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Articles
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| Our favorite place… for a bargain Florida Avenue market |
VOICE writes, "Our favorite place… for a bargain
Florida Avenue market
BY TERESA HERRMANN
At 8 a.m., I stood at Eighth Street and Independence Avenue, SE, listening to the gripes of my out-of-town guests.
"Why did we have to get up so early?" whined Matt the librarian (heretofore referred to as Lib).
"Yeah, why couldn't we just sleep in?" whined Matt the IBanker (Ib).
"I told you, the early bird gets the best collard-greens-and-sweet-pea deal," I said, in a tone a little less soothing than they would have preferred. "You'll love this market, I promise.""
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We headed north on Metrobus 92 — far away from the bustle of Eastern Market, with its Saturday strollers and dog-toting yuppies — across town to the DC Farmers Market on Neal Place and 6th Street NE.
After a short, pleasant bus ride through H Street and past Gallaudet University, we arrived in an urban desert on a nearly vacant parking lot.
"Don't worry guys, it'll fill up in about an hour," I said, and suggested we go inside the grey cinderblock building.
As we ventured down a windy path of cement stairs and latticed gates, I could feel Ib and Lib huddling behind me. I led them though an unmarked rust-covered door and into the market. Their mouths dropped. The space was swarming with hundreds of bodies crammed between mounds of vegetable and fish stands. In front of us, sliced leeks oozed their scent, barely masking the caked smell of freshly cut meat. On ice, in barrels, hanging, rolling on the floor: Food was everywhere.
"Where are we, Marrakech?" asked Ib, and I felt them cower behind me. Maybe this was too intense for first-time D.C. visitors.
In order to get them in the shopping mood, I wove us through the crowd to my favorite unmarked fried chicken stand (usually found between the stand that sells Cocoa Puffs by the bushel and a pile of bok choy). For $3 we stuffed our faces with two legs and three drumsticks (greasy goodness!). I could see their spirits rise with each delicious bite. Then, like a mom in an arcade, I pulled out my wallet, handed them each $20 (New Yorkers only carry credit cards) and shoved them into the masses.
Ib straightened his salmon-colored polo shirt, stuck out his elbows and made a beeline to a meat stand with large hand-written signs that said, "We sell livers" and "We stuff our sausages." Lib took one step back and was swallowed by a Gulf Stream of people purchasing fancy hatware. Over the next two hours I watched them go from timid Whole Foods buyers to wild-oat sowers. I spied Ib holding a pair of tomatoes above his head, shouting, "99 cents! 99 cents!" to a tight-lipped seller who pointed directly to the $2.99/pound sign.
Soon I lost them in the frenzy and was forced to step outside into the flea market, a scene that clashes starkly with its docile Eastern Market counterpart. In place of fine crafts, hand-finished furniture and a cellist on the corner, a boom box blasting hip-hop orchestrated the sale of a suede coach in a moving van, a pile of used books and rows of everything from kitchen utensils to used appliances to X-Acto knives (I bought a wonderful set with 15 different blades and three blade holders for $1). I turned and saw my friends gnawing on footlong ribs ($1 each), their cheeks smothered in barbecue sauce.
"Thish ish aweshome." said Lib.
"Mmmmm-hmmmm," said Ib.
Their arms were full of goodie bags. Ib bought a beautiful cast-iron pot for $3 and a bagful of steak for $7, and Lib found a Victorian Heywood Wakefield-looking wicker chair for $5. Once they finished chewing, Lib and Ib rambled on and on about the deals they had found.
Ib, "You can get a 30-piece chicken dinner for $15!"
Lib, "You can buy a whole pig! There's even one hanging on the wall!"
After a short detour to A. Litteri's (517 Morse St. NE; the best family-owned wholesale Italian store around), we were on the southbound 90s bus — with a $40 case of Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais (normally $10 a bottle) in tow — relishing our weekend adventure.
Have a favorite place? Share it with us at editor@voiceofthehill.com
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Posted on Sep 13, 2007 19:50pm.
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