NYC: Smorgasburg in Williamsburg

I absolutely love Smorgasburg. I went to it 2 years ago and I'm so glad it's a yearly thing! The weather was perfect on Saturday too! It was my 2nd thing to do in NYC (after Shake Shack). hehe. And it was about 20 min walk from our Airbnb apartment. It was such a great location! 

Smorgasburg 
90 Kent Ave. 
Brooklyn, NY 11249 
Saturdays 11AM-6PM 
(Sundays are in a different location) 
www.smorgasburg.com

We got there around 11:45 or so. There were already a lot of people walking around and standing in line. There were a few vendors still setting up. This is a lot bigger than Madison Square Eats so it took a lot longer to walk around and scope everything out. We made it thru about 2/3rds and then gave up. Oh... and I thought all the vendors would have Square or something to take credit cards... I was wrong. We were running out of cash, fast! So consider yourself warned! Estimate $8-10 per item per vendor. You do the math. 

While we were waiting for my fiance's sister to meet us, we stopped at the first vendor. This was new to me and they had displays set out. All looked yummy! 

Duck Season 
Crispy Duck Lettuce Wraps (I think it was $8 or $10~) 

This was a new item so it wasn't even on their menu. The duck was nice and crispy but the lettuce was too frail to hold everything together. It was a messy item to eat while walking around. haha. Every element was good, just needed a bit more sauce. His sister showed up and was able to get the last bite. 

Overall Experience:

 



So now that we had 3 people, we decided to split up, get different foods, and meet back at a central location. Didn't really work too well.. haha. Since different vendors cook food at different pace. Oh well... 

Asia Dog 
WangDing Hotdog (chinese bbq pork belly, cucumber, scallions) $5~ 

Sounded good but quite disappointing. At least it wasn't as expensive as everything else. It was a puny little hotdog with some pork sauce on it. I guess flavors were ok but very unmemorable. 

Overall Experience:

Bite Size Kitchen 
Braised Pork Belly Bun (cucumber,scallions, hoisin, pickled jalapenos) 

Duck Bun (sesame seeds, cilantro, pickled ginger, fried garlic and shallots) 2 for $9~ Both were good. The duck won out over the pork belly. I think it was the sesame seeds and fried garlic/shallots. 

Overall Experience:

Bassanova Ramen 
Green Curry Ramen $9~ Plus Berkshire Pork (Chashu) +$1~ 

 

I had to wait a while for this because they were still setting up. It was cool that they torched the chashu on the spot but certain parts tasted burnt. The meat was tender though. I loved the texture of the noodles. Nice and chewy. And the green curry is more of a sauce, so it's considered a dry ramen. It was good! $10 for the portion tho, I'm not so sure. 

Overall Experience:

Vaquero's 
Elotes (grilled corn served with mayo or butter, cheese and chilli) $4~ Who doesn't love elotes?? Yummmmm!! 

Overall Experience:

Brooklyn Soda Works 
Apple Ginger Soda. Quite refreshing on a hot day. 

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BFC 
Buttermilk Fried Chicken (with a cheddar waffle and pickle garnish) $12~ 

This looked so awesome, but I was disappointed. Very expensive for fried chicken btw. I liked the waffle more too. The chicken was fried well but needed way more seasoning. They had hot sauce on the side, so that helped a lot. 

Overall Experience:

Dough
Hibiscus Donut. 

Freaking love Dough. Their donuts are so big and fluffy! The hibiscus is good but their favorite of mine is still the Cafe au Lait!! 

Overall Experience:

Palenque: Homemade Colombian Food 
Arepa (arugula, Oaxaca cheese, chipotle mayo, cilantro salsa) Vegetarian toppings: Tipica (mashed red beans and hogao) 4" for $8~ This is his sister's favorite. This time, however, it took forever for her to get her food. I think she waited like 20 minutes or something... It's good though. :) 

Overall Experience:

We were pretty full at this point and talking about leaving. So we were trying to think of things that we saw on the website that we wanted to try but haven't yet. The only thing I could think of is this spaghetti burger that sounded really good but I never saw it. Oh well... we started walking out. As we were walking, I saw it! And they had no line! They had some of the spaghetti burgers on display and it looked really good. I was full, but was contemplating getting one. 

Antica Pesa 
Spaghetti Burger (lamb ragu, parmigiano, fontina) $10~ 

 

 

I was a little weary of the lamb ragu since I don't like lamb. But this is something unique and it WAS something I wanted to try from the start. BIG MISTAKE. I think it was already fried, but they fried it again when you order it so it would be hot. It looked really good, but was sooooo greasy. It also came with a cheese dip on the side. After a few bites, I started feeling queasy. But it was freaking TEN DOLLARS so I felt bad for not eating it. But I couldn't. I soon admitted defeat. And it was the biggest mistake of the trip because it completely ruined my stomach for the rest of the day! Booooo. Serves me right for trying to cram in one last item. :( Next time, stay away from deep fried pasta and cheese!! And lamb. The gaminess made everything worse. 

Overall Experience:

It was a fun afternoon but I wasn't as satisfied this time around. The price to food quantity/flavor ratio just wasn't there. I wish I hadn't eaten certain things so I could have another dough donut. haha. And after the fried grease of a "burger" I was out for the count for the rest of the day. Probably good for me in the long run but still wasn't fun to feel nauseous all the time. 

~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~