The Grocery List Ferry Building Special Edition- Part 5: Village Market
In San Francisco, the Ferry Building has become THE place for fancy food shopping in a matter of months. Premium local artisanal brands (like ACME and Scharffen Berger Chocolate) are side to side with one-of-a-kind specialty food stores, creating an interesting “food vibe.” You can hunt for your perfect Italian dinner there- and here’s a set of articles to prove it!
Village Market
If you are in search of some interesting specialty pasta, look no further than the Village Market at the Ferry Building. Their selection of high quality, hard to find durum wheat pasta is amazing!
When buying pasta, you should always be aware that the best dry pasta comes from the South. The combination of availability of durum semolina wheat and the sunny weather makes for a wonderful pasta- after it is extruded from bronze equipment (pasta trafilata al bronzo) it is hung to dry on the rooftops, making for a terrific texture and a perfect hold when cooking. At Village Market, you will find a wide selection of Southern Italian pasta- from the fancy multicolored varieties to the more traditional make, but in interesting shapes.
Village Market also carries trofie, the Ligurian pasta perfectly matched for pesto sauce. If you can snatch some at Farina, for example, make sure you pair it perfectly with trofie! Trofie are not made with semolina flour, but with the traditional 00 flour common in Northern Italy. So they cook differently, usually in a very short time- make sure you follow directions!
Last- but certainly not least!, Village Market carries Majani chocolate!! Look at this wonderful exhibit: Fiat cremini in three flavors- a treat!
Village Market Specialty Foods
Ferry Building Marketplace
One Ferry Building
San Francisco, California 94111
(415) 402-0421
Filed under: San Francisco, The Grocery List
[...] have liked the beans a little bit softer but the flavor balance was great. The pasta of the day was trofie, typical Liguria pasta, with sausage and sage in a creamy sauce. Once again, good balance: [...]