Cambria Farmers Market — Attraction in Cambria

Local Eval.: Out of the many [up to 19!] local [within 100 miles of SLO] Farmer's Markets on almost all days of the week, except on Sundays, this small-medium sized Farmer's Market is a winner. We are regulars at many.

While it is quite a drive from the SLO/Pismo area, the scenic drive and proximity to glorious coastal views/parks/ocean [e.g. Shamel County Park/ Moonstone Parks], more than compensates for this.

Curiously, while Cambria has several of the same vendors as many other Southern FM's, it is run independently of the others, including the North County FM's. This is only a problem, if you have left over chits from other NCFM's, they can not be redeemed here.

Cambria's FM is located in a pleasant area right next to the Veterans Center and a MIA Memorial, at the beginning of downtown Cambria, right off the 101.

While they have good range of vendors, the two stars here are Cambria's own Linn's BBQ/Pies, and Mt. Olive Organic Farm from Paso Robles [both of which have physical stores or farm].

Linn's BBQ somehow makes one of the most savory, smoky, succulent, BBQ meats that one can find anywhere, including Huli-Huli chicken in Hawaii. I am not sure what magic goes into their BBQ, but I suspect that slow roasting over a proper wood fire gives it a unique taste, which is well worth over an hour drive. We also found that their homemade Raspberry/ Rhubarb mini-pie was flawless. They are affiliated with their Cambria store, but it appears that BBQ is not typically on the store menu.

While Linn's BBQ is strictly limited to Cambria, Mt. Olive OF [aka MOOF] does get around to at least a few other SLO county FM's, including the huge SLO/ Madonna Plaza Sat. 8AM one, as well as, the quaint, lesser know FM, in serene Baywood, every Monday at 2PM. MOOF, offers a vast selection of all kinds of locally grown creations, produce, and vegetables. They have everything one can imagine from teas, to eggs, to even edible flowers. They also have a cool shop/farm restaurant in Paso Robles that is well worth a visit.

There are other locally well known vendors that also appear at several of the other FM's, including ones that bake, sell seafood, meat, soup, and more. More are specific to the Cambria region, such as Olive Oil/Wine, Cheese, Nut butters, Honey, local veges, and more. The vendors and customers make for a rather festive event, and it is quite fun, even in the winter. You can get a good meal here, as well as, get all kinds of ingredients for making snacks, picnics, & entire meals. You definitely will want to bring a cooler to help keep Fish, Meat, & such fresh enough if you have to travel. Fortunately, in the winter, one's truck may be cool enough for short distances.

By going off-season, you benefit from less congested touristed area, and can be almost alone on some of the many nearby beach parks/ hiking trails, where it is great idea to have a impromptu picnic, from all the goodies that you buy here.

In general, the prices here are quite reasonable for pricey Cambria, and are a bargain compared to the touristy places. Since you are nowhere near SLO's Whole Foods, Lassen's, TJ's, or even the local health food store in Morro Bay, this is likely the best place to score great eats, at a fair price, if you stay in the area.

In summary, Cambria's FM is a winner & well worth...

A very small farmer's market in a parking lot with not too many booths. Parking was difficult and we had to jay walk across the busy street as there are no crosswalks nearby.

We walked through the whole thing in about 5 minutes, pretty slim pickings on the veggies.

There was a huge line for Linn's BBQ so being our first time here, we figured that must be the star attraction. We got a rack of ribs, 1 lbs of tri tip and 1 lbs of shredded pork. It cost $70 and was easily 50% fat. They gave us 3 tiny cups of bbq sauce for this large quantity of meat. The "rack" or ribs was a bunch of sloppy pulled apart bones, not a rack at all, and the kids running the place gave us most bones with the meat pulled off of it, so we got a big serving of bones for the most part, very little meat, and what meat was there was almost entirely fat.

The tri tip didn't look like any cut of meat i've ever seen, and had huge veins of fat and gristle running through the center of it.

All the meat tasted like nothing. My wife stopped eating it after a couple bites because she said it tasted like really low grade meat and something "not right" about it.

My 19 year old step son and myself dug in as we are meat lovers, and he stopped eating it shortly after starting too. He was vomiting that night and i felt super nauseated.

What a waste of $70. I don't know how you can screw up BBQ so badly, but I think it's one of these deals where a wealthy family (whoever the Linn's are) have bought a monopoly of businesses in the town and everything is Linn's this and Linn's that, and people are forced to patronize them out of lack of options. I've seen this before in other small towns.

Welp Linn's, you got one over on us, you got $70 one time, gave us the worst, fattiest, most flavorless BBQ ever, and made my whole family sick. But congrats on pulling one over on us, you got your one-time-only cash grab from us, which i'm sure is all you care about. Unlimited unsuspecting tourists to pull this scam on huh?

Shame...

We have been going to Cambria for nearly 35 + years and whenever we get a chance on Fridays we definitely make a point to stop by at the Farmers Market. It is conveniently located and there is enough parking sometimes you have to walk a little bit but we love walking. There are lots interesting vendors over there and you can always find something to buy there. The vegetables are excellent and so are the fruits. They have a good flower vendor. It has a nice atmosphere and we always have...