An Afternoon in Brooklyn

Brooklyn, NY is somewhere that, even though I spent 6 months in Long Island City, only a couple miles from Brooklyn, I have spent very little time.  I think that part of that is because it is hard to get into my head that Brooklyn is now a very eclectic, beautiful and for the most part, safe area.  On Saturday, Josh and I decided we would go check out the Smorgasburg, a weekly food festival that on Saturdays takes place in the East River State Park in Williamsburg.  I had never actually been to Williamsburg at all, so when I walked off the subway and saw people everywhere and some amazing bars and restaurants, along with amazing street art among the old gang tags and graffiti, I was a bit shocked.  We headed straight to the Food Festival, because we were starving.

We did a small walk around but stopped at one of my main reasons for wanting to come.  The Ramen Burger.  I had seen this on many websites in the last few months and had to try it. It was actually voted one of the "17 most Influential Burgers of All Time" by Time magazine.  Basically, it is just 2 patties, made of ramen noodles.  It is pressed before, and then they fried it on a grill just like they were doing to the beef patties.   The beef patty is topped with arugula and some sort of home made relishy/BBQ kind of sauce called Shoyu sauce.

 This was the line we had to wait in for this burger.  It is the white tent to the direct right of the line.  20 mins was totally worth the wait haha.

 This is it!  With some watermelon lemonade and a gorgeous Manhattan view in the background.

Our next dish was one that we had seen a lot of people waking around with, and it looked great! It was from a place called Mofon Go.  The dish is a Puerto Rican dish called Mofongo.  I could have mistaken this for a Peruvian dish for sure.  The dish/crust is made from fried plantain (we got to love fried plantain in Peru), with pork cracklings, broth and garlic.  Inside is a mixture of stewed chicken (choice of chicken or veggie) with a thick spicy tomato sauce with veggies.  On top was some pork cracklings and cilantro.  Delicious!

While  I was getting that dish, Josh was in line for another dish with a mile long line, the pulled BBQ brisket sandwich from the famous Mighty Quinn's BBQ.  The brisket just melted in my mouth and the coleslaw and peppers on top added some amazing flavor.  Yummy!

 We were hoping to eat a couple more things, but we were stuffed.  On our way out, we saw this...

Huge delicious looking ice cream sandwiches from The Good Batch.  There were 3 choices and we decided on the Goodwich, which is their original.  2 Oatmeal Cookies, with ice cream, sea salt and chocolate drizzle.  WOW!  The guy waiting behind us in line basically told us it was the best thing in life, and he was pretty much right.

After we were stuffed, Josh wanted to take me down to the Brooklyn Bowl, a famous bowling alley just a couple blocks away.  ON the way there, we walked by some really cool buildings and billboards.  My favorite was this Ninja Turtles Movie one that was actually a painted on mural!

We got to the Brooklyn Bowl, and I was pretty impressed.  It is huge, and super retro.  It is the home of daily concerts by some pretty big names and just super cool.  It was packed, and is also attached to the Brooklyn Brewery so it has some great beer and just a great atmosphere.

 After a quick stop there, we walked some more and headed toward the weekly flea market down the street.  Unfortunately, the flea market was packed, so it was hard to get a good look, but they had some great vintage finds ad awesome hand made jewelry.  Need to stop in when its not so crazy.  We found some more awesome street art, billboards and cool restaurants.

We stumbled upon a cool bar/restaurant called ShelterShelter, that was pretty unassuming from the outside just made of corrugated tin siding with random murals on it.  Love the US flag one! We went inside to check it out, and I must say it was one of the coolest bars I have ever been in.  Very wild west style, with antler chandeliers, taxidermy on the walls and old brick oven pizza ovens.  We had a drink and enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere.

It was time to head back to the city, so we wandered back toward the subway.  I thought this sign was pretty funny.

After a short subway ride, we walked back toward the PATH stop in the village and found this!  A Peruvian bar/restaurant!  We went in for a drink and while I was a little disappointed in the drink I got, I love the fact I found a place to get Ceviche and Lomo Saltado!

After this fabulous day, I have decided that I need to spend more time in Brooklyn, and I should have the first time around!  So watch for more Brooklyn blogs, and enjoy your afternoon!