A to-go box filled with pancit, chicken adobo and lumpia from Gambito’s Cuisine on Sunday, Aug. 27, 2023.
Blissful Bites owner Gloria Garza coats hot-out-of-the-fryer mini doughnuts with sugar and cinnamon at the Downtown Yakima Farmers Market on Sunday, Aug. 27, 2023.
A beef-stuffed arepa from Delicia Latina sits atop one of their chicken empanadas in Yakima, Wash., on Sunday, Sept. 3, 2023.
Mini doughnuts covered with sugar and cinnamon and topped with lemon and raspberry sauces at the Downtown Yakima Farmers Market on Sunday, Aug. 27, 2023.
Explore editor
Sure, your local farmers market has a plentiful variety of seasonal produce. It’s ideal to hit up the weekly market to stock up on vegetables and fruit for the upcoming week.
But I love a lazy Sunday, and to reach the epitome of laziness I don’t want to cook or prepare any meals. This time of year, food vendors at the Downtown Yakima Farmers Market get me out of bed on a Sunday morning.
Blissful Bites owner Gloria Garza coats hot-out-of-the-fryer mini doughnuts with sugar and cinnamon at the Downtown Yakima Farmers Market on Sunday, Aug. 27, 2023.
Before the move to the Rotary Marketplace at 15 W. Yakima Ave., the Downtown Yakima Farmers Market had a waitlist for interested food vendors due to a lack of power options.
Things have changed at the new location. Shoppers will find more options and more variety.
“There’s power throughout the venue that allows me to take on additional food vendors,” farmers market manager Yvette Lippert said in an interview earlier this year.
She allows some duplication, but tries to limit things to two booths of the same food type. The downtown farmers market runs from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sundays through Oct. 22.
The ability to host more food vendors is beneficial for everyone. The lineup is never the same, and having options to choose from will satisfy every craving. Offerings might include tacos, kettle corn, pad Thai, Indian food and cheese zombies. There also are dozens of picnic tables in the shade under the covered pavilion.
Our writers sampled a few selections, and here’s what they found:
As far as farmers market snacks go, the doughnuts from Blissful Bites rank at the top of my list. The food truck serves a variety of mini doughnuts with a wide selection of toppings.
Mini doughnuts have a well-earned spot at many community markets. Just think of the Daily Dozen at Pike Place Market, which always has a line of people waiting for the hot, sugary treats.
Mini doughnuts covered with sugar and cinnamon and topped with lemon and raspberry sauces at the Downtown Yakima Farmers Market on Sunday, Aug. 27, 2023.
While Blissful Bites has been a regular at Yakima’s Downtown Farmers Market this summer, it also has set up shop all around the Yakima Valley, from Wheelers pawn shop in Wapato to Peace, Love & Coffee in Grandview and the Selah pool.
On a recent farmers market trip, I tried a half dozen mini doughnuts with chocolate and raspberry sauces. I was able to polish them off while walking through the market, balancing the tray in one hand as I shopped for produce. The small size was just the right amount.
The cost is $6 for small size doughnuts or $10 for a large. Toppings include strawberry, peanut butter, lemon, maple, dulce de leche, Bavarian cream and, if you are lucky, Fruity Pebbles or bacon. The truck also sells lemonade and Red Bull drinks.
— Joanna Markell, managing editor
With a handful of exceptions, food south of the border in Yakima tends to stop in Mexico. Delicia Latina, a new vendor at the Yakima Farmers Market focused on Colombian cuisine, is one of those exceptions.
For Colombians looking for a taste of home, or those looking for something new to eat, Delicia Latina’s stuffed arepas, empanadas and pasteles de yucca (the root of the cassava plant) will deliver.
A beef-stuffed arepa from Delicia Latina sits atop one of their chicken empanadas in Yakima, Wash., on Sunday, Sept. 3, 2023.
I tried the arepas, which are served warm and soft, stuffed with your choice of beef, pork or chicken along with a hearty helping of cilantro. Empanadas, a more familiar food, are fried to thin-and-crispy perfection. When frying them, it’s easy to dry out the stuffing, especially with chicken. As a discerning Colombian myself, I am happy to say in the case of Delicia Latina, this was not an issue. The chicken was juicy and savory.
While Delicia Latina has a set menu that includes pinchos, or meat skewers, they also have off-menu items that are not always announced.
One of these items I’m hoping to catch in the next few Sundays is the bandeja paisa, one of Colombia’s most famous dishes. Originating from Colombia’s Andes region, the dish consists of rice, eggs, chorizo, beans, chicharron (fried pork belly), carne en polvo (finely ground beef), avocado, ripe plantain and arepa.
With a drink included, my meal of one stuffed arepa and one empanada ran me about $20. Though the price is a step above that of a street vendor, so is the quality of the food. Run, don’t walk, to Delicia Latina on Sundays.
— Santiago Ochoa, health care reporter
It’s a family effort when it comes to Gambito’s Cuisine. The Gambito family has been serving up Filipino favorites since 2022 at festivals, events, pop-ups and the Downtown Yakima Farmers Market, and visitors are helped by cousins, grandchildren and other Gambito family members.
A to-go box filled with pancit, chicken adobo and lumpia from Gambito’s Cuisine on Sunday, Aug. 27, 2023.
Recognizable Filipino foods like pansit, chicken adobo, lumpia and fried rice are served in heaping mounds as a combo plate for $18 and filled to the brim.
Pansit is a noodle dish that is made with rice noodles, chicken and vegetables and flavored with soy sauce. It’s a great side for chicken adobo, another Filipino classic.
Gambito’s Cuisine’s chicken adobo is marinated in soy sauce and garlic and other ingredients, and the pieces of chicken are large and full of flavor. The chicken adobo is moist and more than enough for one person to enjoy. The chicken swims in adobo sauce, which also tastes great atop the pancit and fried rice.
Lumpia is the Filipino version of a fried egg roll. Crispy and filled with meat and veggies, any hungry visitor could easily consume three or four in one sitting.
Each item is also available as a side order. The pansit, chicken adobo and fried rice cost $6 and lumpia costs $2.50 each.
— Sara Rae Shields, Explore editor
Reach Sara Shields at sshields@yakimaherald.com.
Explore editor
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