Red Hook Mercado

I visited Red Hook for the first time this summer after a friend had just moved there. We went to the Mercado for lunch and got some papusas. For $ 10 I got a big plate of delicious corn pancakes stuffed with cheese, beans, chorizo, and jalapenos, as well as a side of crunchy slaw and a fresh lemonade.
Afterwards we stopped at the cupcake stand and tried the pb&j and the car bomb cupcakes. The pb & j was the standout… all I was missing was a cold glass of milk and a note from my mom in my lunchbox.
I love the Mercado, and I am jealous I don’t have one in my neighborhood!

Busy-​body me had to literally run from my office job to my second job working Central Park SummerStage last night and didn’t get a chance to grab any dinner beforehand. Naturally, around 8:30 I was starvin’ like Marvin, girrrlll.
Solber Pupusas to the rescue! At about the point where my knees were going to buckle from under me from exhaustion due to hunger and extreme humidity, the owner kindly offered me some pupusas and horchata for being a fellow concert staff member.
The pupusa with chicken and jalapeño really satisfied, a perfect music festival nosh. The queso oozed fantastically from the thick corn tortillas when I pried them apart. The sourness of the cole slaw alongside it was a nice compliment to the fire-​y spice of the ‘penos.
Thank you Red Hook Mercado for your kindness! You fed me and gave me the energy to continue being a bubbly customer service rep for the rest of the night.

These are the little treasures that make neighborhood surfing such a joy in NYC. Major kudos to my friend who suggested to spend a lazy Saturday in Red Hook. So why 5 stars?
#1 — Awesome, tasty and inexpensive eats. The $ 6 burrito was perfectly sized for sharing between two people. The fillings were on the money (we went vegetarian, zucchini was grilled perfectly) and a Six Point beer was the right compliment. I so wanted to have a Spicy Bitch (the corn dog from Hell) but I didn’t want to burst.
#2 — Welcoming community vibe. The tables are close together and that isn’t a bad thing. It’s a community and people actually talk with one another. Nothing adds to the charm of a sunny day out than striking up interesting conversations with total strangers.
#3 — It ain’t just about the Mercado. After lunch settled we took a stroll down to the Valentin Pier for an art show. Along the way we stopped at Uncle Louie G’s for a little Italian Ice treat (pistachio for me — loaded with whole nuts). And to wrap up the day, a little marketing in the gigantic Red Hook Fairway that’s on the water.

Love love LOVE the Mercado!
Liberty Garden center did an awesome job of decorating it and its such a great place to stroll down to to grab some food (yummy Soler papusas, Country Boy’s tacos, Grindhaus’ sausages, etc.), or a sweet snack (Robicelli’s cupcakes — try the Egg Cream. its SO GOOD!) or to just hang out.
What a wonderful addition to Red Hook. It really adds to the neighborhood.

OFF THE HOOK IN THE HOOK. so some genius decided to make a vacant lot into a lovely beer garden with world-​class outdoor food vendors. over-​spill from the ball fields? regardless, YOU WILL OVERSPILL WHEN THE CORN DOG FROM A VENDOR CALLED GRINDHAUS PUMPS YOUR MOUTH!!! This is it, people. This is the moment. This is when everything you felt you knew — as was supposedly transposed by the twinging yet empty cavity called your soul — when the entire hermeneutical apparatus ruptures. it doesn’t turn upside down, it bursts in your mouth. you thought you knew [and perhaps resented, in my case] corn dog. you had no clue. and this little bitch (the name of said fare) will teach you; it will hump the bullshit right out of you. you stand corrected. you gush yet are speechless. the juice fills you. to my mind, mustard on this throbber is nothing but an std, a burning infection. don’t taint the dog. how do you describe the sublime, where taste is so exquisitely tethered to texture and aura, a trumping of nostalgia? you are impressed with the bulk and the graininess. your jowls twitch. you orchestrate the parting of your lips so that they gently exfoliate over the girth. the head meets your tongue. the sweetness and saltiness and subtle tartness (i squeezed a little lemon on mine) neutralizes, expands, then punctuates. a fully realized, three act structure of savoring. there’s interchange. it pokes you and you burst, you poke it and it bursts, it pokes you and you burst. the proprietress makes her own sausage. she obviously spent an entire lifetime coming up with the batter. what is the oil she uses to achieve such depth and nuance in her fry? Jesus’ plasma or his supermanmilk?

Places like this is why I love Brooklyn. The Red Hook Mercado is a small lot turned into a seasonal community park (Weekends 12−9pm May 15-​Oct 31). When I went there was 3 locally well known latin food stands, a cupcake guy and a popcorn guy. The little spot has a few tables and benches and usually has latin music playing. It’s located right beside the newly opened Uncle Louie G’s Ice Cream/​Italian ice so you can also grab a snack there. Mercado has an amazing community vibe and I don’t know if this is always the case but when I was there they had a really diverse amount of people of different ages and cultures. They had a Latin flair without being at all ghetto or alienating to whiteys like me who aren’t part of that culture. It also looks like they occasionally have events here (some possibly during the week). I can’t wait to go back again next weekend to try some of the great looking food.