Friend of a Farmer

Ken and I went to Friend of a Farmer the day Hurricane Irene was supposed to hit Manhattan. We went to the gym in the morning because it was closing early and then headed to Friend of a Farmer to grab a bite to eat. Originally, we wanted to just get coffee at the shop next door, Irving Farm, but they shut down because of the weather. We were seated immediately because there weren’t a lot of people on the street and the server came immediately to take our order.

I ordered the omelet with broccoli, ham, onions and tomatoes with a side of has browns:

Ken ordered the scrambled eggs with sausage, hash browns and a side of pumpkin pancakes:

Both of our dishes were a little underwhelming; initially I thought it was similar to Bubby’s but the food was worse than what I’ve prepared in my own kitchen (even the pancakes!) The pancakes were undercooked and mealy and my omelet was actually the veggies scrambled with eggs on top. I don’t think we’d return for brunch; I’ve heard their dinners are really great so maybe it was because their kitchen staff was out due to the hurricane but the brunch we had on Saturday was really underwhelming (I’ve had better on seamlessweb!)

Brooklyn Flea

Two weekends ago, Christine, Kristen and I headed to the Brooklyn Flea in Williamsburg to check out all of the food stalls that set up every Sunday afternoon. There are two flea markets: the one on Saturday in the Williamsburg location is just for food (called Smorgasburg) and the one we went to had a combination of goods and food. We didn’t really walk around the flea market section because there were lots of food stalls to focus on. Kristen’s fiance and I both ordered from the Red Hook Ball Fields’ food truck:

We both ordered huaraches with pork:

A spicy combination of pork, salsas and cheese on top of a tortilla with beans rolled into the dough. The meat was a little too stringy but the tortilla was really delicious – it’s a corn tortilla that they were making as you ordered:

Kristen ordered from Brooklyn Bangers:

She liked it but thought the pita bread was a little too much:

Christine ordered a fried chicken biscuit from Crumb:

The biscuit and fried chicken with a cool dill sauce:

An ear of corn from another Mexican vendor:

And my favorite vendor, Dough:

When we arrived, a lot of flavors were sold out but they restocked after we ate our main courses:

I ordered the passion fruit donut with cacao nibs:

The nibs ended up being a little too much crunch for me, but the donut was delicious! I ended the afternoon with a nice cantaloupe juice that I finished while walking back to the L. The flea market is open on Saturdays and Sundays until November, so get there soon and bring lots of cash!

Miss Korea

I met up with Ken and a friend at Miss Korea for dinner after running some errands nearby. I had never visited Miss Korea before but most of the restaurants along 32nd street are okay for the traditional Korean dishes. Ken and his friend had already ordered a lot of food and I had some of their dishes but I also ordered the traditional dolsot bibimbap:

The quality of meat was actually better than I expected; sometimes with bibimbap, the beef is a tad stringy and fatty – this actually had a good marbling and wasn’t stringy. The price is a little more than other restaurants ($15.95) but it was definitely worth it.

Beecher’s Handmade Cheese

I’ve been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Seattle cheesemakers,Beecher’s Handmade Cheese. I used to walk by the store on my way to Union Square and it seems like they were under construction FOREVER! They’re finally open and a couple coworkers and I stopped by for a nice lunch. The great thing about Beecher’s is that it serves the cheese they make in great sandwiches and they also sell tons of cheese to take home:

The flatiron location is huge and they actually make cheese there as well:

Beecher’s is such a cute store and sells all types of different foods and packaged goods:

I went with the Beecher’s special, a grilled cheese sandwich with mustard, basil and tomato:

The sandwich was awesome – creamy cheese with thinly sliced tomatoes and fresh basil leaves. My friend, Kevin, also ordered a large container of the macaroni and cheese. They passed out samples but I decided against ordering any because the noodles were a little mushy for me.

I’m excited to try the cheeses at Beecher’s and try more of their sandwiches!

Wild Mushroom and Black Truffle Flatbread

I headed to Trader Joe’s to pick up snacks for the weekend since we were going to be stuck indoors to wait for Hurricane Irene to pass. I picked up a wild mushroom and black truffle flatbread because the package looked enticing:

The actual product:

The final product, after going into the oven for 10 minutes:

Not as cheesy as the photograph, but delicious nonetheless. Ken really liked the flatbread and he would definitely buy it again but I was on the fence – I thought it was too doughy and not cheesy enough!