Blythe C.
Yelp
There are a dozen or so stalls set up with fresh vegetables, fruits, meats, and artisan breads and pastries for sale. Prices vary, so I suggest looking over all of your options before purchasing a specific item. There was only one specialty mushroom tent, and a few Mediterranean quick bread meal tents (selling warm Börek, or phyllo savory pies, pita, and lentils). Everything is grown and made locally, even the breads, cheeses, and Greek food.
I bought some sweet potatoes ($1.50/lb.), green beans ($4.00/container), and some specialty mushrooms ($5.40 minimum purchase with credit) for Thanksgiving dishes I am preparing. While there, I indulged myself with a brunch of cold spanakopita (made with no cheese, and lots of spinach!), warm ground beef and cheese Börek, and a no sugar added apple strudel, all of which I bought from separate stalls to get an overall quality assessment of the sellers there.
The spanakopita was fairly good considering there was no cheese (something I've discovered may be necessary to make spinach more palatable), but overall not my favorite. I requested an end piece and found that at the edges, the dough had a bread-like consistency as opposed to flaky phyllo dough, and the interior threatened to turn to mush with all of the soft spinach stuffed inside. It cost $8, and I would probably prefer to buy something else (at least I got my greens in though!)
The Börek was amazing, though a bit more expensive at $9.15. The dough, while again not flaky, was soft and tore easily like a mix of warm focaccia and pizza dough. In between the layers were bits of ground beef and mozzarella cheese, a classic combination! There were two types of Börek being sold: the ground beef and cheese and a spinach and cheese. I would recommend indulging in this treat if you were not feeling adventurous to try something else.
And finally, the no sugar added apple strudel: it makes me question why we need to add sugar to strudel in the first place! It tasted amazing and perfect as is, the interior was sweet and cinnamony, as well as delectably soft and smooth. Granted, the exterior pastry threatened to fall apart due to the weight of the stuffing, but it was flaky like a pastry should be, although it admittedly added little to the strudel. You could sell the stuffing on its own as a jam and I would be immensely happy with it! It cost $5.00 though, so it is a bit pricey.
Overall, while expensive, the items and foods provided are of exceptional quality and overall modestly to unbelievably delicious! My reason for reduced stars? There were an unnerving number of homeless people approaching shoppers asking them to buy their newspapers. I wouldn't let that deter anyone from going, but to just be aware.