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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.
Overall Experience:
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 ~~
SATURDAY: Day 3.
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!
Smorgasburg
90 Kent Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11249
Saturdays 11AM-6PM
(Sundays are in a different location)
www.smorgasburg.com
Duck Season
Crispy Duck Lettuce Wraps (I think it was $8 or $10~)
Bassanova Ramen
Green Curry Ramen $9~ Plus Berkshire Pork (Chashu) +$1~
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~
Asia Dog
WangDing Hotdog (chinese bbq pork belly, cucumber,
scallions) $5~
Vaquero's
Elotes (grilled corn served with mayo or butter, cheese
and chilli) $4~
Brooklyn Soda Works
Apple Ginger Soda
BFC
Buttermilk Fried Chicken (with a cheddar waffle and
pickle garnish) $12~
Dough Donuts
Hibiscus Donut.
Palenque: Homemade Colombian Food
Arepa (arugula, Oaxaca cheese, chipotle mayo, cilantro
salsa) Vegetarian toppings: Tipica (mashed red beans and
hogao) 4" for $8~
Antica Pesa
Spaghetti Burger (lamb ragu, parmigiano, fontina) $10~ This was the last thing I purchased and ate. It was deep fried... so greasy it completely ruined my stomach for the rest of the day! Booooo. Serves me right for trying to cram in one last item. :(
--------------
Grand Central Terminal
Zaro's Bakery
Shake Shack
Shack Burger (cheeseburger topped with lettuce, tomato
and Shack Sauce) Single $5.19~
Root Beer Float
--------------
Wonton Noodle Garden
56 Mott St.
New York, NY 10013
(212) 966-4033
Roast Pork $8.95~
Beef Stew & Wonton Noodles $7.95~
The uber heavy spaghetti burger (or "the greasy devil") took me out of the running for our last day in NYC. I felt nauseous everytime we walked a lot and just couldn't eat much more the rest of the afternoon. Sigh... curse you greasy foods!!! Anyways, it probably did me a favor in the long run. haha. We still ate a lot that weekend.
Make sure to check out my separate review on Smorgasburg to get the lowdown of each item we had! :)
~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~
My fiance and I went to Houston last week to spend Christmas with his family. The first night there we went to a restaurant called Just Dinner on Dunlavy. I found it through Yelp searches. It was a restored old home and the reviews were all very positive.
This house was built in 1928. It was transformed into this cozy restaurant and opened in 2007. They source from their organic garden and shop daily for the freshest ingredients.
Just Dinner on Dunlavy
1915 Dunlavy Street
Houston, TX 77006
(713) 807-0077
www.justdinnerhouston.com
Price: $$$$
It was a small house. Very cozy when we walked in. They had dim lighting, Christmas decorations up and felt like you were going to a friend's home almost. We were seated in the front room. Our table was covered in magazine clippings. I thought that was a unique way to decorate the table, and minimize clean up, AND use up old magazines. haha. Recycle! :)
We brought a bottle of wine with us since it's BYOB. They do charge a corkage fee of $10 for every 750ml. They immediately asked if we wanted an ice bucket for our wine. We asked them if they could put it in the fridge first and it was no problem at all. The waiter brought us some waters and a little bit of their Pesto Hummus (with multigrain chips). The chips were like the store bought multigrain chips. I laughed a little when I saw it, but I actually really like these chips. The pesto hummus was really tasty. I do wish we had pita bread or something instead.
Soup of the Day: Sweet Potato Soup $7~ My fiance ordered this. I wanted to try it. The soup was silky and yummy. There were chunks of sweet potato in the soup as well but I thought they were undercooked. Slightly crunchy still.
He also wanted to try the Foie Gras Creme Caramel (pickled seasonal fruit, warm house-made brioche) $20~
He's never had foie gras. I'm not a huge fan. I mean I'll eat it, but it usually tends to be too heavy. So I was thinking he wouldn't like it. However, this was more of a sweet preparation of foie gras and I've never had it like this before. It was made more like a thick flan and it was more sweet than savory. It was pretty amazing. They served it with thin slices of brioche. Normally I love brioche but this one was basically soaked in butter. Too heavy to eat with the creamy foie gras. I ended up just eating the foie gras on its own. But I did like the pairing with the pickled fruit...although they seemed more like butternut squash or something instead of fruit. The acid from the pickled fruits definitely help cut some of the heaviness of the dish. Not the typical prep of foie gras, but delicious. I guess he'll have to try foie gras again another time to get the savory aspect of it.
Ratatouille (pickled vegetables, Belgium endive spears) $11~
My fiance's sister ordered this as her main meal. It's listed as an appetizer. Again, a very different preparation than we expected. It was served as a mound with endives on the side. And it was served cold. We all expected to be a hot dish, since it is stewed vegetables...
Pasta of the Day: Spaghetti (with meatballs and sausage).
His father got the pasta of the day. It was a huge portion! The spaghetti was cooked well. I thought the marinara was a bit more sour than I would've liked but the meatballs were good. They have pine nuts mixed into them!
Braised Boneless Short Ribs (port wine cherry sauce, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, and mixed vegetables) $30~ My fiance ordered this. It was massive as well and the meat was very tender. He loved it.
Pan Seared Chicken Breast (wild mushroom pan sauce, blue cheese polenta, mixed vegetables) $24~
His mom wanted to try the blue cheese polenta so she order the chicken. Again, a sizable portion. She had some leftover chicken to take home. I tried a bite of the polenta. The blue cheese flavor was very mild, which is good. Sometimes blue cheese is quite overwhelming.
Stuffed Collard Rolls (quinoa, black rice, amaranth, roasted red pepper sauce) $20~
This sounded totally interesting so I ordered it. I like everything listed here. Two large rolls, it was very filling. I loved all the texture inside the collards. There was also hazelnuts (I'm pretty sure) inside... maybe a little too much. It added a nice crunch but a few bites had so many that's all I could taste. But overall, very good, and healthy! Did you know that amaranth is full of protein, iron, calcium, and triple the fiber of wheat? And it's gluten free. :) I need to find more of this.
At some point, we also got rolls. I don't think I noticed when it was served. haha. Too busy taking pictures of everything else!
Crispy Bacon Lardons Brussels Sprouts $7~ I also ordered the Brussels sprouts. Duh! If it's on the menu, I'm ordering it! It was yummy. Plus bacon, always a classic combination.
Everyone had a great time. His parents said they'd go back for sure. Really quaint setting. The service was warm and friendly and the food was good. Plus everything's seasonal so the menu changes every few months. :)
Hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas!!
Quality of Food:
Service:
Ambiance:
Value:
Overall Experience:
~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~
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