The Best Thing to Do in Brooklyn on a Saturday

If you find yourself wandering around Williamsburg on a Saturday afternoon wondering what to do be at, have I got a suggestion for you! Walk yourself down to the East River State Park and bring your appetite. Smorgasburg is a food fair featuring a few dozen vendors that you don’t want to miss.

A friend suggested that I check it out on my last day in New York. He was appalled that all I had seen of Brooklyn on my visits to the city were Dumbo and Carroll Gardens. So I look the subway across the river around lunchtime and emerged from the Bedford Ave station into Williamsburg, the homeland of the hipster, in search of interesting food. Why does food seem to taste so much better when it comes from a truck or a tent?

We had a quick stroll around, checking out the stalls. Note: If you forget to bring cash, there’s an ATM on site. The amount of deliciousness available made me wish I had four stomachs like a cow. Or maybe a hollow leg to store it all in. There was everything from bbq and tacos to ice cream sandwiches and mangos on sticks, scotch eggs and schnitzel to cupcakes and donuts. You check out all the yummy goodness by following the #smorgasburg hashtag on Instagram.

But once I saw the ramen burgers, I was done.

Behold the Ramen Burger

The line up was one of the longest there but with only one item on the menu I hoped it would be somewhat speedy. My friend went off, ordered his brisket sandwich with mustard potato salad (I thought only Newfoundlanders made that!) and polished it off before I even got my burger though. All in all, it was maybe a 10-15 minute wait.

So just what the heck is a ramen burger anyway? It’s a beef chuck patty topped with a special shoyu glaze and baby greens sandwiched between two “buns” made of ramen noodles. Two great comfort foods, rolled into one. I’m a sucker for novelty.

Being the good little blogger that I am, I had to get just the right snap before I dug in. New York skyline? Check. Tasty burger? Check. Sandy beach? Check. Yes, there’s a teeny, tiny sliver of beach in Brooklyn.

So how was the burger? Tasty! But greasy. The combination of beef and noodle was a good flavour mix and the sauce was the perfect condiment but I felt like I had to keep wiping my mouth because of the ramen’s greasiness. Glad I waited in line for it? You betcha. Would I get it again? Probably, but only after I’d had the chance to sample a lot of other booths at Smorgasburg. Those Scotch eggs looked pretty yummy.

I had a flight to catch so it was ramen and run for me but you can still make it if you’re in New York. Smorgasburg is on the go in Williamsburg until November 21. Can’t make it to hipsterville? They also have installments in Prospect Park until October 11 and Queens until October 3, a new winter location in Sunset Park starting October 17.

Would you go to Brooklyn just for a ramen burger?