Smorgasburg, Brooklyn
A weekend overnight in NYC for the premiere of Get On Up, gave me a chance to check out Smorgasburg, the outdoor foodie fest in Dumbo. This summer has been full of spectacular days, and this was no exception: gloriously sunny, with light breezes wafting in from the East River. Three of us took on the 100+ vendors of cemitas, pupusas, samusas, arepas, pickles and schnitzel. It’s booth after booth of amped up street food with a hipster, Brooklyn twist. Here’s my advice. Go. But plan to bring a crowd with you, so you can have just a tiny bit of lots of different tastes. My favorite things came in small packages: the sweet/salty bite of smokey maple bacon, a spicy papaya salad on a mound of sticky rice, a perfectly grilled skewer of chicken yakitori, and those killer french fries with lemon garlic aioli and curry ketchup. The whopping line at the pigs in a blanket stand (WHO doesn’t love a hot dog?) was the only thing that stopped me from utter gluttony. It was a delicious day, topped off with a welcome respite on a bench facing the tip of Manhattan. What a view. Good to know: on Sundays, find Smorgasburg at Brooklyn Bridge Park Pier Five in Brooklyn (easy to get there by Subway or taxi) and on Saturdays in Williamsburg. www.smorgasburg.com