San Francisco: Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market & Marketplace

I've always heard a lot of good things about the farmer's market at the Ferry Building in SF, near the Embarcadero, and it is actually one of the more famous ones on the West Coast, so of course, I had to check it out, since I was already (thanks to the Southwest 6:30am flight). There's also the Ferry Building Marketplace, which is a spot known for its food vendors, so it's like killing two birds with one stone!

Ferry Building Farmer's Market

1 Ferry Building

Embarcadero, San Francisco, CA 94111

www.ferrybuildingmarketplace.com

The famous Ferry Bulding :] The farmer's market is set up around the building itself, in the front, back, and the sides.

On the right side, it has the majority of the food vendors. Each one demanded a line. Crazy stuff.

Mexican breakfast. Chef's cooking some potatoes.

Sold all sorts of products having to do with dried cured meats.

Of course, I had to try the famous Blue Bottle Coffee in SF. They are known for how particular they treat their coffee and the way it is brewed, via the single drip method.

Crazy line just to get coffee. I had to wait about 20 minutes.

Some of the coffee beans they were selling. I tried to read the description and the uses for each bean. I'm way too much of a coffee n00b to understand :P

Finally decided on a New Orleans Iced Coffee, since I already had about 3 cups of espresso/coffee that morning. It had such a nice distinctive coffee aroma and none of that sour aftertaste. After I finished, my hands were actually shaking haha. Too much caffeine = no bueno for me.

Got a little bit cold so decided to head inside the building. Saw this crazy shop selling all sorts of fresh and dried mushrooms.

Where's the truffle at??

Crazy... I would get so lost shopping here.

Saw an empanadas stand so decided to grab something small.

El Porteno Argentinian Empanadas.

Asked for recommendation and got the beef empanadas. They brush it with a chimichurri sauce on the top.

It's actually stuffed with seasoned ground beef, cheese, olive, and raisins! Very delicious. The sweetness of the raisins balances out the salty olives really well! I didn't know you could get it hot so I actually ate mine cold... next time!

Shop selling vinegar and all sorts of flavored olive oil. Free sample time!

Boccalone, a meat shop inside the building, owned by Food Network chef, Chris Cosentino.

Lots of awesome looking salami.

Decided to get a salami sandwich, with tomato spread, cheese, and lettuce.

Lots of fat on the salami, but it wasn't fatty to the taste at all! It's also not overly salty. Great hand-crafted salami. One of the best salami I've had. Should've got the muffuleta sandwich to taste a wide range of their dried cured meats.

Saw this Sprinkles-esque patisserie called Miette. Didn't buy anything but their macaroons looked gorgeous.

We didn't really get to stay there that long because of parking. We didn't want to pay $15 for a parking garage and opted for street parking instead but that also meant kept on going back to put more coins in. Eventually we can out of coins and I was too full to try anything else and too tired from waking up so early. Next time hopefully I can really take the time to check out all the shops and all the vendors at the market.

Awesome farmer's market for people living in the city though, even though prices are a bit high!