Rustic Canyon chef Evan Funke loves the baby purple artichokes on sale at the market. He trims the tops and flattens them open to look like a flower, just as they do in Italy. Funke then fries them in oil and eats them as an appetizer.
Farmer Troy Regier sells Clementine mandarins at the Wednesday Santa Monica farmers' market and will have them for a few months. Clementines are a seedless variety of tangerine. Harder to peel than Satsumas, they have a more complex, delicious flavor.