Mama's Cupboard, New York

Smorgasburg.  Totally my kind of event. 

"Smorgasburg is the largest weekly open-air food market in America, attracting thousands of people each weekend to Brooklyn, Manhattan, Jersey City, Los Angeles, Miami and Toronto to eat from dozens of local vendors."

I hadn't heard of it before my recent visit to New York, when I stumbled into the Saturday location in Williamsburg where I was staying, but apparently, it happens in a number of cities.  In New York, there are multiple locations, with slightly different vendor lineup, on different days of the week.  It runs all summer long.  And, if you RSVP (for free) online, and are one of the first 50 to arrive, you get a token for $5 credit to use at any vendor.

I of course love my freebies, so this was greatly appealing to me, and while I could have used the $5 and paid a little more myself for any number of things, in true Julie-style, I was determined to make it totally free, so, stuck to $5 or less items.  I had plenty of choice.

My choice led me to Mama's Cupboard, a Vietnamese/Thai stand.  Like some of the vendors, they also do have a regular restaurant, located in Manhattan.  The restaurant gets great reviews, and I'm interested in trying it out, or at least getting a bahn mi, at the stand sometime, as what I had really let me down.

Food Stand

They offer a reduced menu at the food stand, with bahn mi, their signature kimchi loaded fries, skewers, and puffs.

I had my eyes on the puffs, available in two savory varieties (chicken, curry veggie), or sweet (taro custard), all for $4.50 each, so, right in budget.  Although the curry vegetable puff did sound good, and reminded me of a dish I enjoy from Osha Thai in SF (the vegetarian Thai samosa), I was there for a treat, and thus, the sweet taro custard puff was calling my name.  Plus, you know I love taro enough to have an entire label for it on my blog ... if there is taro, you know I want to try it!

Sweet Taro Custard Puff. $4.50.

I was given a 5 minute wait estimate, which seemed accurate.  I was surprised to see my puff dropped into a basket of deep frying oil, as I had expected a baked item.  Still, freshly fried to order sounded great!

It was handed over, direct from the fryer.  While the paper it came in wasn't dripping with oil, indicating it was drained, I took one bite, and was pretty let down. All I could taste was oil.  The pastry looked flaky and nice, but, all I could taste was (not-very-good) oil.  Sadness.

The pastry really never improved, it just tasted like oil, and wasn't particularly flaky.  The filling was a let down initially as well, given that it wasn't a custard, as described on the menu.  However, it was generously stuffed, and was real taro mash.  There was even one fairly big lump, which I saw as a good thing, indicating that it was made with fresh mashed taro.  It was sweetened, and pretty tasty.  But not a custard.

I ended up eating the filling with some fresh berries and ice cream and whipped cream to make a kinda warm taro mash sundae, discarding the pastry, which was quite good.  But I certainly wouldn't get this again. Zero stars for the pastry (really, and I rarely give 0 stars!), *** filling.

Yakitori Tatsu, NYC

Yakitori Tatsu is a food stand, that I discovered at Smorgasburg in Brooklyn.  They do not have a regular storefront, or any real social media presence, so I don't know much more about the place.  I was drawn in by the menu, and the lovely aromas from the grill, but I didn't care for what I got, and the lack of lines there, compared to other places, should have been a warning sign to me.  I wouldn't return.

I would return to Smorgasburg however.  Totally my kind of event. 

"Smorgasburg is the largest weekly open-air food market in America, attracting thousands of people each weekend to Brooklyn, Manhattan, Jersey City, Los Angeles, Miami and Toronto to eat from dozens of local vendors."

I hadn't heard of it before my recent visit to New York, when I stumbled into the Saturday location in Williamsburg where I was staying, but apparently, it happens in a number of cities.  In New York, there are multiple locations, with slightly different vendor lineup, on different days of the week.  It runs all summer long.  And, if you RSVP (for free) online, and are one of the first 50 to arrive, you get a token for $5 credit to use at any vendor.

I of course love my freebies, so this was greatly appealing to me, and while I could have used the $5 and paid a little more myself for any number of things, in true Julie-style, I was determined to make it totally free, so, stuck to $5 or less items.  I had plenty of choice.

Food Stand.

The menu at Yakitori Tatsu is, well, yakitori.  Skewers of assorted proteins, ranging from boring (to me) chicken or tofu nuggets, to interesting seafood like eel, scallops, or squid, and premiums like lamb chops or kobe beef.  Skewers are sold individually, with prices ranging from $4-9.  Besides that, the only other offering is rice, and "condiment".  Buy 3, save $1.  Pay by cash, save 3.5%. 

Squid Skewer. $5.

My skewer was handed over after a few moments on the grill.  I think most of them had been pre-cooked, and then were just being warmed to serve.  This was in contrast to another skewer based stand, that was cooking them all from raw, and, in retrospect, I certainly would have visited the other, had I realized the reheating situation at Yakitori Tatsu.  It came with no garnish, no sauce.

Still, I was excited for my squid. It had a nice aroma from the charcoal grill.  I was a bit surprised not to see more grill or char marks though.

I bit in and ... hmm.  It was very rubbery.  It didn't seem particularly fully cooked, not raw exactly, but, not really cooked if that makes sense.  So chewy.  The charcoal flavor was nice, but, besides that, it was flavorless.  It didn't seem to have been marinated nor seasoned in any way.

So, no char, no grill marks, no marinade, no seasoning, no sauce, and very chewy and rubbery.  Yeah, this was a complete letdown.  Not much positive about it, besides the lightly smoky flavor.  *.