Green City Market at Lincoln Park

Green City Market at Lincoln Park Is A Great Neighborhood Resource Hidden In Plain Sight

The last couple of years I find myself cooking and entertaining with friends and colleagues more frequently in home settings. That does not mean that I don’t still love eating out, after all I don’t have to do the labor, especially the dishes, but eating in or making something to share has become more important to me the last few years.

Green City Market is open year round with a dedication to local vendors and local farms from IL, MI, WI, and IN overwhelmingly. Many of the vendors provide organic and/or Integrated Pest Management goods. And every time I go I linger. All. Year. Round.

The varieties of potatoes and apples and brassicas on offer from fall through spring never fail to intrigue me. There are also hen and duck eggs available to purchase as well as mushrooms, meat, poultry, and cheese.

Watching the array of fruit that arrives as spring turns to summer causes me to spend large amounts of money to eat them to hand and make jam. I generally avoid seconds for fruit preserves and pickled/fermented vegetables. But goodness, later in the season when the black caps, cherries ( including the difficult to ever find in stores sour variety) arrive I lose my mind. And then the sweet corn follows along with the pickling cukes and zukes if you don’t blink and miss them. Yes I have some preferred farmers that I check in with on when the produce will show up (field/harvest reports) with start and end dates.

Additionally there are chef demos that feature produce available that day at the market. One of our GNRs still features a stand at the market for all things pie at Hoosier Mama Pie Co. And no I did not forget the hedonistic well loved gathering for the market with the annual chef-driven BBQ.

Here's what folks have said on the board:

Vital Information:

We missed the first couple of weeks of Chicago's Green City Market, but it took only one visit to convince me that it is better than ever. From its start, Green City has included vendors selling produce both organic and unique. That makes it a very good farmer's market. Yet, it did not stop there. Over the last few years, Green City has added several vendors offering local, organic meats such as Piedmontese style beef. And we are not talking a few chickens and a bunch of eggs. One could get bratwurst made from Illinois pork, bacon, parts including liver and kidneys, heritage turkeys, etc. More, more, more. A couple of years ago, Traderspoint, an organic dairy based in Indiana began offering their freakishly good milk and yogurt.

Kennyz:

The scones from Hoosier Mama Pie are fantastic.

I always get there between 6:45 and 7:15AM, mainly because that's when you get to walk around with so many of the city's best chef's and see what they're buying, and hear what questions they ask the farmers. At that hour it's also much less crowded, parking's easier, and Mint Creek hasn't run out of what are the best eggs at the market.

OldTownFoodie:

I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am to go on Saturday! I'm planning on starting a new tradition this year where I will hit up the market on Saturdays and cook dinner for the whole fam Sunday nights. We'll see how many drunken nights of the in-laws I can take before I kill this "tradition."



This place is a “jewel in the crown” of Chicago’s offerings of great food.

Green City Market

Green City Market at Lincoln Park (outdoors)
1817 N Clark St.
Chicago, Il

Wednesday and Saturday Mornings
7am-1 pm (from May through the October)

Indoor Market
Saturday Mornings (see schedule, November-April)
Peggy Notebart Museum
2430 N Cannon Drive
Chicago, Il

Threads:
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=32779

viewtopic.php?p=33788#p33788

Green City Market absolutely deserves a GNR award. It is unsurpassed as a resource for fresh and unusual local produce. It's the place where I first encountered fraises des bois (Nichols Brothers) and amaranth greens (Growing Power). I go there knowing I can count on finding eggs and meat from vendors that are certified humane in their treatment of animals. The best asparagus and green beans in the city are found at Mick Klug's stand, IMHO. And the zeppole from Zullo's! And summer butter from Nordic Creamery! It's a wonderful, life-affirming party every Saturday and Wednesday from May to November.

I'm a huge fan/supporter of the GCM and I fully support this nomination.

=R=

I remember when Abby Mandel was trying to start a green sustainable farmer market in Chicago. She was an acquaintance more than a close friend, but having worked in the food industry in Chicago we knew each other and I remember walking with her while she scouted out the Evanston farmers market as a model of what she wanted to open in the city, she accomplished that moving it from an alley downtown to it's main location in Lincoln Park. She connected farmers and chefs who didn't know where to find each other and introduced eaters and chefs to Nichols Brothers, Mick Klug, Green Acres and many other producers and home cooks to farm to table eating. I walked through markets with her as she spoke of her vision and she made me see that food I loved could be available to everybody, she wanted to teach people to eat what was grown locally as much as possible.

My Irish born mother and aunt, raised on a dairy farm loved to go every Saturday to see what was available, they were especially fond of local dairy and pastured lamb. We'd spend a couple of hours on Saturday mornings sipping coffee and eating croissants in lawn chairs I'd brought while they'd decide what to bring home to cook for the week. My mom and aunt passed in 2008 and when Abby passed a couple of months later, it felt like I'd lost three family members.

Green City Market was and still is the leader in farmers markets in Chicago, there are more neighborhood markets now, and more producers, I attribute that to Green City Market which lead the way to eating locally and sustainably. This is also the market that allows farmers to introduce new varieties of fruit and vegetables, many which aren't viable to ship to supermarkets. Every year I find some new or old varietal of fruit or vegetable that a grower wouldn't have taken a chance on if they didn't think there would be community support from the market, sometimes they're embraced sometimes they're not, but a seed stock was continued that might have otherwise been lost.

I fully support this nomination and I have to admit I'm surprised it's not already a GNR.

I whole-heartedly support this nomination. GCM is an invaluable resource for my family, as it is the primary place we shop for food all year round. In full disclosure, we do now consider some vendors/market workers as friends, and one vendor, I recently discovered, is a very distant relative. We have shopped at GCM for nearly ten years for a number of reasons. The Market has high standards to which the producers must adhere, requiring that all vendors are certified by a nationally recognized third party agency for sustainability, organic compliance, welfare, or other relevant standards. These standards include commitments to local foods, sustainable use of the land, support of family farms, and connecting the consumer with the grower. It may go without saying, but producers who take the trouble to comply with these standards produce excellent produce, meat, dairy, etc. In addition, the variety is some of the best in city. Although I am an enthusiastic and (I believe) a well educated home cook, every year I encounter a new ingredient at the market, or learn new tips and techniques from the vendors.

What would we do without Green City Market? It’s the highlight of my Saturday and if I weren’t usually on foot or CTA I would probably come back with far more than I could eat or afford. Because this place fires the culinary imagination. The produce, the prepared foods (Cookies and Carnitas!), the flowers! It’s food-lovers heaven. I also love that they accept Link and Snap benefits and also feature vendors like Growing Home that provide education and training to people who have employment barriers. What’s not to love here??

I live in the western suburbs so I am not a frequent shopper at the Green City Market, but I am a lover of outdoor markets, farmers markets and buying local produce, flowers, dairy and meat. I recall a particular visit to the GCM during the summer. I needed to drive into the city so I decided to drive in early so I could get up to Lincoln Park just as the market was opening. What a great reason to get up early. My first problem was realizing I had not brought enough bags, but that didn’t stop me from piling gorgeous fresh produce and fruit, beautiful flowers (I remember choosing the Dinner Plate Dahlias that visit) and I even stopped for a homemade crepe that morning.
I was GREEN with urban envy. The Green City Market is an absolute Chicago treasure. This nomination is inspiring me to consider another early morning drive in to the GCM in the near future.