At lunchtime today the Portland Public Market was as busy as a food hall could be. If the market’s visionaries had a certain concept in mind, today’s vibrant scene was symbolic. With practically every vendor tending to customers, the overall scene was one of lively commerce.

People were lined up at Big Sky Bakers (228-2024), ordering sandwiches or buying their delicious bread made from stone-ground wheat.

Stone Soup was serving to capacity. El Mirador was cranking out tacos and chile rellenos. Scales, where I was having lunch at the raw bar with a friend, was as jammed as Fore Street on a Saturday night. Even Maverick’s had its share of enthusiastic diners.

The market’s long-awaited success is no surprise. What the Portland market needed all along was food: prepared food, stand-up food, take-out brown bag food, fine restaurant food and other riders along the culinary highway.

Yet if the generous bequeath of Elizabeth Noyce’s gift to the city was meant to invigorate an otherwise forlorn part of downtown, its location has been nonetheless challenging.

I’ve always thought that the market was put in the wrong place. Many market watchers believe, for instance, that a fine-dining establishment can’t succeed there because people are leery of going to a desolate neighborhood at night.

Still, the market was a daring notion, and it’s satisfying to see its ongoing success. I plan to go more often now that it’s an attractive, vibrant place to shop and eat.

Here are some of my market picks and pans. If I haven’t included everyone it’s only because I still have more to explore.

Forbes Meat Company (228-2044). This could be one of the best butchers in Maine because they carry such high-grade natural meats, many of which are farm-raised or organic. My problem with Forbes is they don’t always have a butcher in attendance. Often it‘s a clerk in butcher’s apron waiting on you, unable to handle custom orders or field questions. Still, their meats are first rate: wonderful lamb, Black Angus Beef, organic meats from Caldwell Farms and pork from local producers and other farms. The poultry department should have been better. Instead of carrying the ubiquitious Bell and Evans brand, a local free-range, organically produced chicken would have been a more appropiate choice befitting a specialty butcher shop.

Gillespie Farms (228-2026). Now that we’ve lost the “green” of the Portland Greengrocer, the pickings are slim outside of supermarket vegetable shopping. The source for vegetables in the Portland market offers a nice variety of farm- raised produce from Gillespie’s as well from other regional producers. There’s also a special stand of organic vegetables. The variety is good, but don’t count on it for all your needs. When I was there the other day, I needed endive, which Gillespie’s didn’t have. Sometimes the vegetables look a bit tired, too. The refrigeration seems a tad warm, and no one is spraying with water to keep the produce moist. Some of it looks wilted.

K. Horton Specialty Foods (228-2056). What I like best about this vendor, which has most everything from bagel chips to French olives, is their selection of local Maine-made cheeses. There’s so much to choose from, including Seal Cove chevre, Hahn’s End unpasteurized cow’s milk cheese, Smiling Hill’s talleggio, cheddar and camembert, York Hill goat cheeses and more. I like the selection of European cheeses, too. Like Forbes, however, the help is not always knowledgeable about the cheeses.

Foley’s Bakery. They are the newest baker to come into the market since Borealis and Valley View Orchard Pies left to concentrate on their wholesale businesses. While the market is kind to vendors seeking recognition, it’s not always the place to make money. Wholesaling, for concerns such as Valley View and Borealis, is much more profitable. Nonetheless Foley’s is a great bakery. Whenever I want one of their “fancy” cakes I’ll stop into the Congress Street store. I wonder, though, how they’ll do in the market, where their highly decorated, formal cakes and pastries look out of place. I think we’d be better served if they offered down-home baked goods that would appeal more to the family shopper. But I love their fruit tarts and butter-cream cakes, which are as good as they look. The carrot cake is superb, too.

Down Home Cookin (228-2064). I can’t really tell what’s going on at Down Home. That’s because I’ve never been motivated to try. I wished they had chosen Beal’s as their ice cream selection, instead of Gifford’s (though I’m sure some of you may disagree); and the cakes in their special case appear almost surreal--hardly down-home looking. Still, I’m hesitant to be so critical without trying some of their goodies. I will, one of these days.

El Mirador (228-2047). For those of us who like Mexican food (I do) Maine offers few choices. I’ve yet to come across an establishment that serves anything but basic taco fare. Hark, you budding entrepreneurs, there’s a niche to be filled in Maine! Nonetheless, El Mirador’s tacos, tamales, chile rellenos and other staples of domesticated Mexican fare are tasty and freshly made, right before your eyes, and they’re about as good as we can get anywhere. Good taco chips, too.

Stone Soup (228-2020). Soup is one of my favorite lunch dishes. Do I like Stone Soup? Yes and no. Sometimes their combinations are a bit rough and tumble but are satisfying enough. I don’t go out of my way for any of their soups, if only due to personal taste.

The Portland Spice Company. The more I go to this vendor—a veritable treasure trove of exotica--the more I see something new and exciting each time. The newest addition to their salt selection is Maldon Salt, which comes from Maldon, England-- that country’s answer to French sea salt. I use it at home all the time. It’s also half the price of French sel de mer. For under $5 you get an 8-ounch package compared to nearly double the cost for the French version. (Though some salt fanciers will claim that only the French sea salt is worth its salt.) Besides salt products, this is the place to go for hard-to-find ingredients: Like Demerara sugar (raw, naturally brown sugar), Tahini paste, coconut milk, key-lime juice, all kinds of Indian and Chinese spices and sauces, Italian pastas, imported canned tomatoes, grains—you name it, they’ve got it.

Scales (228-2008). The food at Scales is terrific and their retail fish market has much to offer. MMove over, Harbor Fish and Browne Trading, long the two best in town. Browne Trading is still the place to go for Mediterranean species, but Scales is not far behind. I’ve started to buy some of my fish here. At least now we have three great choices. The other day I needed salmon to make salmon cakes, but Scales suggested that I try the steel-head trout instead. The fish cakes came out beautifiully. It’s a stronger tasting fish that looks like salmon and tastes like trout. The English refer to it as salmon trout. Basically it’s trout that migrates to the ocean and back again to fresh water. Scales also has a good selection of fish from our local waters, and shellfish and exotic varieties that are not easily found elsewhere. It was wonderful.

A Bold Flavor (228-2050). This is the newest member of the market, but I can’t figure out what they do differently. They call their food fast, fresh, MediterrAsian. Well, I suppose that says it all. They offer such taste treats as falafel nuggets and bombs. Bombs, you ask? They’re akin to roll-ups and come in such flavors as beef, chicken and Italian sausage. The flavor must explode in your mouth, I guess. Other offerings include such tasty-sounding malapropisms as pizzadilla and queso--roughly translated as quesadillas. Next time I pass by on an empty stomach I shall investigate. Smart remarks aside, this could be an interesting fast-food addition to the market line-up.

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