Local Market

The East End of Long Island has a farm stand on every corner.  Everyone has their favorites which are generally in the vicinity of where they live.  My favorite is Vicki’s Veggies.  Her and her mother’s farm stand is a 2 minute drive.  Farm land in the back, local food is in abundance and fresh loaves, cookies and jams. 

Once a week, in the parking lot next to Nick and Tony’s is a farm stand that is filled with local farmers.  It is only there once a week, Wednesdays, but I love that you can talk to the farmers and they can boast about their wares.  Prices are not cheap.  It is tough being a local farmer with organic products but I like to support their efforts and their produce is fantastic. 

First of all, everyone has tastes which is a huge bonus.  We began at the La Fondita Farm stand.  La Fondita has a restaurant in Amagansett which reminds me of the Mexican restaurant we went to in Santa Barbara.  The real deal.  They are now selling packaged salsas.  Today they were giving out tastes of their corn bread.  Love corn bread.  We also bought a limeade which is tangy and sweet.

Our second stop was at Lucy’s Whey.  She has a variety of cheeses from the California area.  Wonderful
crackers, dried blueberries and dried cranberries.  I believe everything she sold was from California.  We walked away with a bunch of stuff.

Next to Lucy was a small stand that only carried organic veggies and bouquets.  We bought a beautiful bouquet of flowers.  Across the way was a woman who had canned ratatouille seventeen different ways.  Looked good but I generally make that from scratch so we passed on her wares. 

Then there was another local farmer who sold us some yellow cherry tomatoes that he had just picked from the garden.  If we had only tasted them when we were there, we would have bought him out.  Tomatoes so sweet that it was like eating candy.  We also got some beautiful yellow string beans for tonight’s dinner.

The best find was David Falkowski.  He sells mushrooms, fresh and dried.  I bought 3 different types of dried mushrooms that smelled out of this world.  The dried chanterelles were intoxicating.  An aroma similar to truffles.  You want to continue to stick your nose in the bag for one more sniff.  We also bought two other varieties.  For tonight, we bought elephant ears mushrooms that are big and beautiful which we are going to toss on the grill with a little balsamic vinegar.  David is passionate about his mushrooms.  I hope he starts ecommerce on his site sooner than later. 

Last was from the Blue Duck Bakery in Southampton.  They were giving away bites of a buttery chocolate chip pound cake.  Their breads were beautiful.  We bought a small baguette for dinner.

It was a real treat the entire experience.  Almost like going back in time.  If you are in the Hampton’s during the week and on a Wednesday make sure to stop by the Farmers Market.  It is well worth the trip.