Style Weekly on Croaker’s Spot & Farmers Market

Style Weekly has a review of Croaker’s Spot in Manchester;

My appetizer features plump and briny oysters fried crisp and served with not only cocktail sauce but also a tangy horseradish version. Susannah orders a Croaker’s specialty — french fries smothered in the restaurant’s signature onions and peppers, tangy tomato sauce and melted cheese — not haute cuisine but satisfying. The fried seafood platters do not disappoint. Three lake trout are served fried and covered with peppers and onions as well as a slightly spicy red sauce with butterfly shrimp on top ($14.95). Sides include creamy cheese grits, cabbage and a huge hunk of moist and sweet corn bread.

We took the tip from the kitchen in ordering a secret dish that has not yet made the menu. Bourbon Street pasta ($16.99) is a decadent blend of shrimp, chicken and kielbasa in a spicy Creole cream sauce with hints of thyme and cayenne served over fettuccine. Carlton, the chef behind this creation, comes over to get our feedback on his new dish. Four thumbs up.

And a separate bit about the success of the South of the James Farmers Market;

Sometimes it’s good to be a sellout — at least in the case of vendors at Saturday’s South of the James farmers’ market. Mark McIntyre of Norwood Cottage Bakery found himself grinning over a table of empty baskets half an hour before the market’s noontime close; he moved 400 half-loaves of raisin, jalapeno cheddar and Bellevue baguettes, his third sell-out Saturday in a row.

Cavanna Pasta sold all dozen or so varieties of its fresh pasta. Simply Southern Pies also had an empty table after a marathon 350-pie baking session divided among three Saturday markets. Throughout the tented stalls, vendors ran out of fresh eggs and chicken and prepared foods, surpassing last year’s numbers by a fair margin.