Chef series begins at new Urban Harvest Farmers Market
Change of venue also allows for room to expand
It’s a new day for the Urban Harvest Saturday Farmers Market, often called the Eastside Farmers Market, which for 15 years made its home on Eastside Street near Richmond. Last month the market moved to a new location, St. John’s School, 3401 Westheimer at Buffalo Speedway, which offers more parking (600 parking spaces) and more room to grow the lineup of vendors, which currently is about 65.
“The new location allows us to offer expanded programs,
products and events, ultimately connecting our farmers to clients and creating a dependable economic source of support to local farms,” said Janna Roberson, Urban Harvest executive director. All vendors are within 180 miles of Houston and one-fifth of them derive more than 50 percent of their income from the farmers market.
The popular market has more to offer than just a new location, on Saturday, it begins a new series featuring local chefs cooking with farmers market vendors and using grocery staples from Kroger.
First up is chef Olivier Ciesielski from the new Avondale Food & Wine (formerly L’Olivier Restaurant and Bar, 240 Westheimer). Ciesielski will prepare butternut squash ravioli — autumnal flavors perfect for the holiday season. The demonstration will be continuous during the hours of the farmers market, 8 a.m.noon; take-home recipe cards also will be available. Kroger is sponsoring the chef series, which will continue with additional cooking demonstrations on Jan. 26, May 18 and Aug. 17. The participating chefs will be announced at a later date.
Other farmers market events on the calendar include a half-hour tour of the market and its vendors on Nov 17; and a citrus festival on Dec. 15 that will explore the best practices for growing citrus.
Since its inception, the farmers market has been a resource for some of Houston’s top chefs, including Hugo Ortega (Hugo’s, Caracol, Backstreet Café, Xochi) and Chris Shepherd (UB Preserv, One Fifth Mediterranean, Georgia James), both James Beard Award winners.
“In addition to supporting area farmers and producers and getting great local products, it’s fun to spend a Saturday morning wandering the market with a coffee in my hand and a large bag for collecting my discoveries, finding new vendors and speaking with other chefs and Houstonians,” said Ortega, whose wife, Tracy Vaught, attended St. John’s. “It’s a true community feeling, and I love that.”
Shepherd often shops the farmers market for his restaurant and his own home cooking needs. “The Urban Harvest Farmers Market is like the town square,” he said. “It’s a place where farmers, vendors, shoppers and families meet up every week,” he said. “Supporting local farmers is a huge part of how I cook and run my restaurants, and it’s important for Houstonians to have a place to meet the people who are growing their food, raising chickens or growing the flowers they put on their table. I’ve said this for a long time — no farm, no food. I should probably rephrase that a little: no farmers, no farm, no food.”
Additionally, the Urban Harvest City Hall Farmers Market has reopened and will take place every Wednesday from 11 a.m to 1:30 p.m. at City Hall throughout the fall.
For more information on Urban Harvest, see urbanharvest.org.