Saturday I had a chance to visit the Brooklyn Flea in Fort Greene.  The Flea, which opened for the season last week, is open on Saturdays from 10am-5pm and features 150 vendors selling clothing, antiques, jewelry and food. As NYMag pointed out a couple weeks ago in its ‘Edible Schoolyard’ piece, the Flea has become a new destination for food-lovers.  I wanted to investigate.

First, I recommend checking out the Flea in the late afternoon.  The crowds are smaller and vendors are more likely to give you deals (both on clothing and on food).  Despite the much smaller, late-afternoon crowd, the line in front of the soul food stall was by far the longest. That was a good sign. Although long lines usually mean good food, I didn’t have the patience to wait on line to try what they had to offer. But it was by far the most popular stall when I was there. Note to self if I ever return.  I was really there to try one thing – the empanadas from Elsa’s Empanadas.  This piping hot, baked pastry is filled with ground beef, olives, raisins and hard-boiled egg.  You can get 1 for $3 or 2 for $5.  The empanada pastry itself was excellent – flaky and buttery. However, I was disappointed with the filling. I am not a huge fan of olives (other than in my martinis) and I did not really like the raisins. I guess I am a purist when it comes to empanadas. 

I also tried samples from WannaHavaCookie.  The sample chocolate chip was yummy (other flavors include snickerdoodle, toffee mills and molasses spice). They also have the cutest homemade whoopee pies. They were pushing a new flavor, vanilla pie with a strawberry filling, but my friend Becky wasn’t a fan. However, I would still be interested in trying a different whoopee pie flavor- like peanut butter and chocolate or the classic chocolate and vanilla- under different circumstances (i.e. not baking in the sun all day).

The food highlight for me was the fresh ricotta I brought home from Salvatore Brooklyn.  They sell a ½ pound for only $7; for $9, you get the ricotta and a fresh, huge baguette from Amy’s bread.  Because it was the end of the day, the very nice woman working the stall threw in the bread for free.  This ricotta is creamy, fresh and delicious and the bread was perfectly soft on the inside and crusty on the outside. I have been snacking on it all weekend. The stall also sells cannolis piped with the fresh ricotta.  Now that I know how delicious the cheese is, I regret not getting one of those Italian treats. 

I don’t know if I would head all the way out to Fort Greene again just for the food at the Flea (Salvatore sells its ricotta in several other locations, and it is a long walk from the Atlantic/Pacific subway stop). But, everyone I encountered was so friendly and generous (the woman who sold me a beautiful necklace gave me a discount for paying cash and gave me some of her sun block!), I would go back if I was ever in Fort Greene again on a Saturday. 

The Brooklyn Flea – located at Bishop Loughlin High School on Lafayette Ave between Vanderbilt & Clermont Avenues in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.

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