We could not miss the occasion of my nephew's visit to go to Smorgasburg, the food festival that takes place every year in Brooklyn. We kept thinking that we should go so many times, but we had this image that it would be a pain, because far. We were wrong. In fact, recently, I ended up quite few times there and really enjoyed it, drooling in front of so many cool restaurants...
So here we are, at Smorgasburg in Williamsburg (it was a Saturday), located few minutes from the subway stop! Big place with a beautiful view of the New York skyline:
Despite what you may think looking at the photo, it was packed.
We were very excited and decided to look around before hitting the first food joint, but it did not take us too long to start our food experience. First stop was Milk Truck Grilled Cheese:
We do not have grilled cheese in France, just croque monsieur, but a simpler version than the one you see in restaurants: no béchamel, just butter and a slice of cheese that will be cooked in a toaster. So it is pretty similar.
We decided to try the Ham and cheese:
It was made of Niman's ranch applewood smoked ham, Vermont aged cheddar and Colman's mustard on Blue Ribbon Bakery rosemary Pullman bread. It was very good, hot, perfect for a cold day. It had lots of cheese and a thick slice of ham, and the bread was deliciously crispy.
We also tried the Milk Truck classic, made with aged Wisconsin gruyere, cultured butter on a Balthazar levain Pullman bread.
It was delicious, with tons of cheese and, again, this delicious crispiness of the bread.
Another dish you will not find in France: sausage wrapped in a dough, whether croissant, biscuit or , like here, a puff pastry.
We decided to eat them with mustard and a BBQ sauce. They were delicious: the puff pastry was light and flacky, perfectly paired with the sausage that had a bit of smokiness.
Then we ended up at an interesting stand: Cheese Pops.
They serve cheese of course, but like lollipops or skewered, and propose a raclette one:
A bit of France there, but also Switzerland as they melt the cheese the way they do in that country for raclette, under a heated source:
So, the raclette pop is a skewer with pickles and roasted vegetables:
They will melt on top the cheese:
Et voila!
It was good, but there was definitely not enough cheese and the $9 we paid were not worth it...
Our next stop was at the BeeHive Oven:
There, they serve biscuit, that I love! They were cooking them on premisses, so they were fresh and hot.
We decided to order the simplest one: with butter and honey for $2 a piece.
That was so good! These biscuits were one of the best I tried so far, and so comforting.
Next to it was Inglorius Yakitorius:
Where they propose yakitori of all sort: beef or chicken, but more intriguing, heart, liver or cartilage, cooked on their grill.
We decided to try the chicken heart and the chicken liver.
We decided to have them salted rather than with a sauce, so we could really taste the meat. It was very good, tender, but I was missing the char I love on grilled meat. Not to mention that Jodi was horrified, especially when she saw a valve on the pice of heart I was going to eat.
The last savory stop was Brooklyn Bayou for alligator chili:
It was made with alligator, andouille sausage, pork shoulder, tomatoes, onions, peppers and garlic. We could see the pots of chili behind the counter:
They served the chili with some rice (overcooked) and some sour cream to counteract the spiciness.
It was good, but a bit overpriced ($10), although I do not know the price of a pound of alligator...If you ask me what it tasted like, I would be unable to answer, because they were so many ingredients smothered in the sauce, that it was not possible to identify it. I guess the only components we clearly identified was the sausage.
The last stop was S'more bakery:
We could not let Valentin leave without trying a S'more!
We went for the S'morgasm, a sandwich made of two cinnamon sugar and clover honey graham crackers, a layer of Callebaut semisweet chocolate ganache and a bourbon-Madagascar vanilla bean marshmallow that is torched:
And here is the little sandwich:
Not only it looked good, but it tasted heavenly good! The marshmallow was so gooey and sticky, with a nice char taste. Definitely a great way to finish this culinary experience!
That was fantastic and I am happy that my nephew (and I) could try some food that you cannot find where he lives. My only regret is that we did not go earlier to Smorgasburg!
Enjoy (I did)!
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And Remember: I Just Want To Eat!
