New York City is widely known for its very expensive housing and clothing market. Huge brand names line the streets of Fifth Avenue selling clothing wear and accessories one can only dream of affording while beautifully carved apartments tower over everywhere else. With this, how does the average person manage to survive? Is it street performing, selling things on the side or living with six other people in their single bedroom apartment? No, of course not. It is the great food of New York that keeps them alive! And not the super pricy food found on rooftops and in five star restaurants; it is the food found in pop up flea markets! One of them, for which I went to this past weekend, is one for you to try also. As in that, I really mean any other college student or non one-percenter in New York who is bouncing on a budget.
“Smorgasburg” it is called. Oh the mouth-watering and wallet-satisfying food flea market that is located in both Prospect Park and Williamsburg of Brooklyn, New York (shoutouts to Jay-Z, Biggie and Busta Rhymes). Since 2011, Smorgasburg has attracted hundreds of thousands of people every year. The food flea runs from April to November taking place every Saturday in Williamsburg and every Sunday in Prospect Park. One hundred vendors from the Greater New York City Area set up their tents and fire up their grills every weekend to please the very hungry people coming to the area. Not to mention that they sell their goods for prices that the average person can afford and not feel stressed out about.
As said before, I had the pleasure to visit it this past weekend with a few of my friends. I was amazed with the variety of food that was being sold and also the amounts of it. One hundred vendors meant one hundred amazing foods to gaze upon and choose from and quite frankly, making this decision might have been harder than picking the college I wanted to attend. But you gotta do what you gotta do so I did it. I enjoyed a butter cake from “Gooey & Co”, a mango flower from a spicy corn and fruit vendor and a philly cheesesteak sandwich from well, a philly cheesesteak sandwich vendor. All of which were delicious and great to try.
As my stomach did get full pretty quickly I was sad I was not able to try all of the other vendors. Ones that I will definitely get to next time are Big Mozz and Home Frites. One of them sold a giant array of mozzarella sticks while the other sold a giant array of crispy French fries with a creamy dipping sauce. The only downside to these stands were the long lines of people waiting for them. But you gotta go through the thunderstorm to see the rainbow, am I right? Other vendors that are worth trying are “Ramen Burger”and “Wowfulls.” The former sells burgers with circles of Ramen noodles as the buns and the latter sells amazing ice cream wrapped inside a large egg waffle.
No matter what food you enjoy, you will be sure to find a vendor that fits your kind of appetite and satisfies you completely all at once. To wash all of the food down, you can find booths with unordinary drinks like cranberry limeade and mint lemonade. Everything that I tried or looked at made my mouth melt and stomach scream with happiness so I know for a fact that it will have the same effect on you as well. I hope you are able to get across to Brooklyn one of these weekends and keep your stomach as fat as your wallet. You can also head to the market’s website at http://www.smorgasburg.com. Happy chow time!
