update from the smorgasburg...

 Fried anchovies from Bon Chovie.

 

  All Photographs Copyright © 2011 Andrea Gentl all rights reserved

Ok. So yesterday was one really long day of eating! I may have eaten more yesterday than ever before! I don't know if it was the break in the weather or what but I was famished and didn't stop eating until I hit the pillow with a groan.

My partner in crime was none other than my friend and fellow gastronome Nancy Jo, who loves food as much as I do and is always up to try anything. We met at the entrance to to the L train at 9:45 and were off to check out the much anticipated Smorgasburg. When we got there, it was a pretty mellow scene. We were able to chat with the vendors who were still setting up and make a few rounds to survey the situation. As soon as they were ready, we dove right into the fried anchovies from Bon Chovie.  We opted for the " Jersey Style", five fried anchovies, heads on, served with lemon and pickled carrots. We took these, along with some Vietnamese street food over to a bench along the river and polished them off rather quickly. We sat for a moment enjoying the view before heading back to try something else. In the little bit of time between ordering and hitting the bench, the crowd had grown exponentially, but it was still manageable. We decided to spilt up and cover more ground as the lines were quickly getting long. Nancy waited in the Chonchos Tacos line and I in the Landhaus BLT line. For me, the Landhaus blt was the highlight of what I the at the market.  Two giant slabs of house cured bacon, cooked on the spot, with a generous slice of tomato, romaine lettuce and  lemon on crusty french bread , a little messy and  whole lot of good!

We headed back over to the benches and examined our eats before quickly devouring them. We decide to take a quick break from the food and walk up to Blue Bottle Coffee on Berry where there was a geneous line as well. It moved rather quickly and we were happy to get out of the sunshine for a second as there was no shade at all at the water front park. The Blue Bottle space is cavernous and beautiful. I think they took over the old Williamsburrg glass blowing studio which kind of makes me sad but there is so much transformation happening in that neighborhood at the moment that it is somewhat dizzying. We met up with a friend, Moto owner and photographer Bill Phelps who pulled up on his very cool vintage black Raleigh, to join us for a quick coffee. After contemplating a smore ( it was the descrition that lured me to it...this was not your average smore...it was a Brooklyn Bootleg Smore, made with King's County Distillery Moonshine, on a house made graham cracker with Mast Brothers Chocolate and homemade marshmallows!) deciding against it, we headed back to Smorgasburg to hit the greenmarket section. We were a little bummed that we hadn't purchased our greens from The Brooklyn Grange upon arrival because at just after noon they were nearly sold out! We grabbed the last dandelion greens, lambs quarters and arugula. I picked up a sweet little bunch of radishes. At 12;30 or so the market was total chaos, hipster and baby heaven. Food was selling out fast and  it was really hot and crowded. We hung out for a while longer meeting up with some friends who were more than a little disappointed by the lines. Lesson here, come early, come hungry, go for it and leave!

We made one last  valiant effort and stood in a really long long line for a Peoples Pops ( ginger pear and blueberry chai) after which we decided to walk to Marlow and Son's for an afternoon glass of rosé. As soon as we sat at that cool dark bar and were presented with the menu we knew we couldn't just have wine so it was rosé, rabbit meatballs and oysters... and more rosé!

We headed into the city to go to my friend Marc's Hundley's opening but were a little too early.. so it was Freeman's for some rosé and devil's on horesback and more rosé.. After the opening we were surprised by a quick downpour,  umbrellaless, and still hungry, in order to escape the rain, we darted into The National... for you guessed it more rosé ( the best of the day, from Puglia) a burger, a soft shell crab, a salad and lemon tart with a graham cracker crust of parsley and tarragon. ( which I am going to appropriate somehow as soon as I can!)

We rolled out of there and walked back to Broome street where Nancy caught a cab and I hit my bed with a generous thud. That was real Smorgasburg indeed!

My Top Picks for  the opening weekend

Anarchy In A Jar, I couldn't resist the rhubarb hibiscus jam!

Landhaus BLT

Bon Chovie

Peoples Pops

The Brooklyn Grange for fresh greens and herbs

Brooklyn Kitchen

Consider Bardwell Farm for cheese and maple syrup

Flour City Pasta all kinds of organic handmade pastas

Meat Hook 

while visions of sugar plums and pickles and banh mi danced in my head....

 

 

Tomorrow morning marks the start of the very first Williamsburg Smorgasburg.... I can hardly wait! I imagine myself like Templeton at the fair. All week I have been quietly humming "A fair is a virtual smorgasburg... smorgasburg...."

Let's hope the rain and the end of the world hold off long enough for me to get my hands on one of those Landhaus blts and maybe some fried anchovies!

The Vendors: A List of the Smorgasburg Participants

This list is via an article in The New York Times

Below is a list of Vendors you can expect to see at Smorgasburg.

 Smorgasburg will be open on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., at 27 North Sixth Street, between Kent Avenue and the East River (near East River State Park).

Bite Size Kitchen Connie Sun, a line chef at the Citigroup executive dining room who teaches dumpling-making at Brooklyn Kitchen, will serve her take on Asian street food, like dumplings, banana-ricotta spring rolls, Shanghai-style scallion-shrimp pancakes, yakitori and prawn chips.

BLUE BOTTLE COFFEE Drip coffee, with beans to take home.

Bon Chovie Nothing but fried fresh anchovies served with aioli and lemon.

BROOKLYN OYSTER PARTY Kyle Needham, a bartender at the Gibson in Williamsburg and a former wholesale shellfish seller, will be shucking East Coast oysters for less than $3 each.

CEMITAS Danny Lyu makes these Pueblan sandwiches with fried chicken.

KING’S CRUMB A cook from Momofuku Noodle Bar, a Prime Meats bartender and another friend make biscuits with fried chicken, with homemade pork sausage, egg and cheese on biscuit, and with clotted cream and homemade jam.

LA BUENA Alexandra Raij of Txikito and El Quinto Pino, serves her gazpacho blended for creaminess, with an optional extra of fresh crab.

Landhaus Arcadian Pastures farm, near Schenectady, makes BLTs with its own bacon from its own pigs. It’ll also sell the bacon.

The Meat Hook Grilled hot dogs, sausages and burgers, and some freeze-packs of the same. It’s promised something called the Ruckus, a weekly random specialty.

Mimi and Coco NY Grilled Japanese octopus balls with pork sausage, potato and shrimp filling.

NANA’S Frozen chocolate-covered bananas from Cecile Dyer of Pies ’n’ Thighs.

QUEEN’S DAHN TU After leaving her Greenpoint restaurant Queen’s Hideway , Liza Queen went to Vietnam and learned how to make Vietnamese street food. Now she’ll be serving banh xeo (omelet-crepe with meat or vegetables); banh trang tram (shredded rice paper, shredded green mango, fried shallots, hard-boiled quail eggs); and pandan leaf iced tea.

Radish This Williamsburg shop will make seasonal fresh salads with Greenmarket produce and probably sell some packaged products from the store.

ROB & ANNA’S (Say the name out loud.) Emma Schwartz’s vegan, made-to-order frozen dessert is pure bananas, served with her own raw sauces: raspberry-date coulis, apple-cider syrup and peanut butter-agave-cinnamon.

Sea Bean Goods Soup with local ingredients from a young Greenpoint couple.

SHORTY TANG & SONS Sam Sifton has said that when Mr. Tang made sesame noodles at Chinese restaurants in the 1970s, they were the best of their kind. His sons, one of whom cooks at Locanda Verde, try to bring them back.

SPEEDY ROMEO Justin Bazdarich, who has worked with Jean-Georges Vongerichten for 10 years and plans to open a wood-fired restaurant in Clinton Hill this fall, serves fresh mozzarella with pairings like salsa verde; citrus-fruit chile balsamic; fig-honey-almond; and oven-dried tomato-basil.

Tenpenny This Midtown restaurant will serve its popular market vegetables with lemon crème fraîche, ranch powder, and caramelized sunchoke crumble with a rotating cast of vegetables, likely from the Greenmarket.

WEEKEND GIRLS Hamentaschen-style folded wheat dough over fillings like sweet-spicy strawberry-turnip jam, or savory kale and cotija cheese, or cabbage and ricotta.

The following vendors have been regulars at Brooklyn Flea.

Asia Dog Hot dogs with Asian toppings.

Blue Marble Ice Cream Organic ice cream from Brooklyn.

Brooklyn Soda Works Small-batch sodas using fresh fruit juice.

CHONCHO’S TACOS Fish tacos, guacamole and more.

City ’Lasses Switzel, an old-time molasses-based beverage.

COUNTRY BOYS A Red Hook ball-field vendor with Vendy-award-winning huaraches and quesadillas.

DOUGH The Clinton Hill doughnut shop.

Mile End This Canadian-Jewish restaurant from Boerum Hill serves brisket at the Flea, but will add other products at Smorgasburg.

People’s Pops Greenmarket ice pops.

Pizza Moto Pizza from a handmade portable brick oven.

Porchetta Roast pork sandwiches from Sara Jenkins.

Red Hook Lobster Pound Lobster rolls, hot and cold.

SCRATCHBread A local baker with interesting twists on classic loaves, sticky buns, etc. Plus, a topping of the day on toast.

SOLBER PUPUSAS A well-known vendor from the Red Hook ball fields.

PACKAGED FOODS AND BAKED GOODS

Anarchy in a Jar Local jam-makers.

Bean-In An art collective that stages bean-based temporary restaurants in Brooklyn and San Francisco and sells heirloom beans and bean recipes.

Cours La Reine Macarons from Taryn Garcia.

DA VINE PROVISIONS the mini-grocery next to Donna Da Vine wine shop in Boerum Hill, will be at the market every other week selling salts and flavored oils and vinegars, as well as antipasti from L’Epicurien.

Granola Lab Granola in flavors like coffee-chocolate-hazelnut, cranberry-cashew-clove, ginger-molasses-raisin and tamarind-walnut-dried banana.

Grown in Brooklyn Barry’s Tempeh, locally made.

Market Share Outpost Vendors from a soon-to-open Greenpoint kitchen-incubator space will rotate through this booth with products like raw coconut bites, flavored nuts, “faux gras” (walnuts and lentils), and sausages and meats.

Rio Grande Organics Organic Texas pecans.

Savory Spice Shop Spices, extracts and a few sauces.

School House Kitchen Mustards, spreads, chutneys and vinaigrettes, with some proceeds going to public schools.

Sir Kensington’s Artisanal ketchup.

Skimkim Kimchi; an Asian green-goddess dressing-marinade-tenderizer; Bloody Kim Jong-il mix (a Korean-flavored bloody mary juice); and kimchi butter.

Social Eats A French pastry called the canele: a mini crème brûlée-bundt cake with a dense-gooey cake middle.

Steve’s Key Lime Pie Pies to take home, with single-servings on site.

Sun Noodle An Asian noodle-maker from Hawaii that has sold mostly wholesale and to Asian restaurants and chefs. It will sell noodles starting June 11.

TABLE TALES Conchetta’s Sunday Gravy: a chunky pasta sauce with sausage and other kinds of meat. To take home in quarts, or in $5 bread boats.

Tin Mustard Whole-grain straight-ahead mustard.

The following vendors have been regulars at Brooklyn Flea.

Brooklyn Brew Shop Home brewing kits.

Empire Mayonnaise The chef Sam Mason’s new mayo business. He also serves a special item to go with it every week: fries, sandwiches, etc. One week he had emu-egg mayo.

Flour City Pasta A Syracuse organic pasta-maker.

FRGALI A young Czech couple from Brooklyn make pie-style pastry with sweet cheese and raisins, or pear and icing, by the slice or the pie.

Hot Blondies Brownies.

Kings County Jerky Pasture-fed beef jerky.

Kombucha Brooklyn Growlers and bottles.

Kumquat Cupcakery Mini cupcakes.

McClure’s Pickles

MOMOFUKU MILK BAR + FRIENDS Milk Bar staples, plus items by employees, including preserves, rosemary-plum tarts and artisanal P.B.J.’s.

Morris Kitchen Artisanal syrup, mostly ginger and apple, for cocktails (which are sold to many “serious” bars).

Q Tonic A Dumbo-based tonic-water and ginger-ale producer.

Slant Shack Jerky Vermont beef jerky maker.

The Stand NY Local syrups.

Thirstea East Village bubble-tea cafe that also sells loose tea.

This ’n’ That Jam Preserves, including cardamom-honey pepita butter (like almond butter), onion jam, grapefruit marmalade, carrot jam and apple butter.

Whimsy and Spice Interesting baked goods like chocolate-chile-cashew biscotti, brown-sugar ginger spice shortbread, cardamom marshmallows and Earl Grey sandwich cookies.

GREENMARKET FARMERS

BETH’S FARM KITCHEN Jams, preserves, chutneys and pickled vegetables from Columbia County, N.Y.

BODY AND SOUL Baked goods and prepared foods from Manhattan.

BROOKLYN GRANGE Vegetables from a rooftop in Queens.

CONSIDER BARDWELL FARM Goats’ and cows’ milk cheeses from Rutland County, Vt.

DIVINE BRINE Pickled products and chutneys from Suffolk County, N.Y.

GRADY’S FARM Vegetables from Dutchess County, N.Y.

HEALTHWAYS FARM Vegetables from Ulster County, N.Y.

HOT BREAD KITCHEN Multiethnic artisanal breads and tortillas from New York City.

HUDSON VALLEY DUCK Heritage-breed ducks and duck products from Sullivan County, N.Y.

JERSEY FARM Vegetables, herbs and fruit from Hunterdon County, N.J.

KING FERRY WINERY Wine from Cayuga County, N.Y.

LAVENDER BY THE BAY Fresh cut, dried and potted lavender and honey from Suffolk County, N.Y.

NATURE’S WAY FARM Honey and candles from Chemung County, N.Y.

RED JACKET ORCHARDS Fruits, juices and preserves from Ontario County, N.Y.

RONNYBROOK FARM DAIRY Yogurt, butter and ice cream from Columbia County, N.Y.

ROAMING ACRES Ostrich and emu eggs and meat from Sussex County, N.J.

Truck Farm A mobile farm.

OTHERS

Brooklyn Bowls Craig Diamond makes handmade bowls and spin tops on a vintage English lathe, using some woods from reclaimed Brooklyn logs, etc.

The Brooklyn Kitchen Cookware, utensils, etc.

Common Good An organic cleaning-liquid maker from Williamsburg.

Sprout Wellness Adina George from Greenpoint makes small-batch skin-care products using many food-based ingredients. Recently featured on Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop blog.

COMMUNITY GROUPS

Etsy A booth for Etsy sellers who make housewares, aprons, small foods, etc.

FOOD AWARENESS A booth for various food-awareness groups, including Slow Food, Just Food and the Brooklyn Food Coalition.

Moomah This TriBeCa play space founded by Tracee Stewart (Jon Stewart’s wife) will have weekly collage and interactive children’s activities.

KICKSTARTER A crowd-sourced fund-raising organization.

marc hundley/ the dictionary/ at art since the summer of '69

Looking forward to Marc's opening... he is one of my favorite people and artists.

Marc Hundley, Dictionary

May 21 - June 12, 2011
Opening on May 21, 6 - 8 p.m.

Art Since the Summer of ’69 is very happy to present an exhibition and book release by Marc Hundley.

Marc Hundley's second book Dictionary focuses on a series of suggestive illustrations from the American Heritage Dictionary that hold an idiosyncratic, personal, and erotic significance for the artist. The softcover book is modeled on a German student's reader, and will launch at the day of the opening of Hundley’s exhibition at our gallery. The exhibition itself will include selected illustrations from the book, enlarged as limited edition prints.

Born in 1971, Hundley has lived and worked in New York for the last 18 years. He states of his work: "I generally make things that advertise the way I feel — or celebrate things I have chosen to have meaning". Hundley recently completed projects for the Los Angeles based store and art space Ooga Booga, and commissions for the fashion store Opening Ceremony. One of his t shirts was worn by the rapper Lil Wayne on the cover of his recently released record. Hundley’s work has been exhibited at Rivington Arms, Patricia Low Contemporary, Bellwether, Cherry and Martin, and in the Art Since the Summer of ’69 Project Space.

For more information and image requests, please email info@artsince69.com. The gallery is open every Saturday and Sunday 1-6 p.m. 

          

tim barber at primary photographic gallery

 happening now.... in nyc.

Primary Photographic Gallery presents :

2001
photographs by Tim Barber

May 19th - June 15th
opening reception Thursday, May 19th, 6-10pm

Tim Barber grew up in Amherst Massachusetts, lived for a few years in the mountains of Northern Vermont, studied photography in Vancouver B.C. and now lives in New York City. A photographer, curator and designer, Barber runs the online gallery and image archive tinyvices.com, where visitors are encouraged to submit their photographs and artwork. He is represented in the US and UK by Webber Represents.

Following this show Barber will be curating a series of solo exhibitions for Primary Photographic Gallery featuring the artists Asger Carlsen, Brooke Smith, Greg Halpern and Kate Steciw. Stay tuned for schedule information.

Primary Photographic Gallery
195 Chrystie St. 
New York, NY

www.primaryphotographic.co m
www.tim-barber.com

rainy day hash

This morning amid the torrential downpour, en route to a shoot in Cobble Hill Brooklyn, I suddenly saw a bright spot in an otherwise grey day, Mile End (a Montreal Jewish delicatessen in Brooklyn). I had heard that Mile End had some killer brisket hash. I have had the cured smoked beef brisket sandwich on another rainy day... (rain being the secret to no line at Mile End). Let me tell you, neither the sandwich nor the hash disappoint!

We pulled up, ran in and got three orders to go to share at our shoot. It was all we could do to barely contain ourselves long enough to take this photo before diving in like the vultures we sometimes are.

Our brisket hash arrived in a toasty little brown box, steaming with tiny cubes of perfectly cooked potatoes and larger pieces of sweet onion accompanied by two sunny side up well-seasoned eggs and a pile of smokey meat. What's not to love on this otherwise gloomy day?

If you aren't able to make it to Cobble Hill, you can find them at the Brooklyn Flea on Sundays in Williamsburg.  

Mile End Menu 

I love a place with Lambruso and brisket!

 Copyright © 2011 Andrea Gentl all rights reserved