It seems like so much of what’s amazing in the food and drink scene in New York is happening in Brooklyn. I could have made up a list of Brooklyn-only spots for the weekend but knew that on this trip, we’d spend a day there max, so I picked out a few key things that I wanted to do. Brooklyn is so awesome, that on our next trip to New York, I could see us staying and hanging out in Brooklyn for the weekend. I say that, but know that with the lure and convenience of Manhattan, it will probably never happen.

So with my abbreviated list in hand we made our way to Brooklyn on a sunny and hot Sunday morning. Our first stop was Smorgasburg, an outdoor eating market that evolved from the amazing Brooklyn Flea. I had planned getting there as it opened at 11am, to take advantage of the tolerable morning weather. I Googlemapped the route from our hotel, and when it said transit would take us there in 30 minutes, I gave us 45 minutes to be safe. What I forgot was that Googlemaps doesn’t account for subway maintenance and closures, and how many closures take place during the summer. Long story short, through backtracking, confusing  subway connections and overshooting the stop to get off at, it took us over an hour and a half to arrive at the DUMBO waterfront where the Sunday Smorgasburg takes place. By the time we got there, we were melting from the noon-day sun with our appetites suppressed from the heat. But of course that didn’t stop us from getting a good sample selection from the vendors.

Super refreshing cherry lime soda

The cherry soda brought my core temperature down to a level where I could think about eating. As we wandered, I couldn’t really imagine eating anything fried or hot, but Ben had his eye on something and since (contrary to popular belief) life isn’t always about me, I indulged his choice without resistance.

Spiced, rubbed, smoked and let to rest in its juices, this brisket was a thing of beauty.

The big brisket sandwich cut to include the fatty half and end crispy bits was the best taste of barbecue I’ve had in NYC.

We wandered through the stalls to choose our next dish and I couldn’t help but to be amazed at the awesome location of the Smorgasburg.

Vermont Maple Lemonade was the perfect thirst quencher after the extremely rich brisket.

There were so many vendors selling fantastic looking food for reasonable prices. I’ve been put off lately at Vancouver’s over-priced and mostly mediocre street food scene so I was ecstatic to see so many vendors at the Smorgasburg selling creative food for reasonable prices. I’m sure if it wasn’t so hot and humid, I’d have definitely pulled up to have some freshly shucked oysters or fried chicken, and even though I had heard great things about Pizza Moto, I decided on Yuji Ramen for a bowl of cold noodles.

Crab and cucumber mazemen – the noodles were more like pasta than ramen, but were a great vehicle for the light summer flavours.

Funny enough as we were at Yuji Ramen, I noticed that someone from Pizza Moto brought over a pie fresh from their rolling brick oven. I was curious to know if they thought the pizza was good, and wanted to know what they ordered. I was given the thumbs up to Pizza Moto and was told that they had a collaborating moment between the 2 with ingredients from Yuji’s stall used as toppings. Lucky me, because they me a slice of their original creation.

Delicious!

I would have liked to have wandered the streets of Brooklyn some more to work up an appetite to return to the Smorgasburg later in the afternoon for round 2, but I just couldn’t get over the heat. I also had a visit to the Red Hook ball fields on my agenda for the day but had to scrap that idea as well.

We were going to finish off with an ice cream sandwich, but knew that it would melt in our hands before we could enjoy it, so I “settled” on a Kelvin Natural slush.

Arnold Palmer base slush with fresh mango mix-in.

I was disappointed to not be able to spend more of the day in Brooklyn but knew a boat ride on the East River Ferry would make up for it. Taking in the views of Manhattan with the wind on my face, my disappointment didn’t last long. Heck, how can anyone be unhappy while visiting NYC?

Smorgasburg: Sundays in DUMBO, 11:00am-6:00pm