Gilley Tang knows his noodles. (Rebecca Sahn)
Lou Braxton, purveyor of ostrich jerky. (Rebecca Sahn)
The thing about a smorgasbord is that it never stops. Just when you think you’ve had your last smorg, there’s another bord around the corner.
You might feel that way after an hour or two at Smorgasburg, the new weekly Williamsburg food fair that debuted Saturday on North Sixth Street and Kent Avenue. For its maiden weekend, scores of food vendors showed up in a lot overlooking the East River, with more than 8,000 hungry visitors lining up as early as 9 a.m.
An offshoot of the Brooklyn Flea weekend market, Smorgasburg emphasizes local food. Serious eaters will recognize many of the names, including Melanie Campbell’s Asiadog and David Chang’s Momofuku Milk Bar & Friends, which serves “artisanal” pb&j sandwiches. For those who love the Mexican stands of the Red Hook ball fields, you can stop by Solber Pupusas — or Martinez Food Vendors if the pupusa line is too long.
“So far we’ve tried two different kinds of tacos — carnitas and braised beef,” says Robyn Sklaren, 32, who was joined by her boyfriend, Brian Fountain, and a friend, Mark Raheja. “And we had this raw chocolate ice cream.” The trio was smart; they traveled in a group so they could sample as much food as possible. As the day went on, the lines only seemed to get longer; some places ran out of food. Before you navigate the crowds this weekend, be sure to grab some sunscreen and our handy guide to the market’s can’t-miss eats.
Weirdest walking- around food
* Ostrich jerky from Roaming Acres farm
“This is about the size of 18 to 24 chicken eggs,” says Lou Braxton, giving a massive, 4-pound ostrich egg to a customer to hold. But if a big fat egg is too much, just get the ostrich jerky ($5 a bag) — smoky but not tough, and tastier than anything you’ve ever sampled in a gas station.
Food that would make Alice Waters die of envy
* The BLT from Landhaus
Your first words upon being handed a $5 BLT at Landhaus might be, “Isn’t bacon supposed to be, you know, thin?” Don’t be so thick! These meaty slabs melt in your mouth and hail from an “upstate bacon cooperative,” according to owner Matthew Lief. Served on crusty French bread and topped with farm-fresh tomatoes and lettuce, it’s the kind of sandwich you’d make for yourself — if you had your own hog smoker.
Best alleviation of calorie guilt
* M’smen bread from Hot Bread Kitchen
While we’re not vouching for its calorie count, this warm, buttery flatbread will at least make you feel like you’re supporting a good cause. Hot Bread Kitchen is an East Harlem-based organization for low-income women, and this recipe for Moroccan M’smen ($2.50) comes from one of its clients.
Best dish by a Manhattan interloper
* Spring vegetables from Tenpenny
Tenpenny’s full-time residence is in Midtown’s Gotham Hotel, and yet its spring vegetables ($8) — which almost taste like a roasted salad — are as fresh and delicious as anything you’re apt to find here. We think it might be the sprinkling of toasted chicory root that makes this dish full-on Williamsburg.
Best serving dish
* The bamboo cone from Radish
Yes, the zucchini salad ($5) is quite good. It comes mixed with shredded olives and feta and is topped off with pistachios. But the thing that caught our attention was the bamboo cone it’s served in. A lot more fashionable than the paper plates and plastic containers littered around Smorgasburg.
Best thirst quencher
* Arnold Palmer with pink guava from Kelvin
There’s no shortage of homemade drinks and sodas at Smorgasburg, but our favorite is the refreshing Arnold Palmer slushie with a pink guava mix-in ($3.50 to $4.50). If the line’s too long at Kelvin, the $4 apple-ginger soda from Brooklyn Soda Works isn’t a bad alternative.
Best story to go with your food
* Cold sesame noodles from Shorty Tang and Sons
“Do you know about us?” asks Casey Tang, after his brother Gilley has served a customer a heaping $5 container of sesame noodles. If you answer no, Casey has no problem telling you about his grandfather, the 4-foot-10 Shorty Tang, who created this noodle recipe back in the 1970s and introduced it to restaurants in Chinatown. The story he tells is good — the noodles he serves are even better. (Tell Gilley to make it spicy.)
Freshest cheese
* Mozzarella from Speedy Romeo
There are plenty of cheesemongers at Smorgasburg, but only the guys at Speedy Romeo can boast that their outrageously good mozzarella was made that morning. We believe them. For $5, get a small serving of cheese topped with salsa verde and mushrooms perfectly seasoned with kosher salt.
Food that will put Cinnabon out of business
* Hot Griddled Mess from SCRATCH Bread
Quite frankly, we don’t know how to describe this. The $5 “Hot Griddled Mess” consists of griddled chai-spiced sticky buns with vanilla bean anglaise. “I tasted something crunchy,” one customer tells Lizzy Benbow, who was serving this tasty mess. “Probably caramel.” The result tastes better than any Cinnabon you’ve ever shamefully consumed.
Grossest idea that comes across brilliantly
* Maple bacon cupcakes from Kumquat
Bacon and cupcakes? It sounds, not to put too fine a point on it, revolting. And yet Kumquat’s $2 maple bacon mini-cupcakes will turn the biggest doubter into a believer.
Food your mother should sample before next Purim
* Fig-and-onion hamentashen from Skytown
“It’s an instinctive recipe,” says Sabra Saperstein of her fig-and-onion hamentashen ($3, or two for $5). Saperstein and her partner, Ian Cronin, create light, delicate sweet-and-savory hamentashen — the classic triangular Jewish pastry. Now if only your mother had the recipe.