Smorgasburg DUMBO II

Another sunny Sunday, another stroll around Smorgasburg DUMBO. Skipping the places we hit last time, we still managed to eat widely and deeply. Lumpia Shack makes "Filipino inspired spring rolls"; we tried the original pork, stuffed with pork, ramps, kamote leaves, shallots, garlic, and carrots, drizzled with sweet chili sauce and pickled cucumbers. Thankfully, the portion was easily divided among the two of us --- otherwise we might have come to blows over who got the last taste.

In his recent review of the food market for GQ, Alan Richman praises the service at Rice & Miso Everyday. We'll do him one better: yes, the counterfolks were friendly and fun, but the RAM original will have us queuing up again, lickety split. There's not much to it, just some brown rice, some miso paste, and some garlic, wrapped in nori. So simple, so good, so satisfying.      

We tried bhel puri from Potpourri, and it was fine. Frankly, we kind of resented having to ask for a dousing of chutney. How does the puffed rice stay so crispy on the streets of Mumbai and flatten so fast in an old warehouse in Brooklyn? One can only wonder. 

Brooklyn Wok Shop restored our spirits, and ceased our questioning, with a special dumpling of the day: pastrami. Each bite offered a little taste of the Lower East Side, from the wonton wrapping to the sauerkraut slaw to the scallions to the whole grain mustard to the salty shreds of meat. 

Parantha Alley stuffs its paranthas with all sorts of spices and meats and magic. The keema came with chicken, alongside achar, raita, and mint chutney (which we didn't have to ask for!). As you can see from the photo, the stuffing wasn't exactly equally distributed, but that was a-OK.

From Frittering Away we got a watermelon jalapeno. Spicy! Sweet! Oddly refreshing. We didn't get any fritters, though apparently those are available too.

And then came the sweets, including a massaman curry peanut butter cookie from Whimsy & Spice and a vegan ice cream with strawberry sauce from Alchemy Creamery. We ordered "Saturday morning cartoons," and it tasted just like Fruit Loops, if Fruit Loops were transformed into vegan ice cream.

Our last bite of the day, and it was a doozy. A gorgeous, giheogeious ice cream sandwich from The Good Batch. Why, yes, those are two huge almond-laced macaroons smeared with dark chocolate, gently cupping vanilla ice cream. Why, yes, we did restrain ourselves to just one, and, no, we're not entirely sure how we did it. Maybe because we'd been so thoroughly stuffed with so much other good stuff?