Destinations: Bryn Mooth’s choice is San Francisco’s bayside market

When my husband and I travel, he scouts out golf courses. I find the location and schedule of the local markets. It’s hard to beat the summer markets here in the Midwest: vendors pitching just-picked tomatoes and corn and melons under white pop-tents, Amish families selling homemade granola bars and jams, farm wives with brown or pale green eggs from happy hens. These markets are feasts for the eyes and fuel for culinary inspiration.

But the be-all-end-all, the pièce de resistance of farmers markets — at least here in the States — is at the landmark Ferry Plaza on San Francisco’s waterfront. The interior of the Ferry Building is open year-round and week-long, but on Saturdays, growers and producers from all over the region come loaded with fruits and vegetables, cheese and baked goods. Given the diversity of microclimates in the area, growing seasons are almost unlimited: On a trip this August, I found fresh peas and arugula, both springtime crops in my backyard.

But this place isn’t just a gem for foodies; it’s a haven for architecture buffs, photographers and city-lovers.

Stretched out long and low along the pierside, the Ferry Building dates to 1898 and was thoroughly renovated into its current use between 1999 and 2003 by a team of local architects and preservation consultants. The 245-foot-high clock tower, with its Spanish flavor, stands guard over the still-active ferry terminal. (Though not nearly as active as in its heyday: The Ferry Building once saw as many as 50,000 commuters a day from South and East Bay communities; the opening of the Bay and Golden Gate Bridges rendered it almost empty by the 1950s). An arcade with high, arched windows runs the length of the building, housing restaurants, food retailers, an antique cookware shop and more.

The Saturday farmers market takes place outside: gorgeous tableaux of seasonal vegetables, enticing aromas of chickens roasting in a massive portable oven, pleasingly stinky cheeses and yeasty breads, chattering customers, barking seals in the water below. On any given Saturday, you can fill your belly with breakfast, your totebag with produce, your brain with ideas for dinner and your camera with still-life images. Food, as they say, for thought.

Bryn Mooth is the editor of HOW, the business and creativity publishing brand for designers of all stripes. She’s excited about HOW’s Mind Your Own Business Conference in October in NYC. In her spare time, she’s developing a new blog called writes4food.com.

Photos of the Ferry Plaza by David Wakely, courtesy of the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market