Adventures in Red Hook Part 2

By Munch Master

I know I said 'Strip House" would be next but this post has been sitting here so long in draft format I felt bad for it all lonely with no one to read it....But I promise 'Strip House' will be next.


Now ,once we ate until we were stuffed on authentic south American food, we decide to explore Red Hook. The First thing one might notice was it's disconnection with the rest of NY and all it's burroughs. By this I mean alot of the streets are still cobblestone, buildings along the river are Circa "Civil War' and have been refurbished to beautiful works of architecture, not seen in modern buildings. On a path that connects these beautiful civil war munitions warehouses were old street car rails that still boast old cars almost frozen in time and worn by the slightly salty Hudson air. Also, there is very little NY transit to or in Red Hook your best bet to get there is a subway 20 or so blocks away and take a bus to the heart of RH near the colossal "Fairways" market. We made a brief trip inside but nothing to write here about. I am planning a trip to write about this market in the future.(Yes Neel your invited) Or the IKEA water taxi it dumps off in RH at the ikea and it's free.
The 3 of us decided to explore this area we figured if were here might as well enjoy it, and found a cool craft fair where RH residents were more than happy to tell us of the great little places in the area. One of these places was "Steve's Key lime pie" which was a short walk along the river. We arrived at this large red brick building that had a single greenish-yellow door that has painted on it

"PIES HERE" (yes that is a link to his web site). Be mindful of 4 things when visiting.
1st. Their hours are random check their twitter feed here for updated daily hours
2nd. Its cash only
3rd. If you're looking for anything other than key lime pie and maybe a bottle of water you may want to adventure elsewhere. (like Baked)
4th. It is not fancy !! a small counter and bell for service. In the back was a garage with a motorcycle on a lift. A moto guzzy or a triumph I think.
Being mindful this is no boutique dessertery they do one thing and do it well 'Key Lime Pie' it was great. And, I am told the chocolate dipped pie on a stick is even better. I must say though being from Florida I am a bit bias when it comes to key lime pie. Although, it was good as good any KLP we made at the Ritz-Carlton. The 3 of us buy a small pie and scarf down about 3/4 of it. YUMMY. I can't describe it much more you have to try it. So with full stomachs and carb coma in tact we decide to explore the rest of the 2 block long building and walk along the river. This is where we stumbled upon Red Hooks Eden. This Eden goes by the name of "liberty Sunset Garden Center" . Of course, we didn't realize it was a garden center at first...lol.. I'll explain. We first walked in the back door and found this marvelous almost commercial kitchen surrounded by beautiful foliage & gardens. We continued through the "jungle" until we reached the other side of the building and someone who worked there. I sheepishly ask are we in the garden center or someones house? The lady at the desk said "the garden center" so I asked whats with the kitchen? She said "once a month a chef cooks a wonderful meal for $20.00 and its BYOB". Intrigued, so much so I stared asking questions. You know like who is the chef?, what kind of food?, ect...ect.... She says well Rick (that's the chef's name) will be here shortly you can ask him. As if she was clair voyant about 5 mins later there he was walking though the door. An Anthony Bordain looking gentleman who had for sure earned his stripes in the harsh food underworld of NYC. We chat for a few and he informs me of the planned dinner the next night and says I should attend. And with this invitation, I of course plan to attend you never turn down an invitation from a chef that looks like this. I would imagine he could cook circles around most.
I was told by Rick the dinner usually starts around 6:00. So, I arrive promptly at 6:00 p.m. to find only 3 people there. Myself, the owner of the garden centers wife and Rick. Lol...turns out I was early by about an 1.5 hours. No worries though, I love to cook and offered to help out. Graciously enough Rick puts me to work.I assit finishing his menu of fried pumpkin brie risotto balls, roasted whole chicken, braised pork butt and a chocolate peanut brittle moose. It was wonderful food and more than enough to feed an army twice the size we had in attendance. I also met some awesome food industry folks. A sous chef at one of Mario Batali's spots and his girlfriend a pastry chef at nobu north. (If your reading this I lost my phone and still would like to pull some shifts) It was a weekend of culinary heaven no doubt, and I hope to have many more of these adventures soon. If you want to have a great dinner with a wonderful view call the garden center and inquire about the dinners.

Later Munchers,

Munch Master

Adventures In Red Hook (part 1 of 2)

By Munch Master

Hello again all,
Our latest adventure took us to Red Hook Brooklyn (home of the new mtv "REAL WORLD"). The whole adventure started actually a few months ago when Teresa read about a park in Red Hook that was suppose to have all these authentic Mexican, Central & South American food vendors that gatherin a prak and have for years. Recently though they have been though a lot of issues with the City of NY and having to buy catering trucks and other red tape. So, needless I am glad they are still there although I am told there are no where near the amount there use to be.I assume due to the cost of trucks and carts. We took our crazy friend Carla who ironically happens to be from LA and El Salvadorian and was very familiar with a lot of the food there.Which helped because she suggested some of the food in this post. But back to the adventure. So as usual when we venture in the outer Burroughs we got lost for about an hour. Along we while tiring to find the park we found this huge market called "Fairways" it was huge and very cool and in this civil war era group of buildings right on the Hudson. We will get back to those buildings in a moment. So after asking directions in "Fairways" we drove around a little more and found the park. So we have ARRIVED it was a hella windy and overcast day and a bit chilly. So we paroused though the line of vendors like a Sargent would inspecting his troops. When we stopped at a converted bagel cart and I ordered a chicken tamale. It was pretty good moist, flavorful and huge for a tamale. At the same stand Teresa ordered what they called fried tacos. They actually remind me well the shape anyway of taquitos. The flavor was not of the store bought taquitos as you may expect. No no this was perfectly crisp corn tortilla with a chicken center draped in a wonderful picante garnished with fresh white onion and fresh cilantro.YUMMY in a word. So after the appetizers Carla spotted a EL Salvadorian truck and a food she has had many times called Pupusa. The best way I can describe them is savory corn meal pancakes with cheese and an
array of ingredients of your choosing so we ordered 3 . I had jalapeno, Teresa had what from the looks of it was a wonderful roasted pork.Carla had this on with veg that remained me of spinach. Other than the weather a beautiful day....to be cont