The Menu: Eating Our Way Through (South) Brooklyn
This past Saturday, my parents visited me in New York for the first time since I moved to Brooklyn. Because my neighborhood is great, they were able to drive up and find street parking right in front of my place without paying for a parking garage, permit, or meter. As my parents seem to function well on zero sleep, they arrived bright and early at 7:30 a.m. after a 3.5-hour drive (you do the math). They put their stuff down in the apartment and (naturally) we headed out for a run in Prospect Park, followed by one of the most epic food crawls I've ever done.
Here's the rundown.
Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket
After running 3.5 miles (or in my mother's case, 4.5 because we accidentally let her keep running the loop...sorry!) we walked through the greenmarket and indulged in some delicious cold brew from the NYC Love Coffee Truck.
After walking through the historic brownstones of North Slope, we picked up some treats from the neighborhood's classic donut shop. They were solid, but didn't really compare to the sweets that were to come.
We took a break from the desserts and headed out for some pulled pork and smoked turkey in Gowanus. I had yet to venture out to this beer-garden-meets-pit-beef spot, (mainly because it's a 1.5-mile walk and I get lazy on weekends), but it's well worth the trip. Besides the delicious grub, there's also some great drinks. We partook in the alcoholic lemonade.
We finished up in Gowanus and walked over through Carroll Gardens to a designer's market in Cobble Hill. Though we could have stopped at any of the seemingly delicious places along the way (I'm looking at you Cafe Luluc, Battersby, and Bein Cuit!), we ended up at Milk Bar because obviously. We ended up with a cornflake, chocolate chip, marshmallow, corn, and confetti cookie. Solid choices all around.
Clearly, after walking 10 blocks, we earned another treat. So we stopped off at this epic pie shop. We split a lemon chess and salted caramel apple pie. My mouth is literally watering right now thinking about them. I'm disgusting.
We took a three-hour break from eating to go back to the apartment and play Punderdome, (while also enjoying a cocktail because the game is impossible without alcohol). We had an early dinner at Benchmark, a carriage house turned steak house, and it was freakin' delicious.
I scheduled dinner early so that we could catch the sunset views on the top floor of Industry City, but the weather wasn't cooperating, so we caught an eery foggy view of an abandoned parking lot instead. Still cool. This new(ish) distillery is the only vodka distillery in NYC. They're only open for drinks on Friday and Saturday nights, and are admittedly a bit far (in Sunset Park), but if you're willing to hop in a $5 Uber, it's well worth it. The bartender is great and greeted us all with a round of shots after a six-stair climb. #WorthIt. The specialty drinks were amazing, and at only $10 a pop, a bargain. Did I mention there's a resident cat? Yeah, Mike and I will be frequenting this place again shortly.
The next day was brief, but still delicious. Just coffee from Cafe Grumpy, a walk to Greenwood Cemetery, and brunch at Mariella.
