A review of outdoor lighting and "live performance" noise regulations and the nomination of the Trujillo Adobe for the National Register of Historic Places are all on this week's agendas.
Eat This Riverside: Lunch at the New Tuesday Farmers Market at Riverside Community Hospital
There’s a new weekly community market in Riverside. Stop by on Tuesdays and you might catch Seth chowing down on pupusas and Thai desserts in the shadow of the Riverside Community Hospital parking complex.
I love farmers markets! Whenever I travel to a new city, I make it a point to seek out the markets where locals go to grab fresh produce and crafts, shoot the breeze with local artisans, and connect directly with the people who make their food. Markets are an unfiltered window into local culture—you can tell a lot about a place’s fundamental identity by exploring the offerings at the local market.
In Italy, for example, the local obsession with seasonal produce and fresh fish takes center stage in the market displays. You can watch grannies haggle over the price of fresh fava beans and take in the spectacle of the porchetta man flirting with local beauties by way of free samples and suggestive chitchat. In Paris, different neighborhood markets take on unique identities based on the local demographics: North African vendors sell spices, herbs, olives, and lamb at the Marché Aligre, alongside baguettes and fromageries.
In Amsterdam, I devoured pickled herring and stroopwafels while admiring the exquisite flowers on sale.
From left to right: Street Herring in Amsterdam, A stroopwafel vendor in Amsterdam, Seafood on display in a Parisian Market Stall, (Seth Zurer)
Grabbing lunch at a market is my favorite way to get the flavor of a place—both literally and figuratively.
California markets are no different: the farmers markets, flea markets, and night markets in each city, town, and neighborhood offer cultural insight, gourmet food, and urban spectacle—and you don’t even have to pay admission (usually!).
That’s why I was delighted to learn that there’s a new weekly farmers market in Riverside, taking place every Tuesday. The market tents set up at the base of Tower G, a single row of vendors wedged into a walkway between the main parking structure and the hospital lobby. Free parking exists in the hospital’s visitor parking structures, though availability can be sparse, so if walking or biking is an option, you can save some time spent circling the garage.
This market is more focused on lunch than groceries. While there are a couple of farmers with Riverside-grown produce on display, they’re outnumbered by pop-up market restaurants. The lineup of lunch vendors varies slightly each week, but during my visits, I’ve seen a teriyaki/rice bowl purveyor, a man selling homemade samosas, a Chinese dumpling specialist, a pupuseria offering aguas frescas and antojitos, a sausage stand with bacon-wrapped Sonoran perros calientes, a French boulangerie peddling pastries, baguettes, and savory snacks, as well as an acai smoothie stand and a boba tea vendor, who also offers Thai desserts.
From left to right: Fruit and veg at the Riverside Magnolia Farmers Market, Pastries on offer from St Honore’s market stall, Pupusas, Tacos and Aguas Frescas from Pupusas Rita. (Seth Zurer)
If you’re shopping for later, aside from fresh fruit and veg, there’s a nut and dried fruit seller, an Italian prepared food stall selling fresh pasta, sauce, and frozen entrees, plus an outpost of the omnipresent Brothers Products market setup, selling hummus, baba ganoush, pita, and pickles. A beekeeper offers honey in bespoke jars, along with beeswax, swarm removal, and pollination services (!). A few crafty vendors operate alongside, selling aromatherapy supplies, cartoon-branded water bottles, candles, bath bombs, jewelry, gewgaws, and doodads.
From left to right: Brothers Products sells packaged Middle Eastern delicacies from their market stall, Aguilar Honey at the Riverside Magnolia Farmers Market. (Seth Zurer)
The market is organized by Shivam Dhupar, an entrepreneur from LA who runs six community markets in the area, including in hospital courtyards in Monrovia, Visalia, and in a preschool parking lot in Woodland Hills. He told me that the majority of market clientele in Riverside are staff or patients at the Community Hospital, which makes sense given the location. However, he is promoting the market to other folks in the neighborhood, offering a free $5 token to any non-hospital customer who asks for it: just stop by the Samosa stand and ask for it.
The samosas, by the way, are delicious. Shivam’s father makes them at home and sells them from his popup tent. Shivam tells me that the samosa business is a retirement hobby for his dad: “He had a clothing store back in LA for 15, 20 years and it was doing really, really well. But after the pandemic and COVID, it just changed everything and it kind of killed the retail business, especially in Downtown LA.” After a while seeing his dad languish at home, Shivam suggested to him that he consider going into the food business. “Everyone loves your samosas, you make really good samosas at home. Why not turn it into a farmers market business?” So he created Micky's Indian Samosas business and sells every Tuesday in Riverside and occasionally pops up at other events.
Micky’s Indian Samosa’s Stall - stop by to get a free $5 token to spend at any market vendor. (Seth Zurer)
For me, the other culinary highlight of this market is the Thai Dessert stand. I ordered mango with sticky rice and got a take-out container filled with steamed sweetened purple sticky rice, topped with chunks of beautifully ripe Ataulfo mango and a drizzle of sugared coconut syrup on top. This stall also sells fruit-infused Thai teas and other boba drinks, as well as gummy candies made from lychee, mango, passion fruit, and mangosteen from the owner’s family farm back in Thailand. They’re addictive.
Some of the offerings at TR Import’s Thai Dessert market stand. (Seth Zurer)
It’s fun to visit this market at lunchtime and see the surgeons in their scrubs chowing down on hot dogs and pupusas. I’m happy that the hospital has made space to host this market and pleased that Shivam and his family are bringing more markets to the community.
There are three other farmers markets on the weekly calendar in Riverside.
The main market is the go-to on Saturday mornings from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. downtown in the stretch of Main Street between the Convention Center and the Mission Inn. If you want produce from certified organic farms across the IE and LA County, the downtown market is the right spot for you. There’s usually a band or some other entertainment.
A smaller certified organic market pops up on Wednesday mornings from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at the corner of Tenth and Lemon Street outside of the County of Riverside’s administrative offices.
If you like used car parts, wholesale molcajetes, and tube socks, check out the Van Buren Swap Meet, which convenes Tuesday through Sunday from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Van Buren Drive-In (3505 Van Buren Blvd.), or its larger swap meet cousin in Jurupa Valley at the Rubidoux Drive-In.
What’s your favorite market experience in Riverside? Send me a note and let me know: seth@raincrossgazette.com.
More information: The Magnolia Avenue Farmers Market takes place every Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Riverside Community Hospital (not affiliated), in front of Tower G. You can enter the market area from Brockton Avenue (between 14th and Tequesquite) or from Magnolia Avenue.
Seth Zurer is a recent Riverside transplant, cottage baker (try Zurer Bread!) and food writer. His food writing has appeared on Yummly.com, the Chicago Reader, Timeout Chicago and elsewhere.
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