Locally grown: A journey to gourmet delight in Richardson

Bountiful vegetables available from La Esperanza Farm at Richardson's Four Seasons Market.

Author’s note: This blog post is a collaboration written by Richardson Insiders Carl Youngberg and Rebekah Meuir.

Richardson has a wonderful food resource that we might easily overlook without a careful stop and study. Our Four Seasons Farmer’s Market on Campbell Road across from the University of Texas at Dallas is such a place.

Open every Saturday, year-round, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., it has become a beehive of shopping activities. For some shoppers, it is an occasional venture for heritage tomatoes, beef jerky or a luscious dessert. For others, it has become a Saturday must-have destination for fresh vegetables, cheeses, desserts, novelty foods and even non-food craft items.

For years, fellow Insiders blogger Carl Youngberg dreamed of having our own market resource here in Richardson. He found himself often running to other cities for wonderful summer tomatoes and other comestibles. Now, it is easy and convenient to dash to the farmers market for something familiar and jump back on the bike or drive home. Carl and I set out on a noble quest: to shop the entire length of the market (which is getting bigger every week).

To frame our quest, our goal was to stock only the foods and provisions from the farmer’s market to fill our fantasy dinner table — and our stomachs. We succeeded beyond our dreams. And we encountered a bonanza of great people along the way. Each booth was a story of its own and a pleasure to visit.

The colorful fruit and vegetables available from two area farms are carefully selected for the market, and shoppers can sample the produce. We met with the representatives from La Esperanza Farm and Gilbert-Pruett Family Farms to learn about locally grown produce available at the market.

Carl spoke with Four Seasons Markets’ founder and CEO, Vincent Hirth about the great vendors at the Richardson Farmers Market. The abundance of fruit, vegetables, cheese, olive oil and baked goods available at the market would be perfect for any dinner party. Vincent pointed out the growth of the vendor and food representatives that were being drawn to the market, as a result of the support of local residents and customers coming from beyond the city limits.

Because there was so much to see, taste and touch, we decided to break our shopping spree into the segments of a dinner party. We will feature these sections for a multi-part series highlighted in future posts.

We will introduce you to appetizer options, salad ingredients, main course ideas, dessert options, and of course, locally roasted coffee. All of the menu items that we discovered at the Richardson Four Seasons Market are Texas products, and most of the delicious treats are made or grown locally.

Carl Youngberg is a professional speaker and author whose past work experience includes serving as a retailing executive at Saks Fifth Avenue in New York and Neiman Marcus in Dallas. He has volunteered for many area groups such as the City Arts Commission to the UTD Arts Council.

Rebekah Meuir is a graduate of the University of Texas at Dallas. She has a passion for preserving nature. When she’s not walking her dog around Cottonwood Park, she can be found pulling weeds in her backyard or tending her pumpkin patch.