Shelby Moore

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Shelby Moore

A Vincent Van Go wood-fired pizza, fresh out the fire.

​The Market: Saturday's Camelback Market behind Vincent on Camelback is one of a kind. Surely, no other restaurant sets up shop with a series of tents offering freshly prepared breakfast and lunches -- wood-fired pizzas, barbecue, crepes, omelets, pastries, pin-inis, and farm produce -- like ducks in a row.

If you're not familiar with Vincent Guerithault, the man has been in the business of cooking elegant Southwestern cuisine out of this location for more than 25 years. He has expanded the operation to include his Vincent Market Bistro (which the farmers market huddles around weekly), a catering business called Vincent Van Go, and a bar, Bleu, inside the restaurant.

The Parking: Parking on the south side of the market will cost you $5, but know there's free parking at a surface lot on 3900 East Camelback Road, and a shopping center with a Fresh and Easy just across the road on the southwest corner of Camelback and North 40th Street.

The Vendors: On the whole, non-Vincent fueled vendors make up for what they lack in numbers with unique and quality products. Approaching the market from the east side, you'll meet your two new favorite vendors -- the man behind Dromgold Mustard and the woman behind Carolyn's Classics. The Irishman does mustard better than anyone, winning prizes for a selection that starts with his stone-ground, full-strength mustard or Irish pub mustard, and moves on to flavors like honey, onion, habanero, and horseradish. You'll notice his excellent "Old World" bottling and labeling, and you may be tempted to ask: "What makes a mustard Irish?" To which he'll respond, "I make it Irish." Good answer.

Shelby Moore

Carolyn's jams, jellies, butters and preserves -- from rhubarb to apple butter, and down onto peach and blueberry jalapeno jelly.

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Shelby Moore

Croissant offerings at the Old Town Farmers Market in Scottsdale, in the corner of the space across from The Mission. Essence Bakery is in the front and Frogs Bakery is in the back.

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And the inspiration shouldn't stop there -- not once you've worked up an appetite for breakfast, or a snack to hold you over until a late lunch.
You'll probably be looking for a croissant.
For the French pastry lover, the Scottsdale Old Town Farmers Market offers no finer dilemma. Newcomers Frogs Organic Bakery from Tucson are building a enthusiastic following of croissant lovers - just up the center aisle from the croissants at Essence Bakery, which Valley folks will passionately tell you couldn't possibly get better.

Shelby Moore

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Shelby Moore

​The Market: Gilbert Farmers Market

The Location: 222 N. Ash Street, Gilbert 85234 (The SW corner of Ash St. and Page Ave.)

Days/Hours: Every Saturday from 9 a.m. 'til 1 p.m.

Parking: When you make a turn onto Page Ave. from Gilbert Rd., you'll head all the way down and there will be a massive parking lot on the left, in between you and the market. The parking is plentiful and easy.

The Vendors: Jessa and Dan Koppenhofer did a tremendous job of getting the Gilbert Farmers Market up and running just a couple of years ago, and since have helped it to flourish. It's a market that covers all the bases (vegetables, fruit, meat, even three food trucks) that make shoppers happy and provides enough business to keep vendors coming back.

Particularly impressive are some of the meat vendors, such as Double Check Ranch that starts with grass-fed cows down in scenic Winkelman and sells a wide variety of their beef cuts at the market. One of their customers reveled in his luck - he'd finally found a cut of hanger steak; a small cut of meat that would be rare enough considering it's small size and unique flavor, but is even rarer so since butchers usually covet it for themselves.

Shelby Moore

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Shelby Moore

Chocolate covered sunflower seed pancakes, topped with braeburn applesauce from the Orange Table.

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Shelby Moore

​The Market: Old Town Farmers Market in Scottsdale

The Location: The northwest corner of Brown and 1st Street in Old Town Scottsdale

The Days/Hours: Every Saturday from 8 a.m. 'til 1 p.m.

Parking: Congregating on a city parking facility itself, there is underground parking below the event (enter from Brown side), though the parking lot on the south side of 1st street is much easier.

The Vendors: Known widely as the one of the Valley's most bountiful markets, Old Town attracts big names - Jonathan Roberts bread, Essence Bakery, McClendon's Select, Orange Table - for those who look for the labels. The little(er) guys; the mom and pops, the fine purveyors, the slightly obscure - they're all there too, and oftentimes they're just as impressive.

Shelby Moore

The carrot, beet, and onion selection from Maya's Farm

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Jamie Carey Mulhern

​If you checked out the Gilbert Farmers Market on a recent Saturday, you might've bumped shoulders with Joe Johnston or Chef David Traina of Liberty Market - they've been shopping the aisles and chatting with vendors, compiling a casting list of ingredients that will be the star players in the year's first community dinner.

They're calling it the "Double Market Dinner." It's Liberty Market and Gilbert Farmers Market in cohoots for a meal that will hold a magnifying lens to all that is artisanal (or just plain tasty) that vendors bring to the market held weekly in historic downtown Gilbert.