Green City Market

In my mad dash to get down to the Merchandise Mart on Friday, I passed the sign for the Green City Market. I've never been to it before and had my curiousity picqued by, of course, Top Chef, where they had to gather all of the ingredients for a challenge there.

The current season (the fourth) was filmed around October of last year, so the variety is very different of course. But if they had to execute that challenge yesterday, it would have been 15 different takes on asparagus. Sheesh. That was pretty much the only thing that anyone had yet.

There were also some cheeses, breads and meats as well, but the big thing for me was fresh herbs, which I wanted in order to finish out the garden. I also decided to look for ramp and try it myself. I didn't find that, but there was one stand that had a number of different greens. After poking around and listening in on some folks talking, I picked up a kale, spigarello and fiddle head fern. I've never had any of them, so it will be an adventure. For all, it seems the best preparation is to sautee them a bit in a garlic infused olive oil. Or steamed.

I also picked up a pretty sizable rosemary plant, which I'm hoping is big enough that the likelihood of surviving is higher, and some orange thyme, tarragon and flot leaf parsley.

I think the Evanston one may actually be larger (though I went there much later in the summer, if I recall, so that might be a function of the time of year) and has the advantage of free parking, where Green City is $9, assuming you remember to get your ticket validated. On the upside, Green City does allow you to bring your dog with you, and Tiny loves that kind of thing.