Smorgasburg at Brooklyn Bridge Park

Spring is here and that means that the Sunday Smorgasburg has moved outside  to Brooklyn Bridge Park.  Since this is a 10 minute walk from my apartment, I am stoked, to say the least.  I have been every weekend since it opened, with the exception of the two weekends I was out of town, and I expect this will continue throughout the summer and fall.  Local food + insane people watching + sunshine = can't get much better.  Okay maybe if we added yoga and green juice in there... Hmmm... Seems like a business opportunity...

Anyways, here's my current top picks from the 'Burg:

- ISH Premium Horseradish - Super fresh horseradish paired with sweet and tangy ingredients like beets, citrus, ginger, and garlic.  Most people forget about horseradish as a condiment, but ISH is bound to change this.  I'm personally addicted to the beet flavor, but they are all delicious.  No idea what to do with premium horseradish? The folks at ISH got that covered: with each purchase they include a recipe guide with tons of suggestions for each flavor.

- Chickpea and Olive - Vegan sliders and sandwiches made from wholesome ingredients and a super cute logo, not much not to love about Chickpea and Olive.  I tried their Phatty Beet Slider last year when I visited NYC and fell in love so it's no wonder it's one of my top picks. And the eggplant "bacon" oh my goodness. 

- Alchemy Creamery - Vegan ice cream, holler!  Not only ice cream, but push pops and ice cream sandwiches, in crazy awesome flavors like salted peanut butter and chocolate blackberry.  And free toppings.  Bring on summer!

- Bunna Cafe - Yummy vegan Ethiopian food.  They recently opened a full restaurant in Bushwick which I'm dying to visit. 

- Barry's Tempeh - The best tempeh I've ever had. For realz.  I don't know what it is, but this stuff is so superior to any other tempeh I've tried.  I bought some at the most recent Vegan Shop Up, and I'm excited to see if I can make it taste as magical as Barry does.

I'll update this list as the summer goes on and I find more favorite vendors (which I'm sure I will).  For anyone who lives in New York, have you ever been to Smorgasburg? If so, who are your favorite vendors and products?

Vegan Shop Up

When I visited New York City in July, I heard of a vegan pop up sho in Bushwick that was going to be happening the weekend I was in town.  It sounded really cool - vegan food, plus other vendors selling unique, crafty goods.  I was dissapppined that I didn't get to make it to the "shop up" that weekend.  Or the following two weekends that I visited NYC this past fall (the shop up only happend once a month so it was pretty coincidental that I happened to visit those exact weekends).  Once I moved, I was determined to check on the shop up... and the boyfriend and I did just that two weeks ago.
 

We spent most of the afternoon furniture shopping, so we were tired, frustrated, and hungry by the time we got to Pine Box Rock Shop (a vegan bar, what?!), where the shop up was held.  After a quick scan of the goods and goodies, Ariel hopped right in line for a vegan hot dog.  This was no ordinary dog - made from veggies and sunflower seeds instead of meat, or wheat, soy, etc, it was one large, yet completely wholesome dog.   It was served with all the fixins - slaw, pickles, coconut bacon - and a kale salad.  I don't know if it was because we were really hungry, but it was good, and I appreciated that it was made with sketch-free ingredients.
 

After we had refueled, we revisited the vendors and shopped for a bit.  There were all sorts of tasty things to try, and a few we liked enough to buy:

- We Vegans Chipotle Vranch - Ariel is obsessed with this spicy vegan ranch dressing.  I used to love ranch as a kid, but stopped eating it around the age of 12 - this version is definitely an improvement on the standard ranch, healthier (it's made with soymilk) and tastier (it's got a zesty kick of spices).  We've been eating with carrots, but I'm sure it's going to be amazing on sandwiches and salads.

- Right Tasty Ramp Vinaigrette - I've always been intrigued by ramps... they are all over the farmer's markets in the spring, but I have yet to buy them (fear of the unknown...).  Hopefully this tasty dressing will convince me to face my fear and try cooking with ramps myself...maybe.

- Fine and Raw Lucuma Vanilla Chocolate- We discovered Fine and Raw chocolate a few weeks ago on a different Bushwick adventure.  Their chocolate is out of this world.  I had the chance to sample a few of their flavors at the shop up (coconut, sea salt, espresso), but the Lucuma Vanilla is still my favorite.  The bar is wrapped in gold... and like gold I savor every bite of this chocolatey goodness.

I also got some vegan bourbon balls to round out my lunch (I only had a bite of Ariel's dog plus some kale salad).  These were just being sold by one of the vendors on the side, so I don't know if you can find them elsewhere, but boy were they tasty! I will need to figure out how to recreate them.

I'm so happy that I finally got to check out this event, and I hope it will continue in the future.  It's awesome to see all these vendors prospering.  Who knows, maybe someday I could be one of them!