The Shreveport Farmers’ Market’s food court has always been an incubator space for local chefs and cooks looking to try new things. Eateries like Ki Mexico, El Cabo Verde, and Ono’s Traditional Hawaiian Cuisine got their start at the market in downtown Shreveport, and each year brings surprising new food vendors. For the Summer 2018 market, which begins on Saturday, June 2, 7 a.m.-12 p.m., one of the most exciting new food vendors is St. Laurent Egg Specialties.
St. Laurent is the project of Caleb Harkins, a nurse practitioner with a passion for travel and cooking. St. Laurent will be serving North African-inspired shakshuka, a dish that has ancient roots in the Ottoman Empire but feels right at home amid brunch-obsessed American food culture. Shakshuka is a beautiful thing: Eggs poached in a richly spiced sauce of stewed tomatoes with onions and peppers, and served with a slab or two of Harkins’ incredible homemade bread.
Harkins developed a taste for shakshuka while traveling, and is excited to share the dish with customers at the market. He’ll also be serving avocado toast as well as “cheesy greens” prepared with kale, greens, cheese, and sous-vide poached eggs. The real star of the show is Harkins’s rustic homemade bread, which is the best that I’ve had in Shreveport. For simple enjoyment of the bread, I’d recommend the avocado toast or the cheesy greens. But the shakshuka is delicious, as well.
“My wife and I book vacations based on where we want to eat,” Harkins told me. “We’ve been spending a lot of time in Montreal and New Orleans, and we kept seeing shakshuka on menus in those cities, so I wanted to bring it home to Shreveport.”
St. Laurent Egg Specialties is just one of a few intriguing new food court options listed on the Shreveport Farmers’ Market vendors page. There’s a new pour-over coffee vendor, Ludvi Coffee, and a burrito vendor, The Violet Pepper, as well as a chicken and waffles stand. Food trucks that’ll be on Food Truck Row include Sweetport and Choego. To explore a more comprehensive list of vendors taking part in the Shreveport Farmers’ Market, visit www.ShreveportFarmersMarket.com.
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If you enjoy exploring local food and drink, download the third edition of Eat Here: A Food Lover’s Guide to Shreveport-Bossier.
