I haven’t been to Hillcrest Farmer’s Market in quite some time! I was invited to come and check out one of the food booths at the market. Sounds like the perfect Sunday afternoon to me!
First of all, Jake and I scored on parking by snagging an open spot in the DMV parking lot. The car in front of me parked in the same row and when the guy walked by he congratulated me on the close parking spot. I found it funny that we congratulated each other on parking spots. Ha.
I noticed that the market now extends down the street instead of taking up part of the DMV parking lot. Smart choice. Jake and I were surprised to see just how many food booths were now at the farmer’s market. There was such a wide variety of choices!
We were headed to this booth though: Bread & Cheese Catering.
Justin, one of the owners, had contacted me over Instagram and asked if I would be interested in coming down to sample their sandwiches. Twist my arm, eh? I love grilled cheese!
They keep their menu pretty simple by offering just four different sandwiches. Justin treated us to two sandwiches that afternoon.
Jake got to try the Burn-a-nator [$9.75] which comes with pepper jack cheese, jalapeno cheddar, spicy salami, enchilada aioli, and sourdough bread. The bread was perfectly grilled and the cheese was melted oh-so-nicely. Jake raved about this sandwich so I know he really, really liked it. He loved the enchilada aioli and the blend of cheeses along with the slices of spicy salami. He didn’t really find the sandwich to be very spicy at all but when I took a bite I could really taste the jalapeno which… wasn’t totally my thing. But I was glad that he loved the sandwich!
I was treated to a Mucho Queso [$8] sandwich which lived up to it’s name with a blend of cheddar, swiss, pepper jack, and jack cheeses along with some garlic aioli on toasted sourdough bread. Look at that cheese ooze, my friends! I like that some of the cheese got toasted on the grill, too, with that little grilled piece on the edge. This was a super cheesy sandwich and perfect for any cheese lover like me. I like to keep it on the simpler side with an all-cheese sandwich. Awesome melt, wonderfully toasted bread, this was a total winner in my book.
After chatting with Justin for a bit, Jake and I wandered the market a bit more. I was still hungry!
We walked by all of the food booths before we visited with Bread & Cheese so I already knew I wanted to stop and get some Belgian fries. They also have Belgian waffles but I only had my eyes on the fries.
Jake and I shared a medium sized cone [$5.75]. Probably a little too big for us… but that’s okay. I didn’t mind having a few extra fries in my belly.
These fries were PERFECT. Every fry seemed to be perfectly crisp, well seasoned, and a beautiful golden brown color. They had a nice crunch while maintaining a soft, creamy center. These are wider than shoestring fries, but not as large as steak fries. It seemed to be the perfect size and balance of flavor. I could not get over how delicious these fries were! Jake dipped his fries in ketchup while I tried the uber flavorful garlic aioli sauce. The garlic aioli was almost TOO intense for me as I was only able to use a little bit without overwhelming my tastebuds. In any case, I would buy these again in a heartbeat.
Walking a little further along Jake noticed this BBQ booth. I was looking at the menu and was surprised to see beef ribs. It seems like most BBQ places in San Diego would rather do pork than beef ribs. Jake and I both prefer beef so we always get excited if we see beef ribs on a menu. Jake asked me if I wanted to try one rib and I said, sure, why not!
We got one Beef Rib [$7] and shared it with their original BBQ sauce on the side. This is a beef back rib and it was pulled right off the smoker. It had a really nice smokey flavor with good little bits of fat and deliciousness in the meat. Yum yum!
I stopped and got a small iced Vietnamese coffee to sip on while we explored the rest of the market.
The iced coffee [$3.75] was quite smooth and creamy. I really liked it! It was gone WAY too fast, which is what I always think whenever I have Vietnamese iced coffee.
Quite a few of the farmers booths had heirloom tomatoes for sale.
I also saw lots of pomegranates and green beans! We ended up getting a mixture of green and yellow beans for dinner which… I didn’t photograph for some reason. I picked my green beans one at a time, looking for the best ones. There was a lady there doing the same thing and a gentleman who came up to also mimic us. His partner commented that he had never seen so many people picking out green beans one at a time. Haha!
I definitely want to visit the Hillcrest Farmer’s Market more often to sample more delicious food. I imagine Jake and I could come a few times and try something different every time for a few weeks!
Hillcrest Farmer’s Market
Every Sunday from 9AM-2PM
On Normal Street between University Ave. and Lincoln
Disclaimer: Our grilled cheese sandwiches from Bread & Cheese Catering were complimentary. Everything else was purchased by us at the market. I was not further compensated for this posts and all opinions stated here are my own.
Grilled cheese! I want me some for breakfast! Looks like a fun trip to the market. Those tomatoes are purty!!! Where else do you get a beef rib from?
I love me a good grilled cheese! Mmm… beef ribs… you can get them at Phil’s BBQ, Bulls BBQ, Bubbas Smokehouse… maybe Coops? I like the ones from Bubbas!
Looks like they have a ton of cool food choices. 🙂
And all of the choices involve cheese! Wooooo!
Man, me, Bert and TC need to try the food stalls at this market next time. We had wandered around last year when we tried refill. TC bought some quirky designed t-shirts. I liked looking at the jewelry vendors (really nice stuff but pricy!) along with the vibrant fresh produce.