The Mira Mesa Farmer’s Market has been running for about a month now. I visited the farmer’s market a couple of weeks ago to see what kind of offerings they had and if it was worth it to continue visiting in the future. Some of the farmer’s markets I have been to have been small (like the one in Old Poway) but this one was comparable to the one that’s in Scripps Ranch on Saturdays. There were a good number of stalls and options – lots of veggies, fruits, and other food vendors. What’s the best thing about farmer’s markets anyway? Why, sampling the food, of course!
There are always a few staples at every farmer’s market around here it seems: there’s the guy selling pita bread and hummus, the woman selling tortilla chips and their own salsa, the person who resells the garlic and olive oils, and the people that sell bread. If you’re lucky there will be a few other vendors sprinkled in among them selling other homebaked goods.
One of the first things I tried was some Lemon Ginger bread from Mama Houli & Sister T. I also tried their 2 other breads – Pumpkin Spice and Sweet Oat. They had little single servings of the bread for $2.50 each, or all 3 for one price (which eludes me now – I think it was like $7 for all 3) which I purchased. My favorite of the three was the Lemon Ginger bread (closeup above) – it has a hint of sweetness to it and was moist and delicious. I also enjoyed the Pumpkin Spice bread and was told it probably wouldn’t be available too much longer since the pumpkin was out of season. The Sweet Oat bread, while my least favorite, was still good. I thought it could have been a touch sweeter for my fancy, but it still had a good flavor.
I tried a few other things that I didn’t purchase – like some good dried salami, some sugar free/gluten free baked products, some spicy salsa, and some brewed tea, but the only other thing I bought was more food and some blood oranges. I love blood oranges. I fully intended to bake with them, but alas, another wasted effort.
There’s plenty of vendors though to catch your fancy for other veggies and fruits which I’m sure you would not waste as I did. I spotted some lovely HUGE sweet white onions which I bet would make excellent onion rings (among other things) which I want to get in the future as well.
There’s also farm fresh eggs from the “Egg Lady”. The eggs are “Veggie Pro” which means they only feed their chickens a high protein vegetable diet of corn, cracked corn and soybean meal with added vitamins and minerals for (supposedly) better tasting eggs. I didn’t get any, but I’m sure they’re excellent. A dozen large eggs is $2.75 while a dozen extra large eggs will set you back $3.00. Not too bad!
The other thing you can count on is pretty, pretty flowers. There were actually two different vendors with a variety of flowers at the market when I visited.
Now then, onto the food! Here’s what they had on my visit: tamales, a German place (sausages and curry or something like that – it was a little weird), gyros, Chinese noodles, gyros, donuts, kettle corn and a fresh fruit stand. I choose gyros and donuts.
Pretty standard gyros. Good and meaty and not a lot of lame fillers (lettuce, tomatoes, etc.). The onions were good, too. My only complaint is not enough sauce, which is usually the complaint I have when eating a gyro. I like them saucy. I should have been more specific. This was $6.
The donuts are totally like the ones you get from the Del Mar Fair (*ahem*, excuse me, San Diego Fair) in Bing Crosby hall. Little donuts made fresh on a hot little conveyor belt, dusted with cinnamon sugar. Melts in your mouth. So good. So happy I don’t have to wait for the fair to get some more. I don’t remember the price on these, I think it was a dozen donuts for either $2 or $3 dollars. I need to write things down next time.
That about covers my longish review of the Mira Mesa Farmer’s Market. Parking is a-plenty in the high school’s lot. It runs from 3P-7P every Tuesday in the parking lot area in front of Mira Mesa High School, a couple miles down Mira Mesa Blvd. from the 15 freeway.
Mira Mesa Farmer’s Market
Mira Mesa Blvd. and Reagan Rd.
Every Tuesday, 3PM-7PM
those donuts look good!