Every weekend in the summer (since 1974) in the small community of Red Hook, Brooklyn, the local soccer fields have played host to a gathering of the Latin-American community. It began with a few families setting up food stalls to serve their friends between games and has turned into a well known hot spot to find authentic street food. What was refreshing to me was that there appeared to be only a few other tourists there, which helps maintain that feeling that you have stepped onto a street in Central America.
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| Previously food stalls, all vendors are now running out of trucks that line the streets around the soccer field. |
After seeing the ball fields on an episode of Bizarre Foods, my first stop was to try the shrimp ceviche. This simple dish served in a plastic cup turned out to be the freshest, most unbelievable ceviche I have eaten to this day.
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| I dream about this magical cup. |
At Antojitos Chapines, a Guatemalan cart, I had the "rellenitos". It consists of plantain filled with sweet black beans, deep fried and sprinkled with sugar.
Solber Pupusas, the winner of the top Vendy Award is also Red Hook vendor and was proudly showing off his trophy from the day before.
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| I'm a happy food truck geek. |
I later enjoyed some pupusas from one of the other Colombian trucks. While sitting down to eat I met a couple of people whom had also attended the Vendy's that weekend. The local New Yorkers were stunned to hear of the struggles our street food/food truck scene in Canada is experiencing.
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| My favorite accompaniments, chicarrones and lots of hot sauce. | | |
After filling my belly with more treats, including horchata and roasted corn, I eventually made my way to the airport and home from another street food adventure. Looking forward to heading back to New York this summer for some more food truck fare...and another date with that ceviche cup.
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| Looking back across the park at the vendors. |
