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Clarendon Market


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Toiga must have picked the first of its corn yesterday given Monavano's post above. They were selling the teeny tiny gumball-sized plums that New Morning brought to its Saturday market last week, calling them a one-time thing with a short season. Tree & Leaf had beautiful eggplants, their first, right across from the ones Heinz began to sell last week. Now Sunnyside (not organic, the other one) no longer is the one place to go for the little squat white ones I like as much as the skinny lavender ones that I may stew with lamb.

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They had it at their stand at court house on Saturday.

Two different vendors had tomatillos although they were fairly small. The lines at 9am were ridiculous. Thank heavens ShoeBox had lemonade to sip while waiting in the sun. She also had sausage hand pies and smores. Well worth turning the oven on for in this heat. Yummmmmmm ;)

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The Clarendon market (wednesdays 3pm-7pm) is also good, and has more veggies and fruit.
I didn't see a separate thread for this market, so figured I'd start one.

The Clarendon market is now open from 2pm to 7pm on Wednesdays. They have a small but good selection of vendors, all direct producers located within 125 miles of Washington. I don't think all of them were there today, maybe due to the threat of rain, but the choices included:

  • The ubiquitous :lol: Toigo Orchards
  • Grace's Pastries
  • Babes in the Woods
  • Le Mousseux - sparkling apple cider and other apple products
  • several farms from Westmoreland County, all with a variety of produce
  • Hank's (I think) Blueberries - a fellow who retired/left a desk job and now grows 14 varieties of blueberries (2,200 plants) so he has fruit from June to early August. I picked up a container of the "Premium" berries - they are HUGE and very good.

I didn't see some of the others that are on the list - like Baguette Republic and Christopher Bakery (which I just read has been sold - :o bummer - he had some excellent pastries last year).

Nice to have this a quick walk from the office so it's not *too* hard to haul a watermelon back once in a while ;)

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I didn't see some of the others that are on the list - like Baguette Republic and Christopher Bakery (which I just read has been sold - :lol: bummer - he had some excellent pastries last year).
Just a quick note to please try not to drive to this one. I'm sure you all know that, but I thought I'd mention it anyway. Parking might be found on Fillmore, which is not too far of a walk to the market, but not close enough if you're carrying a watermelon. :o

I'm sad to hear Christopher Bakery is no longer there. ;) He made nice tasting brownies and was a great go-to place for last-minute chocolate cravings. I was wondering why I didn't see him at Courthouse market on Saturdays either.

I never saw Baguette Republic there, but they're at the Falls Church one every Saturday under "Bread House." I wish they would update the Clarendon market list, since it wasn't correct when I went on it earlier this year, either.

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RE: Chritopher Bakery: I noticed that their (his) stand was not amongst those present the couple of times this summer I have stopped by. It is a bummer! The pound cakes he made with fresh preserves -- sometimes apricot, once with orange -- were outstanding. He said last year that there were plans to open a store in the Clarendon 'hood, but it never happened. Oh well...

This market is a nice one to visit still. The last time I went by, I got a chocolate spice cake from the bakers that are there this year. It was very yummy.

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Hank still had some gorgeous blueberries yesterday.

Unbelievably good plums (shiso, santa rosa, elephant heart), apricots, white peaches, donut peaches - stone fruit heaven! Due to a broken scale, sales were by pint or quart box, mix and match at your whim - and the box was HEAPING with fruit, with a couple extras kindly thrown in by the vendor. Unfortunately, I didn't get the name of the farm, but he's from Pennsylvania (and it's not Toigo). I almost forgot to mention the Summer Rambo Sunrise* apples - crisp and tart and some of the best apples I've had.

*Same vendor was at the USDA market today (still didn't get his farm name) so I picked up a few more of these apples because we've been enjoying them so much!

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Has anyone been to the Clarendon Market lately? I tried to go today...but the 12-7pm hours listed on the Clarendon Alliance's website are incorrect. The market actually opens at 2pm. It sounds like there's been some changes in vendors, etc. I'll try to head back up there next week and see what's new.

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First visit to this market in a very long while. Hank's there with his lovely blueberries - he thinks he's got about 12 of the 14 varieties he grows producing fruit right now. In addition to the produce vendors like Toigo and C&T Produce, Middleburg Creamery was there with ice cream, Everything Olive looked to have a variety of flavored oils, Grace's Pastries had their usual selection, and Hondo Coffee and Tea Co had the obvious. Lots of apricots, cherry tomatoes and corn to be found.

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It looks like C&T's status at the market is in jeopardy.

Ooohhhh - thanks for that update. There was a bit of discussion going on at the stand (with the vendor and someone from Clarendon Alliance) when I was there and I wondered what the news truck was about. Interesting.

I bought some zucchini from them, but also purchased items from 3 other vendors - some of whom had higher prices, but whose products I wanted (better mix of cherry tomatoes; bigger blueberries, etc).

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Anyone been shopping at the Clarendon Market this season and/or know what time the market starts? Seems to be conflicting info on the web showing 2:00 or 3:00.

I haven't made it up there yet, but was thinking of checking to see if my blueberry* and plums guys are around.

*Just did a little googling and looks like "Hank" doesn't come to the market anymore :mellow: - but you can go to his Frog Eye Farm and pick your own.

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Anyone been shopping at the Clarendon Market this season and/or know what time the market starts? Seems to be conflicting info on the web showing 2:00 or 3:00.

I haven't made it up there yet, but was thinking of checking to see if my blueberry* and plums guys are around.

*Just did a little googling and looks like "Hank" doesn't come to the market anymore :mellow: - but you can go to his Frog Eye Farm and pick your own.

Not sure when they open, but I stopped by for the first time last week near close (7pm). Toigo Orchards was there and had a good fruit selection, and there were two or three produce stands and Great Harvest Breads.

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Shaved ice! Bingbingice.com. Hate posting from phone but way too excited. $4 a bowl with 4 toppings and syrup/condensed milk. The person there is Andrew--he's Taiwanese American and a CIA grad. Authentic down to the machine of my childhood days. He has strawberry, mango, red bean, lemon jelly, grass jelly, barley, boba pearls and two more. There until 7pm.

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