A Fork on the Road: Yellow Green Farmers Market

Linda Bladholm2/1/2011

With more than 300 booths in a 100,000-square-foot, covered, open-air space, the Yellow Green Farmers Market in Hollywood offers everything from beets to banh mi subs. Weekend shoppers come for seasonal fruit, Indian vegetables (snake gourds, baby eggplants, long yard beans), herbs, spices, teas, raw honey, fresh mozzarella, Amish butter, infused olive oils, crafts and more.

On a recent Saturday, I met Ariel Garcia (954-708-0661) near the entrance at New Earth Seafood (booth 310), where his fresh catch was displayed on ice - mackerel, snapper (yellowtail, mutton, and hog) and spiny lobster. Pickle "D" licious is a large wagon in the center of the market (booth 343) where Chris Matera and Harold Pitts (772-708-6806) sell their preservative-free half sours, New York dills, garlic sours, hot and spicy dill spears and sweet-spicy chips plus pickled beets and carrots and herb-marinated olives.

Karina Rizzo (305-519-6908) offers sandwiches with homemade antipasti, daily pasta specials and bottled sauces based on Nonna's recipes at Bite Around the Corner (No. 23). Try the sandwich with grilled and marinated zucchini, sun-dried tomatoes and Asiago cheese or meatballs with sauce on a roll. Israeli-born Sapir Rom (954-839-0761) studied at the Cordon Bleu in Paris and is at the helm of European Pastries (booth 137). Petite, French-style macaroons sandwiched with butter cream come in flavors like chocolate, raspberry, mocha and pistachio. Rom also has muffins and panini sandwiches. With a café and barbecue spot out back, this is a smorgasbord under one roof.