What do you get when you take a giant, gated field on the edge of the water directly across from Manhattan, set up over 40 food stalls selling everything from Korean bulgogi to Mexican chicken soup, sweet peanuts and slow-braised tacos, to Japanese hotdogs, noodles, and homemade mochi, to oysters, to smoked on the premises hunks of BBQ, to Greek, to organic, local, and vegan gourmet cuisine, plus preservtive-free bubble teas, vinegars, oils, jams, preserves, and pickles? A great view and a smorgasbord of international culinary delights in Williamsburg, New York – a Smorgasburg.
View from the ferry to Williamsburg. Brooklyn Bridge in the background
Across the water from Manhattan (a quick subway from the island, or a quick ferry ride from the rest of Brooklyn – as opposed to the long hike around the Army or Navy base separating Park Slope and Dumbo from Williamsburg to the north, or a silly subway ride into Manhattan and then back out on a different line) lies the quaint, hipster-heavy, young family, all-you-can-drink brunch-loving, contemporary art gallery, local boutique, live music venue neighbourhood of Williamsburg.
Here they love their pig, cow, and whatever other meaty options on offer. They also love artisanal, local, organic, and sustainable, and have the dough to back up their beliefs. Of course there’s a little bit of granola involved, but you’re more likely to find hungover rib-lovers than organic mesclun-munching vegans pushing those baby carriages on a Saturday afternoon. Or maybe the first category turns into the second once the baby carriages get involved? Or maybe the pig-heavy brunch lovers come out on Saturdays and Sundays only after the early brunchers have left. The second seating. In sunglasses.
Either way, it’s like Mile End in Montreal threw up, and more hipsters popped out and they decided to call the town after a guy named William. Except that happened long before the invention of hipsters, back when the neighbourhood had an ‘h’ at the end of its name, says my history-buff of an uncle. I believe him. He also recommended ‘Smorgasburg’ to me. So an oyster, a vegetable skewer on hummus, a watermelon and aloe smoothie, a passionfruit sorbet-filled frozen mochi, a blueberry version of the same, and a fresh mango-filled (stick with the passionfruit frozen version), a gigantes bean in tomato sauce, a dolma, a duck confit leg with pickled onions, and a rooibos cinnamon bubble tea later and I have more reason to believe.
A lot involved cheese and dairy that I couldn’t eat, but for all those dessert-lovers out there, you’re in luck. Baklava, ice cream sundaes, waffles. Those are dessert, right? Also, Mexican tacos street-style, and pork lovers will be in pig heaven smoky BBQ-wise. One of the shops brings their own enormous BBQ on-site. What I learned: skip the overly-sweet watermelon juice and share the duck confit which is huge.
Waiting for the ferry. It comes every 30 minutes. Just enough time for a short tour of Williamsburg in the case that you just missed the last one while waiting for vegan lentil soup that never got made, or pan-fried duck confit that needed a second frying to get deliciously crisp.
Where: Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY
When: Saturday mornings, 9am-5pm, until November 19th
How Much: Free entry, items from $2.75 for an oyster to $8 for smoothies, 6 dolmas for $4, duck confit for $8.50, and generally slightly more expensive than everything should be gourmet street food. Plan to spend $30 be very gluttonous.
Leave a Reply