jan milliman

How can it be that I’ve never had salty salt water taffy before?

The Mister and I are just back from a delightful trip to NYC. We attended Lebowski Fest, where, I am proud to report, The Mister won Best Walter in the costume contest and bowled against the other “Bests” to claim Best of Fest honors. Word is we may take things to Louisville next.

While we were in town, a friend suggested we take a jaunt to Williamsburg to check out Smorgasburg. At East RiverState Park (the site of the Brooklyn Flea market) this assembly of hip food vendors gathers at to offer their wares to hungry foodies. The description made me think of the food stands at Rochester’s Public Market on a grander scale, so of course I was enthusiastic.

We arrived just a little after opening at 11:00. Although the crowds had yet to build, the only coffee stand, Blue Bottle Coffee Company, already had a healthy line of folks waiting for their individually-brewed cups. So we started our rounds with an order of spicy pigs in a blanket from Brooklyn Piggies. These little sausages were wrapped in croissant-like blankets and they were spicy enough to give me hiccups. That gave The Mister dibs on the last serving – lucky guy!

The Pizza Moto folks built their mobile pizza oven out of an old army truck and it does the job nicely. The crust was thin, chewy, and foldable and the toppings were fresh and flavorful. Word is they’re soon opening a restaurant as well – hope we’ll get a chance to visit on our next trip.

Landhaus served up thick, candied Maple Bacon on a stick. What more can I say about that except yum?

We tried the tiniest bite of salty caramel apple salt water taffy at Salty Road’s stand and were blown away by the subtle sweetness and the staying power of the salt.

The jerky at Kings County Jerky was meaty and flavorful. We especially liked the Korean BBQ flavor.

Tiny Filipino-inspired spring rolls from Lumpia Shack were full of surprises. We tried a sampler and the Peking duck was the winner — pulled roasted duck with hoisin, sriracha and ginger scallion sauce. The vegetarian truffled adobo mushroom rolls were a close runner-up.

Sadly, one of my favorite foodstuffs turned against me during our visit to Smorgasburg. I couldn’t pass up an order of fried anchovies from Bon Chovie. Unfortunately, I only have experience with the salty jarred variety which tends to be much less boney. I foolishly started chomping away on my first fish and promptly wound up with a nasty bone lodged in my throat. Yikes! After I recovered, I tried to approach the fish more like a cartoon cat, leaving the skeleton intact. Much better!

My favorite item was the bite-sized miso brownies we bought from Kyotofu: Modern Japanese Dessert. They were dark and fudgy and not overly sweet. Topped with sesame seeds, these tiny morsels could go down in a bite or two, but they were worth lingering over. We also sampled their green tea muffins which were delightful.

There were so many more things that we wanted to try, but alas, we could only manage so much. Next time, we get the Schnitzel!