Cyn K.
Yelp
Overview: Huge farmers' market (6 blocks long!), great weekend activity, tough parking
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Market Hours:
- Saturday: 8 AM - 2 PM
- Wednesday: 9:30 AM - 1:30 PM
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Parking:
- Hard to find street parking; other option is expensive paid lots
- I reccomend taking the trolley to the County Center/Little Italy Station (just a 5 minute walk away).
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The Little Italy Mercato is a farmers' market stretching 6-blocks with a large variety of vendors offering fresh produce, ready-to-eat food, unique crafts, and much more! Saturdays can get extremely crowded, full of both locals and tourists supporting these small businesses. With so many vendors, there's always something new to explore. My favorite things at this market are tamales and cookies located near the intersection of Union and West Date Street (they are right next to each other)!
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The Tamale Fiesta:
- $5 each, $55 for a dozen (12)
- They aren't always ready to eat at the start of the market (8 AM)
- Available to buy them frozen
- Meat, vegetarian, and fruit tamales
- Sweet Pineapple: A bit too sweet for me, and had a few pineapple chunks
My favorites:
- Beef in Red Sauce: Loaded with savory beef, moist masa, goes well with both the green (mild) and red (spicy) salsas
- Sweet Corn: Great sweet corn flavor, small bits of actual corn, my favorite out of the "sweet" options
Menu:
- Beef in Red Sauce
- Pork in Green Sauce
- Chicken in Green Sauce
- Vegetable
- Monterrey Jack Cheese
- Sweet Corn
- Sweet Pineapple
- Sweet Strawberry
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CAKED:
- $4 Cookie, $5 Brownie, $8 Monster Brownie, $10 Chocolate Dog
- Weekly rotation of cookie flavors, offering everything from classics like Chocolate Chip and Snickerdoodle to creative options like Taro and Milk Tea.
- There's a vegan and gluten free chocolate chip cookie, and sometimes a peanut butter one
Brownie flavors:
- Regular: Chocolate Fudge, Nutella-Stuffed, Turtle, Walnut, and Cookie Butter Blondie
- Monster Brownie: Krispy Peanut Butter Marshmellow, Peanutbutter Chocolate, Slutty, and Snickers
My favorites:
- Butter Pecan Cookie: Subtley sweet, great buttery and nutty flavor
- Pandan Coconut Mochi: Soft and chewy, texturally a mix between a cookie and mochi, pandan and cocunut flavors compliment each other well
- Turtle Brownie: Fudgey brownie topped with pecans, semi-sweet chocolate chips, and caramel on the inside
- Krispy Peanut Butter Marshmellow: Texture heaven! The crunch of the rice krispy cereal, with the soft marshmellow in the middle, on top of a fudgey brownie
Menu deals:
- Buy 6, get 1 free deal which you can mix-and-match with all of their items
- Cookie Sampler Box: 10 cookies of your choice for $35
- Monster Brownie Deal: 4 Monster Brownies for $24
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Overall: Massive outdoor market (150+ vendors according to google), whether you're local or a tourist it's a great way to spend an hour or two, and fantastic way to support local businesses