BK Flea: Fort Greene
The first week of school always feels like the last week of summer. This weekend I decided to commemorate this last week of summer (or first week of school) with some eating at the Brooklyn Flea in Fort Greene. Generally the same vendors appear both in Fort Greene and Williamsburg, but sometimes the hipsters in Williamsburg get to be too much for me to handle.
There were several places I really wanted to try before school put a complete halt to my foodie adventures.
The first on my list was the infamous Milk Truck Grilled Cheese. Grilled cheese sandwiches are delicious and pretty hard to mess up, but for 6 bucks I have some high expectations, especially because I can make my own for half that price. I ordered the Milk Truck Classic for $5.75. The description reads "made with Aged Wisconsin Gruyere, Cultured Butter on Balthazar Levain Pullman Bread." I could have added bacon for an extra 2 bucks, but because there were other things to be had at this venue I decided against it. I also bought a Vanilla Bean milkshake.
To be really honest, I didn't think it was worth what I paid. It was fancy I suppose, but it seemed pretty average. I think the sandwich would have been better if it was made with sourdough, or just plain white bread, and cheddar cheese. Gruyere, as far as I know, is usually used to bake and has a very mild flavor. The texture resembles that of mozzarella and when melted it has the same stringy chewy quality. But what I want from a grilled cheese is a nice flavorful cheese, like cheddar that is gooey and melty. Most of their menu consists of gruyere, with the exception of the blue cheese and bacon (that didn't sound appealing to me at all).
Their milkshake on the other hand...it was SO GOOD. They put real vanilla beans into the blender along with the ice cream. You just get this amazingly thick shake with so much richness and texture. A spoon is probably more useful than a straw since the little broken bean chips clog the straw. The occasional burst of flavor from the vanilla beans was just amazing. I wouldn't go there for a sandwich, but I'd travel across oceans for that shake. I would even say it is comparable, if not better, to Shake Shack.
Next up on the list was Asiadog.
I tried this only because someone had recommended this to me via word of mouth. The dog above is called MASH, described on their site as "Spicy ketchup + jalapeno mustard + crushed salt and pepper + potato chips." It ran about $4.50. The beef dog had a thickness of half an inch...maybe...probably a little less. It lacked texture, there really wasn't much of a bite when you ate it. It was extremely tasty though. The sweet ketchup and jalapeno mustard was delicious, and was the perfect combination with the salty crunchy chips. If the dog was a bit thicker, or if the price was a bit lower, this would be the perfect eat. Two of these would make a meal. I personally like the Brooklyn Bangers better even though they are a bit more expensive. I might be biased though because they are the same people that do Num Pang (one of my favorite sandwich shops in all of NY).
Lastly, Lonestar Empire! These guys must be new, because I only started seeing them this summer. Unfortunately they don't have many yelp reviews, which is a shame because these guys deserve a lot more hype. One beef brisket to rule all them all.
The guy running the stand always asks if you like your meat a little dry, or a little more moist (lean or fat). He can also chop up a bit of both to get a nice even fattiness. For me, I always go moist. That's what she said.
The meat is SO tender, and the texture is SO perfect. You know they took the time to slowly cook this meat to perfection and let it properly rest to seal all of those flavorful juices inside. They serve it on a warm potato roll, which is nice change from sesame. They also have containers of home made pickles and onions and such. The pickles are okay not very flavorful but are sliced thick enough to have a nice bite. They have this light asian-esque bbq sauce that really brings out the highlights of the already flavorful succulent beef. Seriously, splash your sandwich with this, just do it. The sandwich is actually fairly small, but they pile that meat in there for you. $8 bucks is pretty steep for a sandwich, but it is well worth it, trust me...but just in case you don't, this is what you'd be missing out on.
