News from the Farmers Markets: Midtown, Kingfield and Uptown

[Jeremy Iggers]

A few tidbits of news from the local farmers market scene:
It's not as big as the downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul Farmer's Markets, and not as hip (or as big) or the Mill City Farmers Market but there's something very friendly and neighborly about the Midtown Farmers Market (Saturdays only). When I stopped by last Saturday, I discovered that they have added a bigger selection of eating spots: the Magic Bus Cafe (which specializes in hot dogs, including the vegan variety), Fireroast Mountain Cafe (coffee, tamales and baked goodies) and Mila's Crepes have been joined by Taco Taxi, selling, you guessed it, tacos (pork and beef, $2), Akshay Patram (Indian vegetarian specialties), and a guy selling very tasty Southern-style boiled peanuts.

Meanwhile, over at 43rd and Nicollet, the Kingfield Farmers Market is going strong on Sundays from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Akshay Patra also shows up at Kingfield, along with the Chef Shack, which lately has been selling a delicious softshell crab sandwich, along with hot dogs, beef tongue tacos and other street food delicacies. (The Chef Shack is also at the Mill City Market on Saturdays. ) The winners of Kingfield's rhubarb bakeoff last Sunday were Brenda Johnson, chosen by celebrity judge Rachel Hutton, and Susan Spongberg, picked by the crowd. Runners-up were Sarah Duniway and Sharon Spartz. The next Kingfield bake-off competition is Sunday, July 12, featuring berry dishes - contact the organizers at [e-mail] for entry information.

Tomorrow (Sunday, June 21) is opening day for the new Uptown Market, at 29th St. between Lyndale and Dupont, which will be open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the third Sundays of the month, through September. My neighbor Brendan is one of the founders. He tells me that they won't have a lot of produce vendors at first, but hope to add more as the market grows. According to the website, they'll also have prepared goods, fine art, crafts, used goods, antiques and vintage clothes.

Check back later for a Farmers Market slide show, at the bottom of the TCFoodies home page.