August, 2006 by Mary Leigh Furrh). But, the primary producer of figs in the US is California. For more on the specifics of fig production and history, visit these websites:

• a good history of the fig from the K & W Farms, a fig producer in Coachella Valley, California;
• more on history and production from the California Rare Fruit Growers website; and,
• the Wikipedia page on the common fig which has some good production statistics.

FRESH PRODUCE AND GREEK FETA CHEESE

You’ll notice in all those websites, that the fig was a staple of the ancient world from “southwest Asia and the eastern Mediterranean region (from Afghanistan to Greece).”[ref] In the Inkwatu article on the Bosnian Food Store and Bakery, I reported on an excellent fig marmalade from Macedonia. The Republic of Macedonia is a modern day country “bordered by Serbia and Kosovo to the north, Bulgaria to the east, Greece to the south and Albania to the west.”[ref]

Greece…therein lies the heart of this story about the City Produce Fruit Market, which is a superb, small, independent produce market in operation for many, many years, owned and operated by a local family of Greek ancestry.

SPINACH & CHEESE PIE W/PHYLLO DOUGH CRUST (Spanakopita)

As you might expect in any Greek market, they have fresh figs! And, more than one variety of feta cheese, in bulk. They also have assorted Greek pastries and treats, including one that I simply must purchase every time I visit: spanakopita, or cheese and spinach pie in a fluffy phyllo dough crust. To try your hand at making spanakopita yourself, follow this allrecipes.com recipe. It looks quite doable.

If you’d like to find more opportunities for trying Greek food in the Tampa Bay area, there’s no shortage of good locations, especially since Tarpon Springs, a town here in Pinellas County, has, “the highest percentage of Greek-Americans of any city in the U.S.”[ref].

All of the food pictured in the photos in this article are from City Produce and, taken together, cost less than $36 and that’s including the ½ pound of real Greek feta cheese. I recommend City Produce Fruit Market very highly for their Greek items and their fruit and produce, much of which is locally grown.

CITY PRODUCE

AMBERJACK PHILLY CHEESE SANDWICH

SADLY, ISLAND SEAFOOD MARKET & BISTRO IS NO MORE–IT WAS A CASUALTY OF THE DIFFICULT ECONOMY. IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL IDEA AND CONCEPT THOUGH. IT WILL BE MISSED

At a recent St. Petersburg community event, I saw a booth for a new fish market near downtown St. Petersburg, Florida. This, I had to know more about. The fish section of Publix isn’t all that bad, really, but nothing beats a small, good fish market with fresh fish. One good one, locally, is the Mid Peninsula Seafood Market and Restaurant, but it’s not near downtown. This new place is. Like Mid Peninsula, it is a restaurant as well as a fish market. I’d carefully saved the literature I’d picked up about the new place and went there for lunch the other day. Boy, am I glad to have found this place!

It’s the Island Seafood Market (www.islandseafoodmarket.com), 2057 Central Ave., St. Petersburg, FL 33713; 727-821-8181. Owners, Linda Schuch and Elizabeth Moch have only been open about two months. I truly hope their market/bistro is successful. It deserves to be. They’ve got an excellent product: “fresh, locally caught fish, shellfish and live cold water lobster from Maine” and a bistro with some very inventive, great tasting light meals. One such meal is the novel sandwich idea pictured above (click on the image for a mouth-watering closeup).

ARTWORK FOR SALE

I adore inventive recipes that combine familiar elements in new ways, such as Nitally’s Thai-Mexican Fusion Cuisine dishes (like her panang burrito), the grouper mole at Tangelo’s Grille, (both St. Pete establishments) or the blackened grouper Reuben sandwich at Skipper’s Smokehouse over in Tampa. Along these lines, Island Seafood had a special the other day that I just had to try: a Philly Cheesesteak Sandwich made with amberjack tuna instead of beef. Wow! It was terrific. The sauce (also of their invention), the cooked peppers and onions, the cheese, and the grilled tuna were a perfect match on a light, crispy roll.

Be sure to check out their online menu and specials. Among the things I want to try are their fish tacos (an example of a unique combo that’s now standard fare everywhere) and their crab pita…doesn’t that sound good?

AN INTERIOR WALL

Their website (www.islandseafoodmarket.com) has a link to vote for Island Seafood Market as Creative Loafing Best of the Bay 2009. That’s what I’m doing right now! There’s also a useful link to Florida Seafood Recipes; their recipe cards are also available for free at the Island Seafood Market.

The Island Seafood Market is part of the Grand Central District Association, a collection of unique, independent businesses along a stretch of Central Avenue that has been revitalized by entrepreneurs with a contemporary vision. I strongly encourage you to visit the Grand Central district and while you’re there pick up something to eat in or take home from the Island Seafood Market. You might also, as I did, go right next door to Haslam’s Book Store, Florida’s largest bookstore, and pick yourself up some mental nourishment, too.

Island Seafood is open Tues-Thurs, 11:30am-8pm; Fri-Sat, 11:30-10; closed Sunday & Monday.

STOREFRONT

Since this post was originally published, I’ve learned that the photos I’d taken were not from Geraldson’s Community Farm, but from a different, privately owned, Geraldson’s Farm in the area. Therefore, I’ve withdrawn those photos, leaving just the following text.

Many ideas from “our” generation–folks who were young way back in the 60s–are finally becoming mainstream. Remember food Co-ops? They were groups of individuals who would pool their resources to buy food in bulk at lower prices which they then shared. They still exist, some in a more commercial form such as the Kokua Market, a natural foods cooperative in Honolulu I used to shop at when I lived there just a few years ago.

I’ve learned of a related idea that is a whole new experience for me: a farm cooperative! This quote from the “Community Supported Agriculture” document in the USDA National Agricultural Library by the Alternative Farming Systems Information Center explains the concept:

“Community Supported Agriculture consists of a community of individuals who pledge support to a farm operation so that the farmland becomes, either legally or spiritually, the community’s farm, with the growers and consumers providing mutual support and sharing the risks and benefits of food production. Typically, members or “share-holders” of the farm or garden pledge in advance to cover the anticipated costs of the farm operation and farmer’s salary. In return, they receive shares in the farm’s bounty throughout the growing season, as well as satisfaction gained from reconnecting to the land and participating directly in food production. Members also share in the risks of farming, including poor harvests due to unfavorable weather or pests. By direct sales to community members, who have provided the farmer with working capital in advance, growers receive better prices for their crops, gain some financial security, and are relieved of much of the burden of marketing.”

This article, Down on the County Farm by Brian Ries, Creative Loafing, June 14, 2006, is a “must read.” It explains the history of Geraldson’s becoming a community farm. Included in this explanation are mention of the individuals who had the vision, energy, and follow-through to make this happen. The article also has a hand-drawn plan from its inception and an aerial shot of how the farm looked back in 2006 before being developed as a community farm. Additional details are available in this June, 14, 2006 article from the The Bradenton Herald: “Family’s Property May Become Community Farm.”

Here is a PDF of the presentation given to the Manatee County Board of County Commissioners back in 2006 prepared by Florida West Coast Resource Conservation and Development Council of the Geraldson Community Farm Conceptual Management Plan. What I like about this presentation is that it’s not dense prose; it’s typical presentation bulleting, which makes it easy to absorb the highlights of the content. Among the many things it discusses are the different models for community farm research (you’ll also see these models mentioned in the other articles I’ve linked to here):

• Small acreage
• Suburban location
• Agricultural history
• Public ownership
• Community involvement
• Business success
• Educational programs

The Geraldson’s Community Farm (1401 99th St. NW, Bradenton, FL 34209; map) Geraldson’s Community Farm website is a beauty, visually and organizationally. It fully explains the concept, the cost of individual shares, pickups, payments, and complete facts about the operation, including newsletter, recipes, and opportunities for jobs and volunteering.

These two pages from the Local Harvest website–Geraldson Community Farm and Community Supported Agriculture–summarize the details of the cooperative. These pages are very recent, last updated May 26, 2009.

The Florida West Coast Resource Conservation & Development Council, which, through the efforts of Laura Morton of the USDA and coordinator for the Florida West Coast Resource Conservation and Development Council, was instrumental in the conception and execution of this idea, has a useful page, “Creating an entrepreneurial local food and agriculture economy,” that has some very good links on the concept of cooperative farming. See the Creative Loafing article mentioned at the beginning of this post for more about Laura Morton.

Perhaps the most important link I found while researching this post was this PDF from the Sarasota County Agriculture Extension service. (You’ve heard me sign the Pinellas County Extension’s praise a number of times with their willingness to help me identify plants and trees.)

This 2009 PDF, WHERE TO FIND LOCAL AND ORGANIC FOODS, lists farms where one can buy locally grown food in Sarasota, Manatee, Desoto, Hillsborough, and Pinellas counties. (I wasn’t aware there were any farms in Pinellas county!) It also lists the Community Farmers’ Markets and Food Buying Clubs/Co-ops for those same counties as well as giving a number of web-based resources on local foods. If you are interested in “locavore” buying, this is one PDF you’ll want to print out and keep handy!

I know, for sure, that to my To Do list I’ve added:

• Find the nearest food co-op!
• Visit the co-op farms in Pinellas County!

A good friend tipped me off to a great, local culinary experience. He’d emailed me the name and address. I plugged those into Google to see what I could find and got this: www.americandreamhotdogcarts.com. What?! He wants me to review a hot dog cart up in the industrial park area?

Well, he knows I do like street food, especially good, ethnic street food sold in carts (see Inkwatu 2008/09/06: New York Street Food). So, I emailed him back and we agreed to meet at the address he’d given me for lunch.

I got there a tad early because I wanted to take an exterior picture. After getting a smidgen lost in a warren of short streets that don’t go clear through, I located Jo-El’s: a bright blue warehouse with typical warehouse doors in the midst of an industrial area. There was a hot dog cart out front.

Closer inspection of the signage on the doors assured me there is a deli and market inside. I guess I was overly awed as a child by the Wizard of Oz when she steps from black and white into a land of living color, because stepping inside Jo-El’s is definitely a cultural shift that thrills.

Joel and Ellen Goetz’s Jo-El’s Delicatessen & Marketplace (2619 23rd Ave. N., St Petersburg, FL 33713; 727-321-3847) has a deli along one whole wall with a center section of tables separating a market with about four isles of imported kosher foods and a full kosher butcher shop with fresh cut kosher meat and poultry prepared under the supervision of the Vaad Hakashrut of Pinellas County.

This place is so good, that customers come from as far away as Sarasota to shop, bypassing lesser markets along the way. I’ve always associated kosher food with quality. This is QUALITY quality. The best of the best—no exaggeration.

Now it’s true. Jo-El’s does sell hot dog carts. This Inside Tampa Bay Business article discusses Goetz’s business model and success. It reports that, since January of 2009 he has sold “25 carts a week—15 more than usual.” He attributes this increased interest in food carts to the recession. His carts are displayed within the store along one whole wall (see picture at top of this article). They are available for rental for private functions, as well as for purchase.

There is also a Jo-El’s Delicatessen and Marketplace at 11727 N. Dale Mabry Highway in Carrollwood, on the Tampa side of the bay, owned by daughter, Sharon Goetz (see St. Pete Times: Local market helps set the Seder table).

Yet another venture is Jo-El’s Catering LLC with fish platters that feature hand sliced nova, nova spread, whitefish salad, Norwegian Salmon, bagels and bialys, and meat platters with lean pastrami, corned beef, fresh rye bread, and New York style potato salad; also parve (see food classifications at Milk and meat in Jewish law), dairy, and fruit, veggie, and sweet platters. They cater private parties, business affairs, birthday celebrations, and breakfast buffets!

All of that and more is available at the deli counter for lunch. My friend and I both had freshly made—right on the spot, not frozen and microwaved—falafel sandwiches in a soft pita with a humus spread, topped by crisp, marinated veggies. We both wanted to try the Coney Island potato knishes, but we were too stuffed. I’m trying to decide what sandwich I’ll eat next time: the chopped liver? The chicken schnitzel? The Beef tongue?

Oh my…

Jo-El’s, in St. Pete, is open Monday 9-3, Tuesday through Thursday 9-5, Friday 9-4, Sunday 9-1, closed Saturdays.

(Note: all the pictures in this post link to larger images in Flickr;
just click on the images you see here.)

There are three booths at the St. Petersburg Saturday Morning Market that I didn’t cover in my earlier post about the market. These vendors have become important mainstays of my weekly shopping (the market is open 9am to 2pm, from early October to late May).

Fresh Baked German Bread, Amish Butter and More…

The most important of those three for me is the baker, Olga, who sets up shop at the Saturday Morning Market with a stall that doesn’t even have a name, just the phrase, “Fresh Baked German Bread, Amish Butter and More…”. It’s not even listed on the St. Petersburg Saturday Morning Market website. But, my own experiences with these breads have made me a fan of Olga’s baking. Another customer, an older woman with a thick accent (I discovered she’s from Poland), told me “this is the best bread…they make very good bread.” She’s right. It’s real European style bread. I’m going to miss her breads in my diet during the market off season .

I can never decide between my two favorite breads of hers, so I’m “forced” to buy both. One is her gluten free bread, which I buy not because it’s gluten free but for its flavor and texture–sour, dense, dark, chewy. (The last loaf I bought was still warm.) The other is her multi-grain bread which must be the healthiest bread on earth. Take a look at the pictures here and you’ll see the quality of bread they make. I suggest clicking on the pictures for real close-up views. You can almost smell the yeast.

A word of warning: Olga’s bread disappears quickly. Get there early. (That’s true for all the food stalls.) I usually get there a half hour before official opening time. Even then the parking lot is almost full and the other folks like me have started buying their favorites.

Michael’s Extraordinary Desserts

According to the Saturday Morning Market’s website:

“Michael Ostrander brings over 35 years of experience as an award winning executive pastry chef in premier hotels around the US. Come sample items like morning glory muffins, blueberry pound cake, apple strudel, rum almond croissant, tiramisu, coconut macaroons, almond biscotti, pumpkin bread, and more. You’ll be ‘wowed’ by the extraordinary flavors and textures of his desserts.”

They’re not kidding. I had a blueberry strudel there recently that was orgasmic. More blueberry than crust, it was the most extraordinary pastry I’ve ever had. For special orders, contact him at 727-744-6073; 230 4th St. N., St. Petersburg. In addition to appearing at the Saturday Morning Market he also sells at the Green Market in Dunedin (October through April). Also, a number of local culinary establishments carry his work. With 35+ years of experience, his bio takes up an entire column in his brochure. His tag line is “Life is Short, Eat Dessert First.” Good advice.

Fisher’s Seafood Market

From the Saturday Morning Market website:

“If you’re looking for the freshest possible seafood, you’ve found the place. Bringing fish fresh off the docks, Martin Fisher filets fish on the spot including snapper, grouper, and tuna. You’ll also find tasty smoked fish spread, shrimp, scallops, clams and more.”

The fish pictured below was caught by the owner, Martin Fisher (727-418-3129), himself, on his own boat, that morning. That is fresh! The smoked fish spread referred to in the above blurb is why I make a beeline for Fisher’s every Saturday. My traditional Saturday lunch is his smoked fish spread on Olga’s thinly sliced gluten free bread. I’m writing this at about 5:30 on a Saturday morning. I can hardly wait to get to the market and then…have lunch!

It’s a good sign you’re in for ol’ time Florida fried seafood if your table has paper placemats featuring a map of Florida. That’s the Mid Peninsula Seafood Market and Restaurant (400 49th St. S., St Petersburg, FL 33707; 727-327-8309). Almost all Google reviews agree that fried fish is the specialty of the house; I concur. My last visit there, I had the farm raised fried catfish with hush puppies and rice pilaf (i.e. dirty rice, minus the chicken livers and gizzards). The fry was excellent: light batter, crisp, the fish moist within. This is the place I return to for southern fried seafood.

Mid Peninsula Seafood is a restaurant, but it’s also a fresh fish seafood market. That’s how I first made its acquaintance. I was looking for some crab to make crab cakes and this was where friends sent me. Mid Peninsula Seafood has a pretty large selection of seafood. Of course, as in any seafood market, it’s incumbent upon the buyer to give the cut a thorough sniff test. As I’ve heard countless times, “fresh fish should smell like the sea, not like fish.” Even though Publix, indeed, has pretty darned good fresh fish in its stores, I just enjoy going to a small, independent fish market to get my fish. Cooking isn’t just a matter of expediency, it’s also the totality of the experience. So, for vegetables I like a road-side veggie stand or farmer’s market; for fish, a fish market, especially Mid Peninsula Seafood.

The very informal eat-in restaurant portion has a definite New Orleans motif which fits well with the menu. In addition to fish sandwiches, tacos, and lunches of six different kinds of fish–fried, grilled, or blackened–plus oysters (fried), shrimp, clams, scallops, and chicken (is your mouth watering yet?), they have calamari, crab, gator, and conch. You can get beer and wine in the restaurant. They also have a number of “big orders” for feeding large crowds like tailgate parties. They take major credit cards (important to know, since many St Pete independent businesses do not). Everything is Dine In or Take Out, and they’re open Monday through Saturday, 11 am til 9 pm, closed Sundays…or, as their card says, “Sunday: Gone Fishin!”

Happy Thanksgiving! The above photo of a cornucopia of produce from the Gulfport (Florida) Fresh Market is my holiday visual greeting for this celebration.

The whole horn of plenty was less than $7.00. I got them at the Tuesday morning incarnation of the Gulfport Fresh Market (they used to be only a Saturday morning event).

The official name is the Gulfport Art Village Fresh Market, which is located at the Gulfport Art Village (2908 Beach Boulevard, South Gulfport, FL; 727-528-2575).

At this Gulfport’s Tuesday Morning Fresh Market article there is a stunning collection of photos of the market. This website, gulfportflorida.us, has an email subscription if you’re interested in Gulfport activities. I recommend the gulfportflorida.us site, highly.

Another article on the Gulfport Fresh Market that has excellent photos is this post from the travel group at the gather.com website. I enjoyed this post and the author’s eye–it’s the kind of positive post I try to write myself. Really enjoyed it.

Gather.com is an interesting site, overall. Kind of a communal blog with various subgroups (travel, food, thrifty tips, etc.) on which members publish posts. It’s free and quite nice–perfect for someone who doesn’t want to write an independent blog.

Other than the produce stand–which is excellent, truly, truly excellent–the main draw of the market for me is The Honey Cart. They give sample tastes of their four honeys, each gathered in a different season and from different flowers: Spring (citrus, primrose, clover), Summer (palmetto, jasmine, gallberry), Fall (black mangrove, wildflower), and my favorite, Winter (maple, tea tree, golden rod, strawberry, blueberry). I like the winter honey because it has a nice dark taste that goes well on my oatmeal in our “cold” 52° mornings in our Florida “winters.”

The Honey Cart folks sets up at a number of different local farmer’s markets. Here’s a list that’s even more complete than their website:

Pinellas Park Farmer’s Market (Monday); 5120 80th Ave. N. 9am-2pm
Gulfport Fresh Market (Tuesday); 2908 S. Beach Blvd. 9am-3pm
Clearwater Farmer’s Market (Wednesday); 112 S. Osceola Ave. 8am-1pm
Safety Harbor Farmer’s Market (Thursday); 401 Main St. 8am-1pm
Tampa Downtown Market (Friday); 400 Franklin St. 10am-2pm
Ybor city Farmer’s Market (Saturday); 8th Ave. & 18th St. 9am-3pm

I already have plans to visit–and report on–several of those.

Happy Thanksgiving!