Expected to open in March, the much-anticipated Liberty Public Market, a 22,000-square-foot artisan mecca in Liberty Station’s Building 1 at 2820 Historic Decatur Road, is furnishing 32 separate retail spaces to homegrown businesses. To give readers a glimpse behind the scenes into what to expect, here are three retailers who will be plying their wares at the new public market: • Parana Empanadas: Owner/operator Lucia Landman will be serving oven-baked empanadas, an Argentinian-style delight. “It’s similar to a turnover, with flavored filling wrapped inside flour dough,” said Landman. “We’re going to have 12 flavors to start out, ranging from chicken and traditional beef to spinach, cheeses, tomatoes and basil, mushrooms, eggplant and a lot of vegetarian options. The dough, the filling, the sauce — everything is homemade.” Landman said empanadas will be paired with four different sauces — traditional chimichurri, chipotle chimichurri, creamy celery and spicy roasted tomatoes with serrano peppers. “We’ll also have an authentic Argentinian sweet, alfajor, a shortbread cookie sandwich filled with caramel,” she said. Noting Parana’s will be one of the smaller food vendor spaces in the new market, Landman said her space will be located next to West Bean Coffee. She said her hours will be 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays, with longer hours until 9 or 10 p.m. weekends. • Liberty Meat Shop: Butchers Tommy & Michele Battaglia are bringing their family-owned and operated butcher shop to the public market. Tommy talked about his new retail space. “We have a walk-in cooler with glass walls so the public can see the meat on the shelves,” he said. “Our shop is done in white subway tile, with red and black accent. We also have a 1950 antique meat scale on top of our counter.” Battaglia said there are “meat rails that look as though they come out of our cooler and come to the front of the house.” He noted there are also antique meat trolleys hanging from the rails. He added this replicates how things were done ‘back in the day,” when sides of beef were really pushed through the shop. Signage for the butcher shop will include a 42- by 36-inch neon steer with the business’ logo on it hanging from the ceiling in the middle of the aisle of the market in front of the retail space. • Cane Patch Pies: Southern hospitality from the deep south, South Carolina to be exact, will be dished out in this new public market space. Cane Patch Pies, LLC is a southern family-owned bakery operated by Tony and Jon Smalls. “We just can’t get away from the south,” said the Smalls in promotional materials for their eatery, which offers up the best sweet potato recipes you’ll ever try. “The recipes we use have been in our family for years,” said the Smalls, adding, “Fresh-baked dough and savory fillings make our pies fulfill your palate. As the children of our ancestors, a strong spirit of love helps us create deliciously homemade sweet potato products while Mother Nature supplies the best fruit for our pies.” Other public market vendors are to include The WestBean Coffee Roasters, micro-batch coffee roasters; Fully Loaded Juice, offering raw, organic cold-pressed juice; Venissimo Cheese, featuring cheeses from around the world; Wicked Maine Lobster, introducing North Atlantic menu mainstays; Scooped by MooTime, premium handcrafted ice cream; Mastiff Sausage, handcrafted sausage sandwiches and subs; and Cecilia’s Taqueria, gourmet tacos and regional Mexican cuisine.
For more information, visit libertypublicmarket.com.