By: Special Mommy Staff Writer Mara Perlow
Thundershowers in the weather forecast didn't keep the
crowds away from opening day on
May 14th of the Green City Market,
located at the southern border of Lincoln Park Zoo. Fortunately, the rain held
off and organic devotees came well-armed to fill up their canvas or hemp
shopping bags with fresh asparagus, spinach and kale. Regular consumers enjoyed
opening day nibbling on the variety of freshly prepared lunch food, like juicy
burgers from Green Acres, creative salads and veggie sandwiches from Tiny Greens
and melt-in-your-mouth Butterkäse cheese from Prairie Pure Cheese.
Little tykes in tow however were a little less pleased with
the lunch choices. Green City Crepes, always a popular choice among the under
three feet crowd, ran out of batter before noon. The usual 20 gallon order arrived on-site 10 gallons
less than their standard order, at only 10 gallons. The scrumptious and well
priced crepes were always a dependable stand-by for picky eaters like Katelyn
and Andrew. A plain crepe is $2, butter and sugar $3, maple $3, cherry jam $3,
and cheese and herb only $5. When the crepes no longer became an option, hordes
of kids pulled their mom's hands over to the Bleeding Heart Organic Bakery stand only
to discover that my friend Jenny purchased the last scone for her daughter
Lilly. Subsequently, Jenny's friend ran over to Eat Green Foods and scored the
last granola bar for her son at 11:40
am.
Plenty of kid-size chairs were available as well as the
expected adult chairs and a couple of tables. Instrumental and pretty sounding
music played, but the kids didn't seem to know how to dance and jump up and
down to the music. In the past years, there was upbeat music for the kids to
get excited about which will hopefully come back sometime this summer, as it
adds a fun vibe to the venue.
At the information booth, kids can participate in a tasting of
the new food of the day. The information booth lady was offering business-size
cards that she stores in her index file with the child's name on it. Each time
the child visits the booth and tries the food of the day, she hole punches a
corresponding number on the card. When you reach number eight on the card, the
child receives a free apron. Fun idea, but with items like radishes on the
menu, my almost three year old Andrew is a long way from reaching that apron.
But there still may be hope for other adventurous little eaters like the little
boy next to Andrew, maybe just six months older, who loved the radish and
wanted another one.
In short, check out the Green City
market, open on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Just be sure to provision your purse
with some string cheese or PB&J sandwich in case the vendors again run out
of kid-pleasing food.
Important Information
Green
City Market(773) 435-0280
1750 N Clark St
Chicago
www.chicagogreencitymarket.org
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