April 29, 2013

• SMORGASBURG – d.u.m.b.o.

  So Brooklyn flea decided to get a bunch of tasty restaurants, hole in the walls, entrepreneurs, etc…and stuff an assortment of them into two different locations on the weekends. What an amazing fucking idea. I decided to participate (with my partner in crime CPA) in the Sunday Edition of Smorgasburg, which so happens in DUMBO (Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass) *i wonder who will notice the moon in the picture lol.   Red Hook Lobster Pound: First up, as we arrived we saw this lobster joint, and figured why not? There was a choice of getting Maine or Connecticut versions of their lobster rolls. Maine is cold with mayo, and Connecticut they poach upon order and drizzle with melted hot butter. Since I’m biased and a hardcore Maine Lobster person….I stuck with the Maine rendition (perhaps i’ll try the other sometime…but doubt it…warm lobster…in a roll? wth… lol. jk…sort of…afteral it is a matter of preference.) WOW! this was pretty good! (not as good as Luke’s, and nothing close to Maine’s Red’s Eats) but it was a great way to start our feasting! I’d definitely recommend trying one of these out, and at the price of 16$ not bad at all! Buttermilk (channel) Fried Chicken: While we were walking around after tasty Red Hook, we smelt and saw immediately Fried Chicken and Waffles…I have never had Fried Chicken and Waffles before so this would be my first experience. Here goes nothing. The crust was overly crunchy, however, chicken was perfectly cooked. Waffle…didn’t really serve any purpose, as the chicken not only stole the show in portion, but in taste. I did not like how crunchy the crust was…i’d pick Popeye’s over this and make my own waffles. Also the portion for 10$ is a little disheartening as the two pieces of chicken were pretty small. And once i heard someone come back and complain about their chicken being raw/under-cooked i immediately figured out what BFC’s problem was. Their chicken is a ridiculous mix of really large and pretty small pieces/sizes. They need to try to get all of their chicken into more similar sizes…the small pieces get over cooked and become overly crunchy and salty but perfectly cooked inside, but the larger pieces probably have perfect flavoring, perfect crunch, but undercooked innards…i hope they realize and adjust soon…this was quite a let down as my first Chicken and Waffle experience. Landhaus: I love lamb and Bacon…so WHY NOT?!?!!?!? Maple bacon on a stick, we ordered one stick but since it was so small the guy decided to throw in another small one. I don’t know if it’s cause they had been sitting around on the grill for a while, but these were WAY WAY SALTY! even the honey couldn’t save it. I mean maybe if i took this and steamed it to get rid of all the salt would it be delectable…but i fear this was not good…even a potato bread bun couldn’t save this…. LAMBURGER!!! now for the main event! i could smell these babies being grilled a mile away. each burger is cooked per order, it’s not reheated or microwaved or any of that bullshit. They throw these tasty patties onto the bbq and grill it up. Smelt so good with onion and cilantro and onions…and perfect bun…now here comes the rub…for a place that specializes in lamburgers…these were WAY WAY TOO GAMEY!!! (in case you don’t know what gamey means: having the tangy flavor of game, esp. game kept uncooked until slightly tainted) I expected it to be “more fresh” but ever since coming back from Europe, i’ve been expressively picky about my “game meats” oh well…another let down. Though CPA did come up with a great idea for them…they should really do Lamb sliders. and i felt a really good Horse radish sauce would definitely counteract the overly gameyness. Handsome Hank’s Fish Hut: I saw some fried fish and shrimp and definitely wanted to get my fix! Fish, Shrimp and chips. Everything was perfectly cooked…but again…way way overly salty…this was the last straw…and put both me and CPA into Sodium overload….where we were getting a little nauseated…and had to drink soooo much water to counteract the nausea. uhg.   DOUGH: Ok, enough of the sodium overload…off to sweats…er…sweets. The line for Dough was ridiculous, it wrapped around past three other vendor fronts…no wonder they set up “non-ready-to-eat-food-vendors” around Dough. excuse the pic as its off Lemon Poppy, Chocolate, and coconut in the bag….These are the best damn yeast doughnuts i’ve ever had. It is a MUST GET at Smorgasburg.   The Good Batch: uhg…we were too late, no more ice cream sammies…heard this place has the best ice cream sammies ever….grrrr! Here’s a pic (which i did not take and found on google images): uhg…..   Schnitz: Wonderwoman and MoneyMaker arrived even later than us, and wanted to partake in the fooooooooood! We decided to be daring and joined in on one more savory dish (i had wanted to try this place originally but CPA was fearful the bread would fill us up and we wouldn’t be able to eat anything else. *i did not take that pic of the Schnitz tent…i had forgotten and that’s from their website. We got the chicken sweet onion, as Wonderwoman is somewhat a vegetarian and only eat’s chicken and fish of the meat kind….Holey fucknuts…this was REALLY GOOD. I believe this and the lobster roll were the two best savory items we had at Smorgasburg DUMBO. I definitely want to go back and try the pork, as i think they have a chance at becoming my favorite schnitzel place in america. Of course it doesn’t hold a candle to the best damn chicken schnitzel i ever had in the world…. i know i know…an unfair biased opinion. Well i was fiending for some ice cream since there was no good ice cream at Smorgasburg Dumbo, and we were so close to the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory…so why not? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! Still temporarily closed….*sigh…BLAST YOU SANDY!!! BLAST YOU INDEED!!! *shakes fist in air. This was where Wonderwoman and MoneyMaker parted ways to attend to their newborn. CPA and I were overly stuffed and walked around the Brooklyn Promenade….the area is quite beautiful…and still in development…I highly recommend taking a trip out there…parking is not that bad…I parked pretty far, which i didn’t mind as a good walk after all that food always feels good. Maybe its cause we came late at 2pm, but i felt a lot of the food was overly salty! I like savory, but this was ridiculous….I also learned its just better to go earlier as a lot of the more popular tents sell out of their great food and pack up and leave. I’ll be partaking in Smorgasburg Williamsburg on Saturday soonz. Can’t wait! This time we’re going to map it all out with a list of what we MUST EAT and then a secondary list that will be the we can live without. I really look forward to hitting up Mighty Quinn’s, Lumpia Shack, Pupusa, and that dang amazing ice cream sandwich. We drove by Grimaldi’s and wanted to partake, but the line was freaking almost to the end of the block and around…no thanks. I’d definitely like to come back here…have the whole summer…but my next Smorgasburg participation will be in Willie B. looking forward to it. woot!

  • 12:28 am
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