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. 

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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. 

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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. 

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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. 

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

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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. 

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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!! 

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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. :) 

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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 ~~

NYC: Takashi

Friday night for our 2nd dinner. I had made a reservation at Takashi at 9:30PM. I normally don't eat this late, but to fit all these food places in... I guess that's a sacrifice I have to make. haha. :P 

Takashi 
456 Hudson St. 
New York, NY 10014 
(212) 414-2929 
http://takashinyc.com/ 
Price: $$$$+

This was recommended by a foodie friend. Unfortunately he had to work late and ended up cancelling last minute. We're so glad we still went though, despite being so full already. haha. I made a reservation for 6 people, and was able to fill that last spot before dinner. 

It's a small place. We almost walked past it because the sign outside is so small. But it's cute. Reminds me of the yakiniku places in Asia. Their menu is beef... all beef. Sounds pretty awesome to me! The beef comes from sustainably raised cattle with no antibiotics or hormones. On their website they list the farms where the beef comes from. 

Everything on the menu looked interesting and tasty. Unfortunately due to the uni shortage, they didn't have the one dish I really wanted. :( Oh well... maybe next time. Each of us ordered 1-2 things. 

Stewed Beef Tendon Casserole with White Miso $15~ 

 

This was my choice. As an appetizer for the table. It comes fully cooked. So freaking delicious. It's just just the chewy tendon parts, it was mostly the meat next to the tendons. Stewed to perfection, it was soooooo tender. And tons of flavor. 

Squid Ink Rice, Miso-Marinated Sweetbreads (spicy yuzu saffron aioli, served on a magnolia leaf) $20~ 

This was interesting. I'll eat sweetbreads but I'm not a huge fan. Normally they are just kinda mushy. For those who don't know, sweetbreads are either the thymus glad or pancreas of young animals like calf or lamb. I love offal, but I can live without this. I thought everything in this dish was good though. Really enjoyed the squid ink rice. 

Bakudan (rice bomb with Korean seaweed and pickled sesame leaf) $8~ This was to supplement the meats. It was pretty good, but we probably could've done without it. 

Sukiyaki-Style Round Steak (with tartare rice bomb and egg yolk) $30~ 

This was probably the coolest yakiniku dish of the night. It's like a DIY beef taco thing. You grill the meat, dip it in the egg yolk, put a ball of the tartare and rice and roll it up. The beef was super tender. I loved the tartare rice bomb on it's own too! Fun!! 

 

Kalbi (US Kobe Premium Short Rib) $26~ Really quality meat. 

Beef Belly (US Kobe Beef belly) $20~ Also delicious. 

Tan-saki, Tan-suji & Tan-moto (the tongue experience) $25~ The tongue tasting was interesting. I've had really tender beef tongue before but these were more chewy. But still good. 

Tsurami (beef cheek) $16~ The most bang for your buck. The slices were really thin though. It was like beef bacon. Yummers! 

It was so much fun! At first we thought we weren't going to have enough food since it was pretty expensive and the portions are not very big. But we were all satisfied at the end. The meats and flavors were all amazing, I totally recommend this place. The quality is comparable to the places I've been in Japan/Korea. Also, they have midnight ramen... yes, only starts at midnight. And you have to make reservations. Might be something fun to do next time. 

Oh yea... on the way back to the subway, we stopped at Big Gay Ice Cream, and several people got desserts. Wow. haha. I wish I had room! So I just watched them eat it. :P 

 

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~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~

NYC: Jacob's Pickles

This was another place that came HIGHLY recommended. I can't believe it wasn't even on my radar. Amazing comfort food. In New York! Who knew?!? 

Jacob's Pickles 
509 Amsterdam Ave. 
New York, NY 10024 
(212) 470-5566 
http://jacobspickles.com/ 
Price: $$-$$$ 

The name automatically grabbed my fiance because he loves pickles. And we both love Southern comfort food so we made a point of going there. It would be our "first dinner". 

The 3 of us (us plus his sister), got to the place around 5:30 or so on a Friday afternoon? It was so packed but we were seated immediately. The seating in the back is communal so we shared one long table with several other parties. It's a pretty cramped space but the decor of the restaurant is cool. Totally not what I expected at all. We got a bunch of things to share. 

Since we had another dinner at 9:30... we didn't want to overeat too much. 

Root Beer on Tap: Saranac Root Beer, New York (vanilla rich, creamy flavor, thick-bodied, caffeine free) $5~ Sounded good, but was a bit flat. And tasted like it came out of a soda machine... and it was. Meh. 

Pickles 4 for $11~ (Big Dill Kosher Cukes, Dilly Green Beans, Candy Red Beets, Sweet & Spicy Carrots). 

We picked 4 different types of veggies. They both love pickles, I can be with or without them. I guess they were all pretty good? The actual pickle was our least favorite. The carrots were their fav. And surprisingly mine too! I usually hate carrots, but whatever flavors went into the pickling, was really yummy. 

Grit Crusted Fried Green Tomatoes (sour green tomato brine, house picnic sauce) $9~ 

I think we could've done without this dish. It was good, but we weren't that hungry to begin with. The grit crust was fried nicely. And the sour green tomato brine was a nice accompaniment to the dish.  
 
Biscuits & Gravy (Sausage gravy) $9~ 

 

We were told we HAVE to get this. And it was a valid suggestion. The sausage gravy is DIVINE! Please just gimme a tub of it. I don't even need the biscuit (which was also good tho). One of the best sausage gravies I've ever had. Wow.. 

Mushroom Gravy Smothered Chicken (buttermilk fried chicken, 2 year aged Vermont cheddar; served with Grain Miller Organic Cheese Grits) $14~ 

We wanted to try the mushroom gravy, which is also fantastic (sausage still better). But it reminded me of the mushroom sauce on La Madeleine's Chicken Friand. I freaking love that stuff! The chicken was fried well. I just dipped everything into the sausage gravy. haha. 

 It was a great recommendation. I almost wished we didn't have a later dinner and can try more things. They totally give the South a run for its money! :P 

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~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~