A Day in Brooklyn (Part 1)

Ever since seeing Anthony Bourdain’s and Andrew Zimmern’s Travel Channel trip to the Red Hook Ball Fields, I’ve been drooling to check out whether the eating’s are really as good as they looked!

So, with an open calendar on Saturday, we decided to take a pilgrimage to Brooklyn, which is a foreign country for me, although it is my “place of birth”.  Our plan included two stops, one in Red Hook, and a second in Williamsburg to check the neighborhoods, and to see whether all the foodie hype is warranted.  This blog is on the Red Hook experience, the Williamsburg portion of the trip will be shared later in the week.

For those outside of the city, getting to Red Hook is likely to require a visit to Google Maps; our trip included a drive over the Whitestone Bridge, heading West on the LIE, and taking the BQE over the Kosciuszko (pronounced kahs-kee-OSS-ko—don’t you love this name) Bridge exiting at Hamilton Avenue in Brooklyn.  Of course, if you live in or around the city, there’s probably an easier way to get there by subway….

Anyway, the ball fields are very close to the highway exit, and we had no trouble finding both the park and a nearby parking spot (free!) We arrived just after noon, hungry for lunch!

Our first observation was that the food area is actually a lot smaller than it looked on the food channel show.  About 10-12 trucks and stalls are spread around the perimeter of one corner of a city block. 

Second, we were both pleased and a bit skeptical that the vendors did not seem busy, and most of the picnic tables that are located in the parks interior adjacent the food area were relatively empty.  So, we headed over for Pupusa’s which are fried Ecuadorian corn cakes filled you’re your choice of meat, cheese, and vegetables. 

The owner said the pork pupusa’s were the way to go—so we had a spicy pork and a pork with cheese pupusa, a deal @ 2 large filled corn cakes for $5.  The pupusa’s are served with a spicy pickled pink cabbage relish, and homemade hot sauce.  We also had fried plantain chips on the side, and a sweet drink called horchato, which is made with rice, morro seeds, and other spices including cinnamon. Although perhaps a bit too sweet, it helped to cut the heat from the delicious spicy pupusa’s!  We also had a delicious fresh watermelon drink from one of the vendors specializing in unique beverages and fresh fruits.

Everything was fantastic, and although we wanted more, we saved room for Mexican food and a seviche.

By this time it was about 12:30, and the lines were starting to build.  Everyone we met on the lines and at the picnic tables were very relaxed, friendly, and excited to taste all the great street foods (including the large group of local firemen)!

We scrambled to get on line for the Mexican food, and ordered 2 tacos, a fried pork and a chorizo.  These were also excellent, made corn tacos, lettuce, tomatoes, guacamole, onions, jalapeno’s and cheese.  We added the homemade green salsa, and than feasted.  We had a split vote on whether the taco or pupusa was better, but you wouldn’t go wrong with either.

Finally, we headed over to the seviche cart, and had the shrimp seviche. This was my favorite for the day, as the mix of fresh lime juice, red onion, cilantro and shrimp was delicious, and adding in the spicy green hot sauce to the container was the key.  We ate and drank every last drop!

Well sated, we were unable to try to empanadas, the corn on the cob slathered with butter, cayenne, and queso (cheese), but this will be on the itinerary for our next trip.  Do keep in mind that you definitely want to be here no later than noon, because if you are there after 12:30, plan for some serious lines!  And, if you’re taking pictures, make sure to snap them before you get too excited so that you don’t end up with several photos with half eaten plates of food!

Before leaving the neighborhood, we did stop at nearby Sixpoint Craft Beer Brewery hoping to purchase some of this highly rated beer, but as they only sell by the keg—this wasn’t in the cards.  We did stop at the cool bar next door, Rocky Sullivan’s and have a pint of the pale ale (excellent) and were on our way. 

BTW- if you need, IKEA and a Fairway market are right in the area.  And we did see a sign for Steve’s Key Lime Pie’s which are supposed to be the best in the city, but as we were headed to Williamsburg and forgot to bring the cooler, this will need to be part of our next visit.