The Brooklyn Flea 2011
The great Brooklyn Flea is now in full effect, all-weekend-every-weekend, Saturdays in Fort Greene, Sundays in Williamsburg, rain or shine, now through mid-November. And judging by our first two visits this season, on the Brooklyn Flea Market's first two weekends, even as it gets bigger, and more popular, it only gets better.
The Brooklyn Flea market is an ingenious, increasingly-copied combination of excellent fresh food, both sweet and savory; antique and vintage and repurposed furniture, clothing, and collectibles of all description; and handmade jewelry, crafts and artworks from an impeccably-curated, rotating roster of local artisans. On any given week you'll find more than 100 different booths at the Brooklyn Flea, and, probably, just about that same amount of things you'll want to eat, or buy, or pick up and fantasize about or laugh over or admire, or chat about with your companion or, even more fun, chat about with one of the warm and welcoming artists or bakers or collectors selling their wares.
We've spent the past two sunny Saturdays wandering the booths of the Fort Greene Brooklyn Flea, and had such a great time doing all of the above. Here's a quick look at some of our favorite things….
The friendly folks of Liddabit Sweets will be at the Brooklyn Flea all summer, with their usual array of not-to-missed treats such as Caramel Corn, Chocolate Doom bars, and, most spectacularly scrumptious, the Honeycomb Candy, covered in dark chocolate and tasting like a Crunchie from heaven.
Among the many excellent vintage-y items at Brooklyn Cream's booth were these beautiful (in a rugged way) lamps made by Jon Tannen from old piping and plumbing.
Every time we see Jessica DeCarlo at one of these things we fall in love all over again. Seriously: Jessica's lovely organic designs–whether gold or silver; chunky or feather-light–hit all of our women's-jewelry sweet spots, all at once. Always a pleasure.
If you want a full lunch rather than (or in addition to) sweets and snacks, the options are unbelievably good, from the likes of Asia Dog, The Good Fork, Mile End, Red Hook Lobster Pound, Pizza Moto, Porchetta, and, pictured, Calixto Huaraches.
Romi Hefetz was at the Brooklyn Flea selling her gorgeous ceramics. We loved everything on her table, but probably those geometric, mix-n-match salt and pepper shakers most of all.
There are several first-rate t-shirt booths at the Brooklyn Flea, including the Brooklyn-centric offerings at Live Poultry (our favorite: the Kentile Floors billboard one) and the cute and fun designs (love the love bunnies) at Gnome Enterprises, pictured.
Scratch Bread had an incredible assortment of baked goods at their booth: some savory, some sweet, some a mixture of both, like this gooey, spicy Chai Sticky Bun.
New York City pop- / graffiti- artist Bobby Hill offers up a Brooklyn Flea table filled with insanely bright, insanely awesome prints, in three sizes, priced to move.
Kumquat Cupcakery, by far the best in an increasingly crowded field of New York City miniature cupcake bakers, was on hand with their usual array of inspired flavors, including a superb Coffee Caramel Bourbon and these crowd-pleasing Maple Bacon beauties.
At the Momofuku Milk Bar and Friends booth, it was a lovely and talented pair of said "friends" from Peanut Butter Jellified who gave us a sugar rush with their Chocolate Dirt-n-Worms. There were two other, perhaps slightly more sophisticated varieties wormy dirt as well, but what the heck, IT'S SPRING! Yes, those are gummis; yes it crazy sweet and delicious.
The Brooklyn Flea Details
The Brooklyn Flea is open every Saturday and Sunday, from 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m., rain or shine, from now through November 20. On Saturdays the Brooklyn Flea is located in Fort Greene, on Lafayette Street between Clermont and Vanderbilt Avenues, right near stops on the 2, 3, 4, 5, A, C, B, Q, and G trains. On Sundays the Brooklyn Flea is located in Williamsburg, on North 6th Street between Kent Avenue and the East River, just a few blocks from the Bedford Avenue stop on the L train. For lots more information, including Brooklyn Flea vendor lists and maps, please see the Brooklyn Flea website.
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