The older I get, the more I realize life is short. No great revelation, right? But, in my previously immortal haze, it was to me. So I’ve decided to spend less time planning and more time playing. Indulge in the things I like to do. I love a day at the fair. Make it a food fair on the waterfront with Manhattan as a backdrop and I’m in heaven. This particular day was a beautiful one and the fair provided a great opportunity to catch up with an old high school chum. Very productive, I’d say.
Smorgasburg
So here we are, my chum and I, at the newly minted Smorgasburg–a food-only extension of the infamous Brooklyn Flea–by the water in Williamsburg. We traded life stories between bites of crepes, slurps of slushies, and chomps of porchetta. We marveled at tiny baby turnips in the greenmarket section and flirted with the pig roast chefs in order to secure the best bite of crackling when that pig was done (it worked!). It was awesome and delightful to see the sheer variety and diversity of exotic (and some not-so-exotic) food offerings.
We started with the aforementioned crepes, though I must admit mine did not prove to be an auspicious start to the day: a mealy buckwheat pancake filled with soggy spinach, barely noticeable salmon and a creme fraiche dressing. My girlfriend had better luck with her more traditional choice of lemon and brown sugar. Onwards and upwards–we walked around, got the lay of the land, and planned our attack.
Next up, a refreshing natural slushie from the Kelvin Natural Slush Co. Begin with a frozen base of Arnold Palmer or Ginger and add your mix-in choice, from raspberry to basil to pink guava. Very thirst-quenchable and gratifying. We happily suffered through brain freeze, while being entertained by the lovely ladies making these “teriyaki balls”–sort of like an ebelskiver, but Japanese style, stuffed with pork, vegetables, and teriyaki sauce.
Well, the little piggie was taking longer to roast than we’d hoped, and we had a hankering. So we broke down and shared a delicious sandwich from Porchetta: a perfect balance of shredded pork and crispy skin on a bun. Could have done with a little less bread, but that scratched our itch…for now.
In order to pace ourselves, we took a break from eating and checked out the lovely produce brought in by the farmers in the greenmarket–tables laden with quarts of farm fresh strawberries, tender peas in the pod, bok choy, garlic, and the most adorable bunches of sweet baby turnips. That got our creative cooking juices flowing: I picked up some of those tender peas to use for my Chilled Pea Mint Soup, and luscious strawberries–see above header–to make ice cream (coming soon!).
Ok, time for another nibble, and a bite size one seemed perfect. So we hit up the Bite Size Kitchen for some stuff on a stick: marinated short rib, spicy sticky chicken, and a scallion pancake dumpling stuffed with pork that was yummy dipped in tangy sriracha sauce.
Looking around, as we wandered and chatted, we saw people eating all kinds of crazy things. Mac & cheese in a cone, Salvadoran stuffed flatbreads called pupusas, all variety of tacos, Vietnamese street food, lobster rolls, and big fat slabs of bacon in a perfect BLT sandwich…each looking more delicious than the next. There were also some amazing purveyors selling everything from flavored pastas to jams and chutneys to pickles (oh so many pickles!).
Enough roaming–my gal pal and I were ready to sit and really dish the dirt, so we picked up a half dozen assorted oysters and grabbed a spot at a picnic table. Not a bad view, eh?
Almost satiated, we were ready for one last round and maybe, finally, that roasted pig. Unbelievably, the guys were tossing large shards of perfectly fatty, crispy pork skin out on a large table for the taking and man, did we score! After that crackling deliciousness, we’d had our fill. We took one final lap around the stands, each picking up a container of Shorty Tang’s sumptuous sesame noodles to bring home and snack on later.
To end this day on a sweet note, I couldn’t resist a hand-dipped chocolate covered frozen banana sprinkled with almonds. Could you? What a lovely Saturday this was, and, now that I know new vendors get added to Smorgasburg all the time, I hope to repeat the experience soon. Maybe I’ll brave my seasickness and arrive via water taxi next time…
