Santa Monica Farmers' Market

Opening Soon: Red Bread in Culver City

You may have met Rose Lawrence already, at her bread stand at the Santa Monica Farmer's Market, at her jam-making classes at Jessica Koslow's Sqirl, or at her recent meat-curing class at Surfas. Master food preserver, educator and chef, Rose is co-owner with her husband David of Red Bread -- a lacto ... More >>

A SNAP Iron Chef Challenge in Santa Monica

To show how meals with fresh food can be made on a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) budget, chefs Nyesha Arrington of Wilshire Restaurant and Stefano de Lorenzo of La Botte will be facing off tomorrow, April 27, at The Gourmandise School in Santa Monica Iron Chef-style. Arrington and ... More >>

What's In Season at the Farmers Market: Cherimoya from Rincon Del Mar Ranch

Linda Mark, the Farmers Market Fairy, is every L.A. market's resident produce gossip. Her celebrities are generally the sessile sort -- piles of citrus or stone fruits depending on the season or farmers trapped behind scales and tables helping customers. Her enthusiasm for both is infectious and re ... More >>

Now Open: M.A.K.E. Out in Santa Monica

M.A.K.E. Out, a new juice and snack bar, is opening today as an extension of Matthew Kenney's raw foods restaurant M.A.K.E. at Santa Monica Place's The Market. With items ranging between $2 and $12, the menu is composed of a seasonal selection of fresh juices and smoothies made from ingredients foun ... More >>

What's in the Chef's Market Cart: Beets from Coastal Organics

This week we ask Chris Reynoso, sous chef at Tavern in Brentwood. He's waiting for the elevator and pulling a cart loaded with boxes of produce. "This whole bottom layer is just beets, red ones from Coastal Organics and yellow from Jimenez," Reynoso says. "We just roast them really simply and dic ... More >>

Santa Barbara Pistachio Co.: Pistachio Flour Fire Sale A New Nut Butter

Yet another buy local bonus: bumper crop discounts occasionally extend to secondary products like Santa Barbara Pistachio Company's pistachio flour. "It's crazy price!" says David Bomer, the company's enthusiastic Ojai sales manager, handing over a bright green $6 bag of cold-pressed pistachio meal. ... More >>

Top 4 Weekend Food Events: Build-a-Beer, Yelloween, LACO a la Carte Pumpkin Decorating

Machine Project's Build-a-Beer Home brewers Andrew Hong and Nick Clute-Reinig host an evening of beer education, deconstruction and, of course, consumption. The duo will discuss the ingredients that come together to create that amazing brewed goodness, then take beers and play around with different ... More >>

Short Attention Span Dinner Theater: Your Week in Food, 9/17 - 9/21

In which we highlight the past week in food, either at home or abroad. "Rice, seemingly so bland and innocuous, harbors the same deadly poison beloved by Victorian mystery writers." Consumer Reports Warns of Arsenic in Rice. "At most regular restaurants, the communal table is awkward at best, ... More >>

Bread Report: Bezian Bakery is Out, Red Bread is in at The Santa Monica Farmers Market

More musical bread booths at the Wednesday Santa Monica Farmers Market. Bezian Bakery has lost its least after more than 17 years at the market. Red Bread will be taking its place beginning in October. The switch is due to changes in the city's prepared foods application renewal process that was ... More >>

TEDx Symposium This Weekend Exploring Food Food Systems in the 21st Century

If you're looking for something to do this weekend beyond reading about the 232 tons of potatoes Olympic athletes are tossing back this year, there's a meaty symposium at the Fowler Museum at UCLA on Saturday: TEDx LA Miracle Mile: Food and Food Systems in the 21st Century. According to the TED w ... More >>

Cooking With Artisans: Stone Fruit Jam Tips From Amy Deaver of Lemon Bird Handmade Jams

If you haven't tasted this year's stone fruit crop -- peaches, apricots, any of them -- you must. It really is some of the best we've tasted in years. And an open invitation to make jam. A requirement, actually, when you finally resign yourself to the reality that you cannot possibly eat your way th ... More >>

Farmers Markets on July Fourth: Most Closed Santa Monica Still Open for Business

Just a quick reminder that although many Los Angeles-area farmers markets will be closed for business on Wednesday (including West L.A., Gardena, Lawndale, Altadena and Barnsdall Park), the morning Santa Monica Farmers Market will be open during its regular hours, from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

May at L.A. Farmers Markets: Your Virtual Grocery List

It's May at Los Angeles farmers markets, which means the arrival of stone fruit -- yes, already, if you can believe that -- with the first cherries and peaches, nectarines and even apricots. Also in late spring markets right now: English peas, fava beans, peppers, artichokes and strawberries. Check ... More >>

Farmers Market Fairy Brings Market Food to You (Pixie Dust Invisible)

Does it sound like a dream you've had for a while? As in "I really wish someone would go to the market for me this week." Well, that's why Linda Mark calls herself the Farmers Market Fairy. Her chariot rides on a wave of fairy dust as she flits from one daily market to another, all in service of ... More >>

Sushi Nozawa Closes Today Sugarfish Coming Next

Tonight's your last chance for tuna, yellowtail and albacore at Sushi Nozawa, the 25-year-old sushi joint tucked into a Studio City strip mall. The restaurant, whose chef Kazunomi Nozawa has been described as a "sushi tyrant" and "imperious," told us last month that it would close its doors. But i ... More >>

Farmers Market Sack Lunch: Sotera Jaime's Pupusas

Tired of ho-hum sack lunches? Time to talk to Sotera Jaime about her work-week pupusa plan of action. The cherubic abuela of Jaime Farms knows when to pull out that trusty electric burner at the office. Jaime makes sporadic appearances at her family's vegetable stand at the Wednesday Santa Monica F ... More >>

New Chef Happy Hour at Urbano Pizza Bar

Chef Bruce Kalman recently took the reins as exec chef at Urbano Pizza Bar in downtown L.A., replacing chef Brad Winnaman. Kalman was the opening chef at The Misfit in Santa Monica, where he favored a market-driven menu, specifically a Santa Monica Farmers Market-driven menu.

Tasting Reception at the CA Small Farms Conference

The hustle and crowds of your local markets -- not to mention the hurly-burly nature of weigh-and-pay customer service -- can sometimes prohibit friendly catch-up and Q&A with your favorite local farmers. Touching base with them at the California Small Farms Conference (CSFC) Tasting Reception on M ... More >>

What's in Fashion at the Farmers Market: Produce-Print Underwear

January and February are ripe with local farmers market finds like fresh truffles, sweet limes and cherimoya. And now, an exciting (revealing?) new discovery: Underwear printed with your favorite grower's produce and logo. Well, before you get all Valentine's Day gift excited, we should note that t ... More >>

Clean Plates Los Angeles 2012: Attempts Healthy L.A. Dining Guide

Clean Plates Los Angeles 2012: A Guide to the Healthiest Tastiest and Most Sustainable Restaurants for Vegetarians and Carnivores, released last week by New York City-based "health coach" Jared Koch, is more than another list of restaurant recommendations. First, the book's 52-page "Design Your Ow ... More >>

What Leap Year Means To Farmers Your 2012 Holiday Table Implications

Unless you happen to man a soda stand at Disneyland, the side effects of 2012 being a leap year probably aren't tops on your back-to-work frustration list (For the Mickey Mouse lollipop obsessed: The theme park is staying open 24 hours on February 29). And for many farmers who sell their produce at ... More >>

Windrose Farm's New Smoked Chipotles: Warning, Your Pantry Will Never Be The Same Bill Spencer's Smoking Secrets

jgarbeeBill Spencer Checking On His Tomatoes and Jalapeños​We could simply say that Bill Spencer is not the type to take the air-drying easy route to preserving the organic tomatoes and jalapeños that he and his wife, Barbara, grow on their Paso Robles farm all summer. And that they're fanta ... More >>

Fig: 99 Essential Restaurants 2011

L.A. Farmers Markets Exposed

Often, produce sold at stalls isn't organic, grown by small farms — or even spray-free

September at L.A. Farmers Markets: Your Virtual Grocery List

A. ScattergoodFresh flageolet beans at Fairview Gardens​ It's September at Los Angeles farmers markets, and to mark the 30th anniversary of the Santa Monica Farmers Market, this month's virtual grocery list comes from the Wednesday Santa Monica stalls. Of course, it mostly does anyway, but thi ... More >>

Santa Monica Farmers Market Q & A: Laura Avery Talks 30 Years of SMFM

City of Santa MonicaSanta Monica Farmers Market Manager Laura Avery.​ You probably know that this week is the 30th anniversary celebration of the Santa Monica Farmers Market, scheduled to be feted with the week-long Good Food Festival & Conference, gallery shows, and of course, food. The Sant ... More >>

GOOD Food Festival: Events Overview

Guzzle & NoshThe Sunday Santa Monica Farmers Market.​The GOOD Food Festival kicks off today and runs through Sunday, celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Santa Monica Farmers Market, not the anniversary of our favorite food-based radio show. The four-day festival includes a film screening, ... More >>

Santa Monica Farmers Market Q & A, Part 2: Laura Avery Discovers a Farm in Compton Her Favorite Fall Produce

City of Santa MonicaSanta Monica Farmers Market Manager Laura Avery.​ Laura Avery has seen a lot change and evolution in farmers markets since she started managing the Santa Monica Farmers Market back in 1982. In part one of our interview, Avery gave us a window on some of the bigger changes ... More >>

Good Food Festival: Celebrate the Santa Monica Farmers Market 30th Anniversary

A. ScattergoodLong-stemmed strawberries.​ We all know someone who, when they shop at a farmers market and see the season's first batch of tomatoes/figs/strawberries, they lose all sense of self control and start celebrating amongst the stalls. Imagine this person -- and let's face it, it's pro ... More >>

What's In Season at the Farmers Markets: Heirloom Tomatoes Peaking

Felicia FriesemaHeirloom varieties on display at the Good Food Festival kick off celebration for the 30th anniversary of the Santa Monica Farmers Market.​ We're currently smack dab in the middle of what has been a pretty enjoyable tomato season. Last year, it seemed like everyone was experien ... More >>

Good Food Film Fest: 30 Years of Santa Monica Farmers Market

Courtesy of the filmmakers.Curt Ellis and Ian Cheney of "Big River" and "King Corn."​[Update, June 6, 2:43 p.m.: An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated that the Good Food Film Festival was co-sponsored by the KCRW radio show Good Food. It is not. Also, none of the filmmakers will b ... More >>

L.A.'s Best Cocktails

Our 55 favorites and where to find them

Last Call For Adams' Olive Ranch Fresh Cured Olives Until Next Fall

Felicia FriesemaJust Picked​If you've never tasted a "fresh" olive, you've got a few weeks left to get Adams' Olive Ranch fresh-cured olives, an entirely different "fresh" fruit (they are still lightly salt cured or they would be too bitter to eat). For starters, they're bright green, retain t ... More >>

Project Lemon-Aid: Raising Money for Westside Public Schools Through Online Auction

Flickr/RPG Master​ "When life gives you lemons, go lemon your teacher's house," certain children have been known to say. But clearly not the ones behind Project Lemon-Aid, which began in June when Westside schoolchildren began running lemonade stands to raise money to save their teachers an ... More >>

Meatless Mondays: Be a Vegetarian, Just for One Day

Santa Monica Farmers Market​ It's Monday, the grudging beginning of another work week, and the end of a weekend perhaps spent barbecuing or, if you were anywhere in the vicinity of Koreatown, consuming plenty of what others threw on the grill at the Korean BBQ Cook-Off, called, appropriately e ... More >>

Connecting Field to Field: Food and Farming Veteran Career Fair

​Veterans returning home face many problems of transition, and in this economy, just finding a job can be one of them. According to PR Newswire, currently more than 250,000 U.S. veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are unemployed, and the rate of unemployment for veterans ages 18 to 24 ... More >>

Market Report: A Photo Gallery of What's In Season at the Farmers Market

A. ScattergoodRamps at Clearwater Farm​ The Wednesday Santa Monica Farmers Market is one of those places in Los Angeles where it's nice to have a crowd, unlike, say, Hollywood Boulevard during summer vacation, with its jumbled claustrophobia of tourists, mimes and people dressed up like Jack ... More >>

99 Things to Eat in L.A. Before You Die

Fugu to foie gras, pizza to panuchos

Black Wednesday at the Santa Monica Farmers Market: Come Early, Bring Your Pith Helmet

Santa Monica Farmers Market​This Friday may be Black Friday and the start of the Christmas shopping season, but tomorrow is the biggest shopping day of the year at the Wednesday Santa Monica farmers market. To accommodate the crowds shopping for Thanksgiving dinner, the market will open with t ... More >>

EAT: Los Angeles 2010 Edition Out December 1st

Prospect Park BooksEAT: Los Angeles 2010​EAT: Los Angeles, the locally published guide to food in this town, written by a cadre of local foodies, will come out with its 2010 edition on December 1st. The new edition is 56 pages longer than last year's, with 2 new chapters: Drink Eat, which i ... More >>

Pumpkin Carrying & Decorating At The Santa Monica Farmers Markets Where To Buy Dick Cheney Halloween Costumes

It's pumpkin season again, in the fields and on front porches and at local farmers markets, where next Wednesday the Santa Monica farmers market will be holding its annual all-you-can-carry pumpkin patch. It's pretty self-explanatory: pay $5 and load up with as many pumpkins as you can carry ("balan ... More >>

Take Back the Tap: Santa Monica Farmers Market Offers Free, Clean, Drinkable Tap Water

Photograph © China Photo/Reuters/CorbisThat's a lotta bottles.​With thanks to Chance of Rain for tipping us off, it looks like the Santa Monica Farmers Market is trying to set the tone for environment friendly water consumption, with a little help from Food and Water Watch. Yesterday, they h ... More >>

Market Forces: Fig at the Fairmont Miramar

Ray Garcia's menu follows the flavors of the seasons

A Few Good Eggs

In the Raw

From Planting to Plating

How the Santa Monica Farmers Market transformed the restaurant landscape

Market Massacre

A deadly day in Santa Monica

Hunting and Gathering: The Cult of the Purple-Mulberry Eaters

Running Uphill

Term limits open races to maverick candidates