Kirbie's Cravings

Liberty Public Market

photo of the outside of Liberty Public Market

The highly anticipated Liberty Public Market soft opened this past weekend. The project was announced last year: a food hall housing dozens of local and artisan vendors, echoing the likes of San Francisco’s Ferry Building or Seattle’s Pike’s Place Market. After several delays, it’s finally open. And you guys, it’s pretty awesome.
photo of people waiting in line at different booths in the food hallphoto of different food booths in the food hallphoto of Fully Loaded juice inside Liberty Public Market
I actually hadn’t planned on visiting this weekend. I got word that it was open on Saturday and thought I’d go check it out next week. Then Sunday morning I woke up and just couldn’t wait another minute. We cancelled all our plans (luckily plans that didn’t involve anyone else) and made our way over for lunch. Despite being only in its soft opening stages, the market was already crowded with people and almost all of the vendors were ready for business.

photo collage of different boths and food options inside Liberty Public Market

It is even more wonderful to see in person than through photos. The Ferry Building is one of my favorite places to be in San Francisco, and this really felt like San Diego’s version. In terms of food, there is so much to choose from, with many familiar faces and several farmer’s market favorites opening their first permanent location.  Venissimo Cheese, Le Parfait Paris, Cecilia’s Taqueria, Fully Loaded Juice, MooTime Creamery, WestBean Coffee Roasters, Pasta Design, Stuffed, Fishbone Kitchen, Mama Made Thai, and Bottlecraft were just some of the vendors open when we visited. The full vendor list can be found here.
photo of different food vendorsphoto of the Maine Lobster booth
(Sadly Maine Lobster was not yet open.)

There is also plenty of indoor and outdoor seating and many people took full advantage of the beautiful weather and were relaxing in chairs outside while sipping on beer.
photo of the outside dining area at Liberty Public Marketphoto of more places to sit outside Liberty Public Marketphoto of the dining area inside Liberty Public Market

The food hall also includes a restaurant, Mess Hall, which was not yet open for business. Directly across is Bottlecraft, which has beers on tap as well as a retail space with bottled beers for purchase.

photo of another dining area inside the food hallphoto collage of bottle craft beer shop and tasting room
After making a few rounds and tasting some of the samples, we finally got a few items to dine on outside.

Paraná Empanadas
photo of Paraná Empanadas
One of the longest lines was for Paraná Empanadas. Luckily, the line moved pretty quickly and once we paid, the food was already ready.

photo of three empanadasclose-up photo of empanadas

WestBean Coffee Roasters
photo of WestBean Coffee Roasters

I couldn’t resist getting some coffee from WestBean. We ordered a cold brew and a cortado. The cortado didn’t make it to the photos. I especially enjoyed the cold brew.

photo of a cold brew drink

Le Parfait Paris
photo of Le Parfait Paris
photo of the dessert case at Le Parfait Paris
I had to stop by one of my favorite places, Le Parfait Paris, especially since it was Macaron Day. I ordered a croissant and Ludi’s Macaron.
photo of Ludi's Macaronphoto of a croissant

Pasta Design
photo of Pasta Design
After seeing the colorful display of fresh-made pasta and tasting a sample they were handing out, I ended up buying a pound to-go for dinner later. They make regular flour pasta, spinach flavored and red pepper flavored. Our favorite was the red pepper. When we were there, we had tried it with the Pink 50/50 sauce which we really enjoyed too.

overhead photo of packages of different colored pastas

Overall, we left feeling quite happy. There were such high expectations that came with the announcement of this project and I think it really delivered. It was so great seeing so many of my favorite San Diego vendors now with their first permanent location. All the vendors we talked to seemed relaxed and happy to be up and running, and we saw many of them checking out other vendors during their breaks and seeing the mutual support was very heartwarming. By the time we left, the outside patio was completely filled. Children were playing on the artificial turf, adults were relaxing and soaking up the sun, sipping on craft beers. All of it felt so very San Diego and I just loved it. I definitely foresee this as being a destination to take people who are visiting from out of town and also just a place that Mr. K and I’ll enjoy on the weekends as well.

Here is a rough video Mr. K put together from our visit. Sorry there was no time to pick out any music.

Liberty Public Market
2820 Historic Decatur Rd, San Diego, CA 92106

 

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10 comments on “Liberty Public Market”

  1. Oh wow this looks so awesome!! Will have to make a drive down here with some friends to eat my way through the market, hahaha 😛 

  2. Augh I wish I had known about the opening! We visited Little Italy’s Farmers Market Sunday and it just was ‘meh’ again. Liberty Market would have been such a better option to explore! I’ve visited Bottle Craft in North Park and love their selection. How was the parking during your visit? I wish one of the vendors would sell freshly made porchetta 🙁 

    • Parking was easy to find since there is so much parking space in Liberty Station. A porchetta vendor would be nice!

  3. Thanks for the preview – now I can’t wait to check it out. One thing I was bummed out at Eataly in New York was that I could not buy their fresh pasta.

  4. Thanks for all the detail, plus the video! I’ve driven by…. Need to stop in!

  5. Wow, everything looks amazing! I love that one of my favorites roasters is there, Westbean, and also for desserts, le Parfait Paris. I’m looking good forward to visiting later this week. Great preview!