UC Davis Health System Farmers Market

This is sort of a hidden gem when it comes to local Farmers Markets. It’s not very large and it’s off the beaten path (in the middle of a hospital complex), so it’s easy miss it.
There is rarely a large crowd and the market is accessible from any of the surrounding neighborhoods. Park your car or walk or bike over. The vendors are all pretty friendly and they have a great selection of your basic produce with a sprinkling of oddities like vegan desserts and an Indian food truck. Sometimes there is music as well in the form of a local singer/​songwriter.
In the «cons» column, the market is only about half a block long with half as much to offer. That’s relatively small compared to the big boys downtown. The oddities like the Indian food truck are nice, but that selection only appeals to a certain crowd.
Overall, what they do have they do right. For the casual market-​goer, the UC Davis Health System Farmers Market is a perfect addition to the neighborhood.

Like a previous Unilocaler mentioned, you’re not going to get the same wide wide selection of produce and other goods at this farmer’s market compared to Sunday’s under the freeway or Saturday’s Midtown, just given the MUCH smaller space and shorter history of establishment. What you will find, however, is the rare farmer’s market that caters to a working professional’s schedule, and specifically (and selfishly), caters to my 6 am-​4 pm work schedule by opening up at 3:00 and ending around 7 pm.
Also, for a smaller farmer’s market establishment, they don’t skimp on diversity of foods available — there’s shave ice (!!), sandwiches, kettle corn, traditional vegetable/​fruit produce, cheese, olive/​pomegranate oils (?), and baked goods.
Perhaps even MORE critically important to the success of farmer’s markets (in my opinion), is the offering of samples. UC Davis Med Center’s Farmer’s Market knows what’s up. I walked barely 2 feet in and a guy shoved fresh, juicy strawberries in my face. Another couple steps beyond that and a different man insisted on dumping fragrant and salty-​sweet kettle corn into my two palms.
Munching on these as I perused the booths, Rosa’s Bakery baked goods caught my eye! I ended up getting two hefty scones for $ 3 total — a lemon and a strawberry. Both were sweet, crumbly, but soft in the middle with a nice buttermilk flavor. I had dinner plans so I didn’t end up trying any of the other offerings, but I’ll definitely be back to get some more goodies next week!

I always saw the sign for the UC Davis farmers market as I walked to my car but never bothered stopping by bc all I wanted to do after an 8 hr day was to go home and rest. Today was different. Today I worked a whooping 10.5 hrs and decided I didnt need rest but some comforting food.
I saw a picture of Arepas on the Unilocal review and I was intrigued. I found the booth that sold it and ordered a pork arepa which came with cheese and avocado and a side of chips. It was delicious and what I needed after a long day. The dough was fluffy and piping hot and the pork was juicy and seasoned well. It was a great snack as I walked back to my car.
Other than the arepas booth, there were plenty of fruit stand that sold local produce — peaches, nectarines, pulots, grapes, berries, peppers, cauliflower, potatos etc — all for a reasonable price. There was also a hummus stand and a pasta stand as well.
Great place to pick up produce if you are heading back to the car and if you are too lazy to head to the supermarket.

Let’s get this straight… for pure selection and year round access, you can’t beat the Sunday «under the freeway» farmers market. So let’s not even get our hopes up for something at that level.
But we’re talking Thursday evenings (3pm — 7:30pm) here … live music, food vendors, and a decent variety of offerings from many of the same farms you’ll see under the freeway on Sundays. Bring your bike, or check out the free parking at the adjacent Shriners Hospital.
Last Thursday, we sampled cheeses, fresh berries, bought fruits and vegetables, and tried out the Venezuelan arepas (a lighter version of a sope, with the masa folded around the filling like a soft taco) and some fresh squeezed lemonade.
At this point, the crowds are small — as in, there aren’t any. I hope to see more people catching on to this great idea. Kudos to UC Davis Medical Center for putting this all together.

Great little farmers market Thursday afternoons until 7:30 pm on UCD Med Center’s property located in the parking lot behind Shriner’s Hosp next to the UCD School of Medicine’s Education Building. Had a delicious pork sandwhich and bought by far the sweetest strawberries I’ve ever had! I thought the samples had sugar sprinkled on top they were that sweet! That vendor is located right when you walk in to your right. Besides delicious fruits and vegetables, the market also has vendors that sell shaved ice, ice cream, pizza, Venezuelen food, tamales, pistachios, jams, soaps, hand crafted goods, and probably many other things I forgot to mention.
Now just be warned this market is pretty small, but the organizers hit a home run with these vendors! We’ll be making it a habit to ride our bikes to the market after work, eat dinner there, and get some quick shopping in before they close.