A Sneak Peek at This Year’s Most Exciting New Smorgasburg Vendors

By Scott Lynch

Smorgasburg, the largest open-air food market in the country, opens its 16th season here in Brooklyn on Saturday, April 4th, in Marsha P. Johnson State Park on the Williamsburg waterfront, and on Sunday, April 5th, at Breeze Hill in Prospect Park, where you’ll find nearly 75 different vendors though October across all locations (with a third in Manhattan as well), including more than 20 rookies.

What’s truly remarkable, though, is how, after all these years and through all the trends and the rise of social media, Smorgasburg remains a vital force in the small business landscape, a market that’s both exceptionally popular with food tourists from all over the world and firmly committed to creating community right here at home. “We’ve been in Prospect Park for ten years now,” Eric Demby, Smorgasburg’s co-founder with Jonathan Butler, told Brooklyn Magazine. “It’s become kind of our flagship. We love it.”

Photo by Scott Lynch

“The city feels kind of siloed to me lately, but when you go to Smorgasburg, you feel it all coming together,” Demby continued. “That diversity of identity and experience is why a lot of people say they love living in Brooklyn, it’s why I raised my kids here, but you don’t always actually experience it in everyday life. And I feel we kind of are that, writ large.” That’s all very rad and everything, but the whole thing wouldn’t work unless the food was really good, too. Fortunately, every year a new batch of vendors enters the Smorgasburg lineup, joining the stalwarts, injecting fresh energy, and giving us, as Demby put it, “…a snapshot of what’s going on in New York City food right now.”

We went to a preview party at the Picnic House in Prospect Park last week and stuffed ourselves silly with samples from many of this season’s newcomers. Here’s a look at a few of our favorites.

Photo by Scott Lynch

Rogers Burgers
Sundays in Prospect Park

Late last summer, Josue Pierre and Jonathan Pierre-LaFleur opened the superb Rogers Burgers in Flatbush, a classic NYC burger joint with an unapologetically Caribbean twist, deploying ingredients like Haitian pikliz (basically a fiery cole slaw) and Jamaican jerk sauce with a generous hand. I love eating here, and the locals have definitely kept them busy, but as Pierre told Brooklyn Magazine, the duo is now eager to bring their burgers to a wider audience.

“One of the things I like about Smorgasburg is the mix of people who come from all over Brooklyn to eat here,” Pierre said. “We want to see what the reaction is when we give that Flatbush flavor to Williamsburg, to Bed-Stuy, to East New York, to Greenpoint.” My prediction: they’re going to love it too. 

Photo by Scott Lynch

Pretty Horse Workers Cooperative
Saturdays in Williamsburg

There’s only one thing on the menu at the Pretty Horse booth, but it’s a doozy, just a perfectly executed kale chicken Caesar wrap—the greens fresh and springy, the bird juicy (it’s all thigh meat), and seasoned with za’atar, the croutons crunchy, the homemade dressing tangy and punchy as hell. Really, it’s one of the best versions of this increasingly ubiquitous sandwich I’ve ever had. Bonus: Pretty Horse is run as a workers’ cooperative, with all six partners owning equal stakes and having equal say in the venture. 

Photo by Scott Lynch

Chenzi
Saturdays in Williamsburg, Sundays in Prospect Park

Christina Chen is passionate about potato balls. And, after wolfing a bunch of these beauties last week, I understand why. The whole history of this dish is laid out beautifully here, but essentially the Chen family is from the mountainous part of Fuzhou, where, instead of making the region’s famous fish balls, residents traditionally used more readily available potatoes. And, because Chen’s dad likes a chewy texture, he added tapioca starch to the mix. So Chenzi’s dumpling-like potato balls are bouncy on the outside, funky on the inside with a core of spiced-up ground pork or chicken, the whole thing drizzled with either hoisin, gochujang, or—my preference—a fiery oil and vinegar sauce.

Photo by Scott Lynch

Humos BBQ
Saturdays in Williamsburg, Sundays in Prospect Park

I’ve run into the Humos bros before—it’s literally run by a pair of brothers–at the Brooklyn Night Market, where they’ve rolled out their amazing multi-leveled grill thing, all kinds of meat hanging all over the place, everything smoking like crazy over an open flame. At press time, the team hadn’t yet decided exactly what they’re bringing to Smorg, except that the menu will absolutely include their signature creation, the crowd-pleasing pork belly lollipop, for which a fatty slab of pig is rolled, baked, smoked, thickly glazed with homemade cherry sauce, grilled, then skewered on a stick for handy walking-around eating. It’s fun, it’s rich, and it’s absolutely delicious.

Photo by Scott Lynch

Kolachi Rolls
Saturdays in Williamsburg, Sundays in Prospect Park

Other familiar faces among the Smorgasburg noobs belong to Saif Qazi and Kiran Lutfeali, the couple behind the aptly named Kolachi Rolls and Fries. Apt because all they sell are kolachi rolls, everyday snacks in their native Karachi but rarely seen in Brooklyn, made from a chewy paratha wrapped around a skewer’s worth of grilled beef or chicken, enough onion to get your attention, and a ton of tangy mint yogurt chutney sauce; and, you guessed it, fries, which are heavily seasoned, almost fluffy in texture, and (plot twist!) served with maple syrup. Perfect.

Photo by Scott Lynch

Ambo
Saturdays in Williamsburg, Sundays in Prospect Park

Taco stands have been a pretty common Smorg sight over the years, but I’m not sure I’ve ever come across one that offers squishy paneer in chili sauce loaded onto their tortillas. Or mounds of kicked-up chicken tikka. Enter Ambo, an outfit that takes traditional, authentic Indian ingredients and flavors and repackages them in unexpected ways. Like in those tacos, for instance, but also in sliders and bowls. Plus, a couple of almost cake-like savory snacks I had never tried before: The chick-pea-based khaman, and the delightfully sour white dhokla.

Photo by Scott Lynch

Photo by Scott Lynch

There are a bunch of other newbies of note as well, like the Brazilian Purple Cup, making meat-filled tapioca crepes and dessert-y acai fruit cups; The Aborrajao, specializing in Colombia’s beloved crochimi, a cheese-stuffed fried plantain topped with bacon; and chef Jimmy’s Jimchi, which is expanding its meal delivery service by showing up at Smorg with spicy tteokbokki, or rice cakes, broccoli rice balls, and sweet-and-spicy dakgangjeong, a Korean-style fried chicken. You can find all three (and a ton more) in Williamsburg on Saturdays. 

Starting on April 4 and 5, Smorgasburg will be at Marsha P. Johnson Park on the Williamsburg waterfront on Saturdays from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and at Breeze Hill in Prospect Park on Sundays, also from 11:00 to 6:00.