Downtown Palo Alto Farmer’s Market

It’s a nice way to start or continue your Saturday morning. I especially like the live music and the bread from the PAN-​o-​RAMA Bakery. The cut flowers at this market are some of the prettiest in Palo Alto. If you’re here only once, splurge on the chocolate tasting in another creatively converted Palo Alto garage. The whole local nuts, still in their shell, are another favorite. Enjoy!

Not a lot of produce/​fruit stands. Lots of prepared food stands. Products are kind of expensive (but I’m not from the area so wouldn’t really know).

We love coming to this farmer’s market on Saturdays. It is a small farmers market but it has everything that you need. My favorites are the variety of fresh fruits and veggies, the pastry vendor that sells chocolate croissants and a hazelnut chocolate chip swirled roll, and the Nut&Bean vendor that sells an assortment of nut butters. Plus, it is walking distance to so many great cafes and restaurants in the area.

One of my favorite things about Palo Alto.
Lots of organic, really fresh produce. «Full Belly Farm» is my favorite — they always have the most amazing selection of heirloom varieties, & the staff are very knowledgeable about what they sell. They’ll even give you ideas for how to use their vegetables & fruits.
Also try the Gibson Farm’s organic walnuts — best in the state — and the fishmonger.
Wild, locally caught seafood. Amazing! And Pietro knows so much about ocean ecology.
I actually prefer that the market’s focus is on fresh produce — not prepared food in trucks. Hey, it is a MARKET, not a food court.

This is a very good way to see what the community offers, but finding parking is very difficult. Use parallel streets along University Ave.

«Love Morsels» is a new vendor selling fruitcake. That’s right: you can get Christmas in August. Also featured are «Love Bites», small pieces of chocolate covered fruitcake:
The style is heavy on the nuts. It’s OK. However, I prefer the fruitcake from Assumption Abbey in Missouri, which is downright addictive. I also prefer my fruitcake after Halloween.

This is a pretty small farmer’s market, and the hours aren’t too convenient for me. It also is only available part of the year.
Not much in the way of prepared/​ready to eat food. It seems to be heavy on the produce & baked goods. Some of the stalls I recognize from the California Ave Farmer’s market, like the pâté stall & a honey stall. There was a seafood stand with some fresh fish & shrimp. Overall, the prices were pretty high, even compared to the California Ave. Farmer’s Market, but a good portion of the stands accept credit cards, which is nice.
The stands that interested me the most were the sheep’s cheese/​yogurt stand & The Poultry stand. The poultry stand had a sale going on for Guinea Fowl, Quails & Guinea Fowl eggs (I wanna buy some of ‘em once I figure out the best recipes)

I wouldn’t be sad if this were my weekly market — lots of high quality vendors including some of my favorites from the Menlo Park market (I miss the fish guy and the stand with cratefuls of greens). Stocked up on summer fruits this week — blueberries, apricots, peaches, and cherries. Still prefer the College of San Mateo since it’s a lot bigger and more spread out, which makes it easier to push the stroller around.

Palo Alto’s farmers’ market was much more larger than other farmers market and had a greater amount of people. The streets were filled and lively, filled with music and smiling faces of families. The people were happy and they were busy. They didn’t have much time to chat with you though, but they had a large selection of food. The had sorbets, eggs, unique vegetables, soups, bread, potatoes, and mushrooms, you could find anything there.

I grew up fiddling at this PA farmer’s market. People were very kind to me and threw lots of money in my case! I have lots of great memories and great associations with this market.
The only reason I don’t give this market 5 stars is that it is quite expensive. But, we are in PA, people. Everything is expensive.

Wow, this farmer’s market is crazily overpriced! You can only find apples for as low as $ 2/​lb, all other fruits are $ 3. And there are so few samples… How do you know what you’re getting?
It’s great for pastries or prepared foods… Oaxacan Kitchen Mobile is there, but the real star is the crêpe stand. Fat, luscious crepes– buckwheat or white– for $ 5-​$ 9. We had organic strawberries with Belgian chocolate today, and were on the verge of licking the plate!

I saw the Palo Alto Farmers’ Market when I was heading to Whole Foods so afterwards went to find it. It’s behind the Palo Alto Post Office and there’s some parking in the lot next to Chase bank. You can’t park at Chase’s lot security guard there. Gilman St @ Hamilton Ave.
This Farmers’ Market is open every Sat 8a-​12Noon thru Dec 17, 2011. It’ll start up again in mid-​May.
Saw Fat Cabbage Farm — lots of cabbage $ 1.20/lb, potatoes $ 2.25/lb; onions $ 2.50/lb; beets $ 2.25; Radish $ 2; Winter Squash $ 1.37-$ 1.75/lb; Greens (Kale, Chard) $ 2.
Dates from Flying Disc Ranch — Deerie (pronounced Dear) $ 6/​lb; Modjool $ 8/​lb., others. Ask for a sample & he’ll give you one. He bags it for you if you want something.
One booth had Brussel Sprout Stalks $ 5.50 ea. Kale $ 1.75 ea, Arugula $ 1.5/bunch; Artichoke Hearts $ 2/​lb; Beets $ 1.50 bunch — I bought one bunch, she helped me pick a small one, pumpkins, etc.
Ester’s Germany Bakery — a customer said the Cherry Poppy seed pastry is good, cost like $ 4.75. I almost got one, but didn’t.
Far West Fungi for mushrooms — they have a shop in SF Ferry Bldg.
Gourmet Crepes — $ 6 – 9. Maybe one day I’ll get one.
Hodo Soy — pricey soy products. Tasty but pricey.
SunnyCal Farms in Reedley, CA had lots of grapes.
Flowers — Gerber Daisies $ 5/​bunch; Sunflowers $ 5; Irises $ 5; 2 for $ 9; or 3/​$ 12. Dahlias — maybe $ 5 I didn’t see sign for it.
Spice Hound — small jars of spices.
Karin Johnson Specialty Cakes — They have a kitchen in Pleasanton, but sells at both Palo Alto FM & Menlo Park. French almond chocolate — macaron .75c — it was tasty; 6 for $ 4; 12 for $ 8; Basque cake; Chocolate Soufflé Cake; Flourless chocolate almond cake all 6″/$ 11; 2 for $ 20. Some lady bought 3 doz of the pistachio macarons so nobody else got any — so sad. Walnut orange cake gluten free, dairy free 6″ $ 12; 2 for $ 22; Lemon raspberry cake — gluten free 6″ $ 12; 2 for $ 22; Lemon Semolina Cake — they have mini & 6″ $ 12; 2 for $ 22. Almost got a Rhubarb Almond Tart $ 5 ea & Shaker Lemon Tart $ 5. Blackberry Bars & Brownies $ 1.75 ea or 6 for $ 8.
Oaxacan Foods — Food ready to eat, maybe will try another time.
Spring Hill Cheese– cheeses. They had a Pumpkin Quark — like a cream cheese spread $ 5/​tub. Lots of other cheese you can sample.
Hale’s Apple Farm from Sebastopol CA. Ask for samples of the different apples. Gravensteins available in August, none now. Sleeping Beauty; Granny Smith; Arkansas Black; Comice; Bennett Rome $ 2/​lb. Apple juice I got a quart for $ 4.75. It’s tasty.
Homemade Toffee — I see them at the Downtown SJ FM. Haven’t bought any yet, but they give out samples.
There was music around 9:30am.
Website:

One of my favorite things to do on the weekend. Start with a crêpe and work your way around the stalls until you have everything you need for the week. :)
The market is sizable, but not large. You can still find everything you need.
Usually live music… of varying quality. :)

We stopped in here today for the first time, after several visits to the Sunday California Ave farmers market. This market is actually more convenient for us, since its closer to our apartment and our complex serves a free brunch on Sundays, so we prefer to go out on Saturday mornings instead. It does seem a little smaller than the Cal Ave farmers market, although I’m not sure there are fewer vendors; they’re just all jammed in a parking lot instead of spread out along several streets.
Compared to the Cal Ave farmers market, I did feel like this one was a little more produce-​heavy: I’d say about 80−90% of the stands were produce, while Cal Ave is more like 60%. There were a couple prepared food stands that also come to Cal Ave, including the crêpe place and Oaxacan foods, but those were the only «meal» places I saw. There was also a pastry place that didn’t look terribly appealing to me, a bread place, a cheese place, an olive oil/​vinegar stand, and a meat/​poultry place. But overall I thought there was less variety of the non-​produce stuff than at Cal Ave.
That said, free samples, especially of fruit, were incredibly abundant! There were more free samples here than any other farmer’s market I’ve been to, I think. And for the most part they were sitting out in little bowls, instead of being handed out by people, so you didn’t have to feel awkward about asking for a sample.
I still prefer the variety of the Cal Ave market, but this is a nice Saturday alternative. Parking seems like it would be a problem — I recommend biking like we did, if you live within a couple miles. The Bryant Street garage almost always has parking as well.

I came here on Saturday after my yoga class in Palo Alto. I didn’t realize they had a Farmers’ Market in downtown Palo Alto. I’ve only been to the California Ave. location in Palo Alto. I called one of my gfs who live in Palo Alto after my yoga class. She suggested we grab some crepes at the Farmers’ Market.
I have to say the crab crêpe ($ 9) was delicious! It was filled with yummy goodness… asparagus, crab meat, squash, and lemon juice. There were both savory and dessert crepes. I enjoyed watching the two ladies make the crepes.
We came on the later side, so there were a lot of slim pickings on the produces. So, definitely come early to buy all the fresh produces. I loved the homebaked goodies.

Stopped here at the tail end of the market, and was pleasantly surprised.
I had expected it to be much smaller.
I picked up a few items, but held back from purchasing more since i was planning on going to the Mountain View farmers market the next day.
The parking lot across from the market is a bit of a clusterfuck. Spaces are tiny, (and we have a small car) and there’s very little room to pull out. As we discovered, if someone pulls out and sits there, you’re stuck! (I actually thought we were going to miss the market we were there for so long!)
My hubby and I split a luscious, (but tiny) french macaroon from a vendor that was new to us, (sorry, don’t remember the name!)
Maybe it’s because I rarely get real dessert, but i was impressed.
I probably won’t be back here much, this market ends earlier than most, and if I need to go to a farmers market on Sat., i prefer the Sunnyvale one.

I was always thinking the downtown FM was going to be bigger and bolder than most in the area but it turns out the one on Cal Ave is better. The MV is even bigger than that. Now that I dont live a few blocks away from this anymore, I’m not sure it’s worth making the trip to, when there is such better selection elsewhere.

Goooo, get the rotisserie chicken or fresh fruits! Of all farmers markets I’ve been to the samples here are most generous! I got full from sampling. And the boulani girl! She is the best.

Of all the one’s I have loved, this is my least favorite. It’s small, and located behind a WAMU. As you can imagine, parking is a bit difficult, but they have some of the same players. The Oaxaca tent, the crêpe creator, and a host of other vendors selling fruits, vegetables, sauces, flowers, and baked goods. It makes sense that this market is seasonal, and am glad it’s within walking distance of whole foods so I can pick up anything that I may be missing.
Funny, but all the markets I visit… no green or red bell peppers… wonder why.

Closed for the winter, Dec. 15. Open May — December, Saturdays, 8−12pm. Isn’t one of the largest farmer’s market but with 2.5 aisles has fruits and veggies and prepared foods like crepes, Esther’s German bakery, cheese, soy foods and such. I needed some veggies before Sunday, my usual MV farmer’s market shopping and got some, slightly pricier then MV but met my needs.
Parking isn’t easy, the lot across the street gets full and the slots are tight, so don’t drive a big SUV, looked like hell for those big rigs trying to back out.