Walking Smorgasburg 2023 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn

We take the NYC Ferry to the North Williamsburg stop to visit Smorgasburg and catch an incredible view of the Manhattan skyline

Smorgasburg official website:
https://www.smorgasburg.com

--------------------------------

From The New York Times:

Brooklyn Market: Woodstock of Eating

SMORGASBURG, the open-air market held every Saturday in an empty lot on the Williamsburg waterfront, is like a summer rock festival for food: exciting, overwhelming, sweaty, hot. You’ll hit your limit, and then you’ll want more.

The setup is simple: more than 50 vendors selling handmade food from tidy stalls next to the East River. (Another 40 or so sell produce, kitchen gear and pantry items.) It’s orderly but informal, a fitting playland for a food-crazy generation that photographs what it eats.

You eat standing up, at one of a few tables or at one of the two parks flanking the market. There’s a frayed public lawn to one side, a manicured garden underwritten by new condos to the other: the story of Williamsburg told in three blocks. The posted maps are almost useless, so the best plan is to jump in feet-first.

Start with a sure thing like the fried anchovies ($6) at Bon Chovie, a delicate fish that tastes like the ocean; or the chorizo sandwich ($7, $10 with blistered pimentos on the side) at Bocata; or the sloppy dog ($8) at the Meat Hook, a hot dog smothered with chipped brisket and slaw. Or go to Cemita’s and start with the namesake sandwich ($9), including chipotle spread, avocado, pickled onion and carnitas, that’s too big for one person, too messy to share. Accompany it with a yuzu, lime leaf and honey lemonade ($2) from 4πr2, or fresh watermelon juice with aloe ($5) from Salud.

New Yorkers of a certain age will head directly to the cold sesame noodles ($5) at Shorty Tang & Sons, an essential dish from the days of Danceteria. The stall is operated by Casey and Gilley Tang, grandsons of the chef who is considered by some to have perfected the creamy, lightly spicy noodles in the city. The other item for sale is a spicy daikon salad ($4), fresh and peppery with a touch of sweetness. That’s it. Like many of the stalls, Shorty Tang & Sons keeps the menu short.

Some stick to a single subject: the freshly shucked oysters ($2.50 to $2.75 each) at Brooklyn Oyster Party, the frozen bananas ($5) mashed into an ice cream-like consistency and topped like a sundae at Rob & Anna’s (say it out loud). At King’s Crumb, it’s buttery, flaky biscuits the size of a steak. Split in half and smothered with homemade jam and clotted cream ($7), they are a simple, delicious pleasure.

Others are more adventurous. Liza Queen, whose Greenpoint restaurant the Queen’s Hideaway closed in 2008, is now at the griddle of the Queen’s Danh Tù. She prepares three dishes: banh trang tron ($7), a succulent salad with rice paper, mango, chili salt, quail eggs and fresh herbs; bun thit nuong ($10), cold rice noodles and pickled vegetables with pork shoulder; and banh xeo ($11), a rice flour, coconut milk and turmeric crêpe stuffed with braised pork and tiny shrimp and served with mustard greens and a lime, chili and garlic sauce. Try ordering one of each.

Not everything is exceptional. The Andalusia-style gazpacho at La Buena is expensive at $5 for a three-ounce portion, while the B.L.T. ($5) at Landhaus is not particularly flavorful, tender or smoky even though the stand’s motto is “B.L.T.s and More.” The ice cream sandwich ($5 ) at the Good Batch is inspired by stroopwafels, Dutch waffle cookies filled with caramel. But these are so choked with cinnamon, you can’t taste anything else.

Most of the lines are worth the wait. Smorgasburg (a portmanteau of “smorgasbord” and “Williamsburg”) is an offshoot of the Brooklyn Flea, the flea market that the news anchor and aspiring comic Brian Williams compares to Marrakesh. If you take the East River Ferry to Smorgasburg, it might seem even more exotic, a sun-washed souk on a rocky riverbank. Except prices are in dollars, and there’s pork.