|
A Food Cornucopia at San Francisco Farmers Market By George Medovoy, Editor The late San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen once called the Ferry Building clock tower "a famous city's most famous landmark." For many years the tower welcomed commuters for whom the ferry was the only way to the city.
(The Ferry Building in San Francisco, where the marketplace is located) Today, the tower is the centerpiece of the Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market, the lively home of sustainable farm products and sophisticated indoor shops. Crowds of shoppers meander back and forth between outdoor sidewalk vegetable stalls overflowing with fresh produce. And, yes, you can taste free samples! Inside the ferry building are more food stalls illuminated by sunlight streaming through a distinctive central nave. And like icing on the cake, storybook electric F-Line trams ply the Embarcadero, linking up with Fisherman's Wharf, Downtown and the Castro District. Inside the Ferry Building, I peaked into shops with enough fancy foods for a full day's browsing. My eye caught the Scharffen Berger Chocolate Shop, whose products are kosher. Scharffen Berger is also known for working directly with plantation farmers in its bean-to-bar approach. The company was the brainchild of the late Dr. Robert Steinberg, a Harvard University graduate, family physician and accomplished cook, and John Scharffenberger, his friend and former patient, who graduated from UC Berkeley in 1973 with a combined degree in botany, cultural anthropology, food history and geography. Steinberg
had become interested in making chocolates after visiting France. In 1996, he
and Scharffenberger produced their first batch of chocolates in Steinberg's home
kitchen - a far cry from the company's 27,000-square-foot Berkeley factory today!
Others shops I liked were the Cowgirl Creamery Cheese Shop, where workers dressed in white served a crowded counter of shoppers; the Tsar Nicoulai Caviar for California-farmed sturgeon caviar; and the Imperial Tea Court, which puts on an hour-long Gong Fu tea presentation. For
breakfast, I sat down at a small place called Lulu Petite - nothing fancy, but
the croissant was tasty and the coffee pleasant. For as long as I can remember, about the only people you'd see down here were morning joggers running along a stretch of waterfront where the Oakland Bay Bridge towers over the water like a modern-day behemoth. But
a lot has changed since revitalization, crowned by the make-over of the Ferry
Building into market space and upstairs offices. The Vitale's 199 guestrooms include eight suites on eight floors, many with panoramic views of the Bay Bridge, Alcatraz and Treasure Island. At the end of my day in San Francisco, I recalled William Saroyan's paean to this great city: "Arrival in San Francisco," the author once noted, "is an experience in living." Over the years, it's something I've done again and again, and it's always fresh and new. WHEN YOU GO…
The Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market is open Tuesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Call (415) 291-3276 for information. For general information about visiting San Francisco, visit www.onlyinsanfrancisco.com The Hotel Vitale is located at Eight Mission Street. For reservations, call (888) 890-8688 or visit www.hotelvitale.com.
| ||
 |
