Brownstoner's Brooklyn Flea
Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School
Lafayette Avenue between Clermont and Vanderbilt Avenues
Fort Greene, Brooklyn, New York
Photo credit: Andrew Kaplan
Andrew Kaplan, a contributing writer to our NYC Foodie blog, has shared his recent adventure to the Brownstoner's Brooklyn Flea with us:
Local Artisan Food Vendors Shine at the Brownstoner’s Brooklyn Flea
Few things bring me to Brooklyn. Maybe a nice walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, a concert at Macarren Park or a stroll through Prospect Park. But when I read about the Brownstoner’s Brooklyn Flea (market) located on a school lot, I was quite intrigued by the possibilities. This is not your typical ramshackle flea market that sells socks, batteries and sunglasses (although I don’t mind those every now and then either). Beyond the vintage furniture and clothing vendors, along with the jewelry, arts and crafts created by local artisans, I’m talking about locally supported, locally run and locally delicious food!
With over ten different food vendors and no eating companion to share with, I had to strategize. I was going to try and taste as much as I could, which meant I could only try a small sample from each vendor. I started by checking out the lay of the land while visiting some local artists. Over my shoulder, I heard a friendly woman explaining her locally-made non-dairy ice cream. Then I passed a block of ice that was being shaved to order with gourmet flavors to choose from. A lovely French couple producing what looked like stellar sandwiches caught my eye before I noticed two Mexican women manning a booth with a line about 20 people deep. I had to get started.
First was the lovely French woman with her sandwiches and pastries. At her suggestion, I started with the Hangar Steak Sandwich. This sandwich was not your basic steak sandwich with grilled or fried onions. It was served on French bread with lettuce, tomato, avocado, red onion, cilantro, chimichurri and queso fresco crumbled on top, which made for a great combo of flavors and textures. The steak was tender and flavorful with a light marinade and the chimichurri and the queso fresco were a combined 1-2 punch with the earthiness of the herbs and the cool tang of the queso fresco. From there, I went a couple booths over to two men with an ice block the size of a cinder block. I ordered the blueberry cardamom shave ice – yes, you read that right, it was blueberry cardamom – the combination of not-too-sweet blueberries and cardamom was fantastic and different than anything that I had ever tasted before.
Soon after, a big storm rolled in, so I had to get a move-on. I hit a Brooklyn cookie maker called Wanna Hava Cookie and overheard the man behind the table talking about the toffee cookie that was made with Bushmill’s Whisky…sold! I also got what they called a Linzer Cookie, but it was more like a raspberry bar. Next up were the people selling fresh ricotta cheese and cannolis made to order. I got one mini-cannoli, which had a nice zesty Marsala wine kick to it. Trying to stay ahead of the storm, I enjoyed just a couple bites and was on to the cupcake vendor, where a group of people were in shock that they were out of almost everything. I took advantage of their temporary inaction and grabbed one of the remaining mini lemon-vanilla cupcakes, a tasty treat, even though I’m not a cupcake lover.
The rain started coming down. I missed the authentic Korean fare, the popular Mexican booth, the artisan ice cream… It looks like I’ll have to make another trip to the Flea!
