Super Bowl 50 Survival Guide

January 29, 2016

When life gives us the Super Bowl, the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market makes lemonade. While San Francisco gears up for an influx of tourists at Super Bowl City, our farmers, food crafters, and chefs are making the best of the madness by upping their Super Bowl food game!

We’ve got everything you need to devise a winning strategy for getting to the farmers market and partying in San Francisco style. And who says you have to follow the standard Super Bowl fare playbook? Whether you’re a football fan or not, you’ll score with these farmers market menu ideas, from humanely raised sausages to locally sourced chips, dips, and more.

How to Get to the Farmers Market During Super Bowl City

Super Bowl City runs January 30 through February 7, and yes, you can still get to the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market. Put on your game face and kick it off early, with a goal of finishing your shopping before 11 am to beat the crowds.

If you want to enter Super Bowl City, it will be an enclosed by a security perimeter at all times, accessible to the public only through secured entrances, including one across the street from the Ferry Building. You can avoid Super Bowl City by walking down Washington Street or Mission Street, then along the east sidewalk of the Embarcadero to the Ferry Building (which is outside the security zone). There will be road closures and transit reroutes, so create your game plan by using the tips and maps on the CUESA website.

Farmers Market Special Appearances

We’ll have a few special appearances and lineup changes at our farmers markets next week. For the latest roster, stay tuned to our market updates. Additions and specials:

Tuesday, February 2: Allstar Organics, Hog Island Oyster Co., Tacolicious

Thursday, February 4: Old Dog Ranch, Tacolicious (buffalo chicken tacos!)

Saturday, February 6: Namu Noodle (new on Saturdays, through April), Tacolicious (breakfast burritos, buffalo chicken tacos)

Brunch of Champions

Kick off Super Bowl revelries with hearty dishes from our many prepared food vendors. Not-to-miss hot breakfast and lunch options include Primavera’s chilaquiles and huevos rancheros, 4505 Meats’ Mighty Maple Bacon Breakfast Sandwich and chicharrones, RoliRoti’s porchetta sandwich, The Farmer’s Wife’s SB50 grilled cheese breakfast sandwiches, and Namu’s kimchi tacos.

Tacolicious will be slinging tacos for us at each market throughout Super Bowl week. And on February 4 and 6, they’ll be serving up something extra special: Buffalo Chicken Tacos. On February 6 only, you can fuel up with one of their breakfast burritos. Find details about party catering on the T-lish website.

Real football fans don’t eat quiche—who says? Get your brunch on with Craftsman and Wolves’ Buffalo Chicken Quiche, made with oven-roasted Mary’s Organic Chicken tossed in buffalo hot wing sauce, heirloom carrots, scallions, Asiago, and a traditional pâte brisée crust, with optional smoked Point Reyes Original Blue Cheese Sauce. Pre-orders only; pick up at the farmers market on Saturday, February 6. To order, call 415.855.1414.

Tailgate Snacks

Citrus and winter root veggies are in peak season right now, so pick up locally grown carrots, radishes, and turnips for a colorful crudité platter, plus sweet and juicy mandarins to snack on. Visit the CUESA recipe archives for fresh and healthy dips galore, including root vegetables and carrot hummus, spinach dip, winter pesto, bean and beet salsa, butter bean purée, and chard stalk hummus.

Alternatively, you can pick up ready-made hummus, artichoke spread, and other dips, plus snackable falafels and pita chips, from Marin Gourmet. Primavera will be offering Pimento cheese dip, Mayan pumpkin seed dip, avocado-tomatillo salsa, guacamole, and stone ground organic chips.

For seafood lovers, Cap’n Mike’s Holy Smoked Salmon has Salmon Jerky (deep, dark, dry, and smoky), Salmon Candy (sweet salmon jerky, cured in honey and sea salt), and Salmon Sticks (“Swim Jims”), just like a pepperoni but all salmon.

Alas, Brokaw Ranch’s California-grown avocados won’t be ready for the farmers market until late February, but if you do make your own guacamole, add a splash of Sciabica’s jalapeño olive oil using this recipe.

Crunch on this: On February 6, La Cocina incubator business Kaleidoscope will be back at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market with party-size bags of Bone Broth Kale Chips. Try Old Dog Ranch’s whiskey-spiced walnuts or their smoked paprika and garlic walnuts (move over, BBQ chips). Or spread Old Dog’s raw honey and sea salt walnut butter on apples from Hidden Star Orchards.

Game Day Feast Fixings

Celebrate Super Bowl 50 with RoliRoti’s famous rotisserie porchetta, rolled with fresh herbs and spices, then slowly roasted until crispy and golden brown on the outside, and succulent and tender on the inside. Pre-order half or whole porchetta rolls for pickup at the farmers market. Contact RoliRoti at 510.604.7728 to place your order.

For pasture-raised beef sliders and steaks, Stemple Creek Ranch is offering a special: buy 4 cuts, get 1 free (equal or lesser value). They also have value bags with 10 pounds of frozen beef (various cuts), a $150 value, offered for $100 to Ferry Plaza shoppers only.

Visit Massa Organics for Italian, Polish, bratwurst, and linguiça sausages. Be sure to pick up some Farmhouse Culture sauerkraut to top your sausages (along with a “gut shot” of kraut juice to stave off the hangover blues).

For your fresh seafood needs, Hog Island Oyster Co. will be popping up on Tuesday and Thursday, and H&H Fresh Fish will be putting together poké platters next Saturday.

For the vegetarians, Hodo Soy Beanery offers Thai curry tofu nuggets and spicy yuba, which pair nicely with ales or pilsners. Mac and cheese lovers must try Baia Pasta’s elbow pasta made from organic durum wheat or durum with spicy and smoky chipotle.

Touchdown Cocktails and Treats

For a seasonal twist on Super Bowl cocktails or mocktails, try June Taylor Company’s fruit, herbal, and floral syrups in flavors like blackberry and lemon verbena. Little Apple Treats will be making special appearances on February 2 and 4 with their extensive line of shrubs. Some new flavors this week are Hamada Blood Orange and Olsen Organics Clementine (for Broncos-inspired orange drinks). Also try Little Apple’s granola cookies and their Good Food Award-winning caramels.

Batter Bakery is making gingerbread footballs and sporty hand-decorated shortbread cookies (also available in packs and boxes, perfect for parties). Nana Joes Granola will have granola bars and cookies (for a limited time)—all gluten free and vegan, with no refined sugars.

Three Babes Bakeshop will be throwing their own “Pie Bowl,” with two special pies vying for popularity: for the Carolina Panthers, a Dark Chocolate Coconut Pie (coconut pastry cream covered in a dark chocolate ganache), and the Denver Broncos will represented by an Orange-Lime Pie with Blueberries and Whipped Cream (think Key lime pie with the addition of fresh orange juice and some stockpiled Hidden Star Orchards blueberries thrown in).

For the hardcore football fan in your life, pick up a lucky rabbit fur football at Devil’s Gulch Ranch.

And if you need any more reasons to come to the Ferry Building next week, dare we tempt you with the Puppy Bowl Cafe?

Thank you to our loyal shoppers, chefs, farmers, and food crafters for your teamwork and patience throughout the Super Bowl.

Quiche party photo courtesy of Craftsman and Wolves. Hummus photo by Thomas Story, courtesy of Sunset. Cookies photo courtesy of Batter Bakery.