Produce stand adds to food options on Vliet Street
Besides empanadas, cocktails and frozen pops, North 38th and West Vliet streets now has fresh-from-the-farm peppers, tomatoes and other vegetables.
A produce stand, which debuted on Aug. 13, so far is open on Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays, with hours of 3 to 6 p.m. weekdays and 1 to 4 p.m. weekends. Plans call for adding hours on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Why a farm stand at 38th and Vliet? “The big reason is food justice for the area,” said Pat Mueller, the owner of Heritage West Properties who’s long been active in the Martin Drive neighborhood. She previously operated a Sunday farmers market at the nearby Washington Park Senior Center.
Mueller observed that the Martin Drive neighborhood, which stretches from North 35th Street to North 47th Street, once had three bakers, two butchers and seven grocers along Vliet — among them, one of the first Kohl’s grocery stores, in the 3800 block, according to research by the Urban Anthropology group. And that vibrant commercial corridor roll call comes from 1933, at the height of the Great Depression.
Those grocers, bakers and butchers are long gone, leaving residents with few nearby options for fresh food, particular if they don’t have cars, Mueller noted.
“If you had a home without a kitchen, how functional would your family be? Now think of a neighborhood without access to good, healthy food,” Mueller said.
The stand went from idea to reality in a matter of weeks after Mueller suggested it to the Near West Side Partners nonprofit group. The group previously ran farmers markets and is a partner in the Vliet Street stand.
“We have all these vacant lots on commercial strips that aren’t being used,” Mueller recalled thinking. “What if there was a produce stand?”
She thinks the stand could be a model for other neighborhoods. The Vliet stand might be named the Oasis, Mueller said, for being an oasis of fresh produce in a food desert.
The stand is on a city-owned lot that Triciclo Perú began using for a patio because of the coronavirus pandemic. The restaurant’s dining room is closed, but it sells its ready-to-eat menu items and take-and-bake empanadas to go from its roll-up window; some customers take their food to the bright yellow picnic tables on the lawn.
Frozen-pops maker Pete’s Pops is next door to the restaurant; both businesses are in buildings redeveloped by
Tom Straub, owner of CMS Contracting.
Straub built the produce stand in a day, Mueller said. Constructed of freshly stained wood and modern corrugated metal, it’s designed to shelter the sellers while providing display space, so that vendors need bring only their produce.
At this time of year, the stand carries items such as tomatoes, eggplant, green beans, onions, summer squash and okra. Shoppers might also find bouquets.
At the stand’s debut and on its first Sunday, the vendors were from the Vang and Thao families, who live in the Martin Drive neighborhood.
On its first Friday, the vendor was Mount Calvary Urban Farms, operated by the community development corporation of Mount Calvary Lutheran Church, 2862 N. 53rd St. The produce is grown at North 49th and West Burleigh streets and at 2400 W. Villard Ave.
The Hmong Chamber of Commerce helped the stand’s operators find vendors, but more are being sought (a rawfoods vendor is expected to start setting up shop on Saturdays).
The stand was at a disadvantage with its later start, competing with the area’s farmers markets for vendors on those popular market days.
But the advantage the stand has, as Mueller sees it, is how frequently it’s open and the quick access for buyers — steps from parking on the street to the stand, a quick in-and-out shopping trip.
Chef Lisa McKay of Lisa Kaye’s Catering will begin cooking demonstrations using produce from the market — on video for the time being because of the pandemic, but in person in the future, Mueller said.
Besides appealing to neighborhood residents, the stand’s organizers hope to catch the interest of drivers who take the street from the west side to downtown and back home — although the pandemic and working from home have tamped down traffic somewhat.
They also hope the stand helps to slow down drivers. (The city installed two concrete planters this summer in the parking lane to calm traffic.)
The nearby businesses also could propel interest in the stand.
“We’re hoping our foot traffic will go there and purchase from them and that the neighborhood will slow down and pull over and see what’s going on,” said Amy Narr, co-owner of Triciclo Perú.
Mueller expects the stand will operate into October. Vendors who’d like to participate can email associate@nearwestsidepartners.org.
Contact dining critic Carol Deptolla at carol.deptolla@jrn.com or (414) 2242841, or through the Journal Sentinel Food & Home page on Facebook. Follow her on Twitter at @mkediner or Instagram at @mke_diner.