Smorgasburg, NYC

If you have not eaten in a week and feel like gorging on some delicacies, this is the place for you.
We visited Smorgasburg yesterday for the second time, and once again, left with full bellies and big smiles on our faces.  The good thing about Smorgasburg is that there are so many vendors to choose from.  The bad thing about Smorgasburg is that there are so many vendors to choose from.  And here lies the dilemma, what to eat?  Graze and walk? Sit down and enjoy just a couple of things?  What about the dessert?

The best way to attack Smorgasburg is to first walk the entire area, check out the 100 vendors and decide on the order of the meals.  Unless the day includes sampling the Ramen burger, if that is the case, forget everything else and line up for that first.  That is what we did.  My husband stood on the ramen burger line while I ran like a lunatic trying to figure out where to go next.  The choices are maddening, the variety fantastic and not enough stomach space to accommodate it all.  The best thing to do is to gather some like minded friends so that each one can get something else and you can share and decide what is worth coming back for the following weekend.

Smorgasburg was launched in 2011 and became such a success, The New York Times calls it "The Woodstock of eating".  Before the beginning of this season, the organizers of this food heaven received about 350 applicants vying for  a spot within the fenced walls of Smorgasburg.   They were narrowed down to 70 who got to do a "tasting", and 25 were given a spot among the returning regulars for the 2016 season.

So, per our strategy, we hit the Ramen Burger stand first.  There were already about 15 people lined up at 11 in the morning.  The line got a bit longer later on and it stayed like that for the duration of the day or till the food ran out. 

Ramen buns in their golden perfection.

This was our first time trying this since we are not quick to jump on any hyped fad BUT, I have to say, it was delicious.  I know that people have been raving about this burger but sometimes it's difficult to differentiate between a truly worthy product and one that  looks cool in photos, cough, rainbow bagels, cough.

The great texture of the ramen noodles works beautifully as a bun and adds a really lovely sensation in the mouth when combined with the burger and their special sauce. 

 So, with the burger behind us, it was time to decide on the next item to taste.  The bao stand looked great

but the Goa Taco won us over with the fantastic smell of fire roasted meat.

We got the slow roasted pork belly with pickled red cabbage and chipotle mayo.  Here, in lieu of a tortilla, the meat and the other goodies are nestled inside a paratha, a many layered Indian flatbread.   This was so delicious that I really didn't want it to end.  I was so happy to see that they have a place on Delancey Street.

The combination of the roasted meat, the pickled cabbage and the chipotle mayo was perfection.  The flatbread had a lovely gummy consistency and great seasoning, I could eat it daily.  

Big Mozz, their pizza looked great but it would mean that we would not have room for anything else.  So the pizza will have to wait for another visit.

We could not resist the Lumpia Shack.

These were Filipino inspired lumpia - spring rolls.

Our favorite was the pork with sweet chili sauce and pickled cucumber

I loved the mushroom with truffled aioli and pickled red chili peppers

The chicken with hoisin sriracha and ginger scallion sauce was decent but the other two fillings were so spectacular, we gave the chicken third place. 

 We passed on the arepas, maybe next time.

Dan & John's wings looked and smelled so good, unfortunately I had my eye on something else and limited stomach capacity.

There was a steady line of people in front of the oysters stand, but not my cup of tea.

 The Fedoroff's Philly Cheesesteak and roast pork sandwich looked great but were big and definitely something that needs to be eaten as a meal in itself.  Not after a burger and a taco.

  

 The Porchetta sandwich will be filed for next time.

Some stands were not doing as well as others, I felt badly but hopefully they found their customers later on.

At this point we were heading to the one more thing that I had my eye on, but as we walked by, this woman pulled out a steaming hot, smoked brisket and cut into it.  The aroma was enough to stop us cold.  Within minutes there were about 10 more people lined up.  Funny how easy we all are!

Now, I am a brisket snob, my husband makes the most spectacular smoked brisket on the planet.   The consistency of this brisket was very good, the meat was moist but it didn't have a good smoke and rub flavor.  I have extremely high standards when it comes to brisket but wolfed this down real fast.  It just lacked a kick but otherwise it was excellent.   I would come back.

   This was the last thing that I needed to try. 

These were quail eggs grilled with toppings.  I got the egg, bacon and cheese and it was heavenly good.

 Inspired by street food in China

This mofongo looked great but we had our fill and had to save room for dessert.

The Swiss wurst was also very enticing but, the stomach space issue again.

 I saw this too late!  The Polka burger - a beet patty with roasted mushrooms, slow cooked caramelized onions, pickled red onions and horseradish aioli, looked so good.  A woman sitting next to me was eating it and the smell was wonderful, too bad I couldn't ask for a bite. 

 It was fun watching them make the ice cream.  Here, cream and chocolate are poured onto a freezing surface and moved around and chopped very quickly till it becomes solid.

 It is then scraped into a cup.

 This banana pudding seemed to be very popular.

This was what I was after, the butter cookie which is crisp and flaky on top, light and fluffy on the bottom and gooey in the middle.  We took these home and they were so delicious, I am going to be ordering these babies for special occasions. 

 My husband had his eye on the ring ding stand

We got the raspberry/pistachio (heavenly), devil's delight (excellent), classic chocolate (mighty tasty) and dulce de leche (awesome).

And since we needed just one more thing, the ice cream sandwich from The Good Batch won.

I am not an ice cream sandwich person but this vanilla ice cream nestled between oat chocolate  chunk cookies with fudge and sea salt,  was so good, I considered fighting my husband for all of it.

If the great food is not enough of a reason to come here, this wonderful view even on a cloudy day, should be.  

 I also needed to try the Raindrop cake.  This has been admired for its uniqueness and minimalist beauty. It is solidified mineral water and agar served with kinako (roasted soybean flour) and kuromitsu (brown sugar syrup).   I had a neat sensation of eating chunky water and the syrup and flour added some nice flavor but I couldn't really finish even half.  Maybe my palate is not sophisticated enough. It's definitely worth trying, very cool thing.

 Wowfulls ice cream had a very long line.

So, that was it.  We ate, sampled and talked with other people about what they were eating.  The atmosphere at Smorgasburg is very relaxed and fun.  There are just a couple of week to catch the food market as they are closing for the season Williamsburg - 10/23 and Prospect Park -10/29.  It runs from 11am to 6pm.

Joanna