And YET another reason to be desperado for warm weather to FINALLY arrive (this seems to be the topic du jour in our columns these days): the Brooklyn Flea’s alfresco season opens this Saturday, April 18th. For all of our New Yorker readers, we’re sure you understand our excitement. The Brooklyn Flea is one of the best destinations for natural, homemade, locally produced food of all types: organic ice cream, handmade empanadas, and fresh fruit preserves all have a (delicious) home at this market. We’re already chomping at the bit to get there.
The best news? New York magazine has the scoop on several amazing new vendors that are opening stands there for the upcoming season. Five of them, to be exact–equalling five excellent new reasons to make the pilgrimage over the bridge and into foodie heaven.
The Flea is located at Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School on Lafayette Avenue, between Clermont and Vanderbilt Avenues.
Here’s nymag.com‘s round-up of the newbies, in their own words:
Elsa’s Empanadas
Elsa Venticinque is an accomplished home cook and Colombian native who learned the empanada art from her Argentine husband. She’s also the mom of a Flea craft vendor, who hooked her up at the market. What to expect: a delicately flaky baked pastry stuffed with ground beef, olives, raisins, and hard-boiled egg. ($3, two for $5)
Saxelby Cheesemongers
Domestic-dairy maid Anne Saxelby brings the Flea its first artisanal grilled cheese: a rotating pick from Vermont’s Consider Bardwell Farm (Pawlet to start) and McClure’s spicy pickles, pressed inside a Tom Cat Bakery focaccia. ($5)
Miss Amy’s Preserves
Stage manager turned jam-maker (and Long Island farmer’s market vet) Amy Acierno debuted her tart, tangy preserves, made from locally and regionally sourced fruit, in Dumbo, and relocates to Fort Greene this week. ($6.50)
Liddabit
Culinary-school grads Liz Gutman and Jen King take a playful approach to their candy bars and bonbons, melding a retro aesthetic with an artisanal slant in confections like a rum-enhanced coconut-and-lime bar (above) and gossamer honeycomb candies. ($5)
Early Bird Foods & Co.
Nekisia Davis tested her granola on the staff at Franny’s, where she’s general manager, and got such raves that she decided to rent commercial kitchen space and go public. What to expect: three varieties, all made with organic oats and coconut, Vermont maple syrup, and extra-virgin olive oil. ($8)
