The sun was shining, the tweeters were tweeting and the air was fragrant with the scents of local fare at the official re-opening of Smorgasburg in Williamsburg last Saturday. To properly throw myself into the warm-weather tradition of staying outside as long as possible while eating as much as possible, I set out to spend the day sampling vendors’ creations without spending the majority of the week’s expendable income. And for less than an entire $20, I enjoyed a selection that made me feel like I ate twice as much as that. Follow my advice and you can, too!
First up: lunch: The first step? Making a beeline to a stand offering food that could pass as breakfast or lunch, and fast. There’s nothing worse than waiting in line for hangover curing nourishment, and you can’t go wrong with Mexican or its Latin brethren, so Solber Pupusas of Red Hook won the prize for entree. The stand offers delicious pupusas (grilled corn masa patties filled with cheese and a choice of various meat and/or vegetables) at two for $7, two and a sausage for $9 or a sample platter for $10. One frijol (bean, with a jalapeño surprise) and one puerco (pork) with a side of slaw kicked the Saturday shakes lickity split.
Spent: $7
Remaining funds: $13
Dessert! After filling the belly with warm, corny goodness, a girl needs a guilt-free frozen dessert. Next up was vegan ice cream from Alchemy Creamery ($5), a three-layered treat served in a very exciting push-pop receptacle. Cake on the bottom, ice cream in the middle, salted nuts on top. Ta-da! Delicious.
Spent: $5
Remaining funds: $8
Coffee kicker: A hangover is more miserable than usual when you’re excessively full and dragging your feet from exhaustion, so the obvious next stop was a slurpable, thirst-quenching caffeine enriched refreshment. At the northeast side of the lot, Grady’s Cold Brew was being served up by founder and owner Grady Laird himself! This was very exciting for me. I get excited over local heroes, sue me. Also exciting was the chickory-infused, strong but smooth as butter iced coffee for $2 (small) or $3 (large).
Spent: $2
Remaining funds: $6
Time for a snack: With $6 and four more hours of Smorgausburg to go, the next phase of the journey was finding another unnecessary snack, and more importantly, a place to sit down. Fellow face-stuffers were abuzz around BeeHive Oven and its sweet surprise: biscuits! The family-operated Hive served their specialty with lots of love, beckoning with buttery, crumbly creations begging to set you back a couple bucks and another belt notch. Founded in 2012 by queen bee Treva Chadwell and her husband John, the Queens-based bakery offers a variety of options from the “Heritage” biscuit ($2), named for its origin in Chadwell’s grandmother’s recipe, to ham and brie or fried chicken with squash and pickles ($6). They also offer a take-home 8-pack for $10.
Spent: $2
Remaining funds: $4
Thirst quenching: Such a savory day tends to leave a weary traveler parched, so the remaining $3 was earmarked for a replenishing beverage to wash down the gluttony and rehydrate after all the salts and sweets. At the Saucy by Nature falafel stand, a very long wait will reward you with healthy but hearty looking falafel creations. These eyes, though, were on the $3 limeade. It goes for only $1 if you’re willing to be a social media whore maven and share a picture of the stand or its fare on Instagram (@saucybynature) or Twitter (#feelinsaucy). Yeah, better believe I ‘grammed it.
Spent: $1
Remaining funds: $3
Accessorizing: Somewhere in between all the heavier and more edible options, I made a brief stop at Phatty Beet Sliders, a vendor who describes their wares as “Organic. Vegan. Local.” and offerd burger-like patties made of chickpeas and olives. Instead of that, I got this adorable pin.
Spent: $1
Remaining funds: $2
So there you have it. Breakfast/lunch, dessert, coffee, extra bites, a beverage and a take-home accessory to boot had me out $18 but still staggering away with a serious case of the itis, mixed with the terror of knowing I could do this every Saturday until the fall, if I wanted to.
Follow Cat for more tweets about food @CatWolinski
Related Articles
Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with Drinks Specials & Free Food on Grand St! (Sunday, 3/17)
This SUNDAY (March 17), 13 bars along Grand Street celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with 29 drink specials and free food. This 8th edition of the Grand Street BID annual Pub Crawl makes you Sunday Funday easy – walk or stumble along just 6 blocks to eat and drink to your lucky charm’s desire. (ad)
The CBD Free-for-all Is Over for NYC Cafes and Bars
The NYC Health Department in now cracking down on cafes and bars that serve food and drinks with CBD
Whiskey Lovers Rejoice! Best of Dime Brooklyn Food & Beer Fest Features Unlimited Craft Beer and Whiskey (Sat, Jan 26th)
Whiskey Lovers Rejoice! The DIME Best of Brooklyn Food & Beer Festival just got even BETTER! Bulleit and Johnnie Walker are the […]
9 Comments
Leave a Reply
You had me at “vegan push pop”
It’s not just vegan, it’s magic!
FYI, Chickpea & Olive is the company’s name – Phatty Beet Sliders is what they sell (made with beets & falafel meal, on homemade brioche). You should try one next time – they’re delicious, & surprisingly filling. And I say that as a non-vegan.
Thanks for the tip, Maxwell!
Bon Chovie head-on deep fried anchovies or GTFO.
Also, a PSA should be written for all the people who bring their double-wide strollers into an outdoor bazaar that already has a thousand people milling around…
I will drop ice cream on your baby.
While I appreciate the pun, Eric, ew. Pupusas > anchovies
I would watch and promote that PSA. And then eat the ice cream you dropped.
“Itis” really?
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=itis
Who ever asked you that KNOws what it means; the question is why?