Smorgasburg (Brooklyn Bridge)

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Lumpia Shack spring rolls anyone? They haven’t opened a store, but you can find these delicious morsels and many more at Smorgasburg, New York’s premiere “Food Flea Market”. Now setting up shop in both Williamsburg and Brooklyn, in many ways, this weekend event is kind of like any other food festival. However:
 
a) it has some of the most insane food;
b) it’s designed as a social event rather than an industry one; and 
c) (for our purposes) is under the Brooklyn Bridge. 
 
Need I say more? Anything under the Brooklyn Bridge immediately makes it cooler, especially in a historic tobacco warehouse.

Brooklyn Bridge

Upon arrival, you will probably be greeted by the smell of doughnuts from DOUGH. 

But, I knew Julian and Mac were saving a spot in line at Mighty Quinn’s Barbeque for me so I mustered up the discipline and avoided the doughnuts… and sauntered over to slathered pulled pork instead!

Let me go back to Lumpia Shack again, who was my favourite of the day. Their Filipino-inspired spring rolls with flavours like Peking Duck (not remotely Filipino…), Original Pork and Truffled Adobo Mushroom are wonderful, wonderful things. The surprise at this vendor, however, is actually their Halo-Halo. As I grew up with a lot of Filipino culture around me, I was very familiar with the icy treat that literally translates to “mix-mix”. As I had no less than four people come up to ask what we were eating, I thought I would find an appropriate video explaining the concept to you through Mr. Anthony Bourdain (who happens to be one of my (and Julian’s) food heros).

They’ve re-imagined the traditional and arranged the flavours to appeal to the average North American. I don’t like chickpeas and jackfruit in my dessert, but amping up the purple yam, condensed milk, and topping with kettlecorn and mint? Sounds like a winning mix to me! 

We did also try some Bolivan salteñas, which were described as, “savoury and sweet aji amarillo flavoured pastry encasing a juicy stew of beef, chicken or quinoa”. Those things were juicy alright! Let me just take a moment to thank my past self for deciding to bring a large package of wet wipes to this event.
If you can’t find anything else that entices you during a heat wave (today was one of the hottest days of the year), certainly a good ol’ ice-cream sandwich will do!

I have come to the conclusion that chilling under a bridge with good friends and good food is a viable past time. Julian and Jess (and the whole rest of the gaggle of foodies), I am sure would agree.

Check it out for yourself! Smorgasburg is located at 90 Kent Street in Williamsburg on Saturdays and at 30 Water Street in Brooklyn on Sundays every weekend.

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