Smorgasburg season is finally here. Launched in May 2011, the open-air food market – the largest in the country – brings thousands of people each weekend to Brooklyn, where they can choose from 100 local vendors. Last weekend, Smorgasburg made its return, and it welcomed 25 new food vendors.
Below, check out five new Latino food vendors you should check out between now and October.
1
Váyalo! Cocina
Váyalo! Cocina offers Venezuelan cuisine, including arepas, tequeños, and perros calientes. (The website makes each item look more delicious than the next, btw). Váyalo! Cocina’s mission is “bringing to the big apple the traditional Caribbean flavors and trying to give with every bite a little piece of love and make everybody feels at home even eating outside.”
2
La TropiKitchen
Colombia native and former Cosme chef Stephanie Bonnin serves us a variety of delicious tamales. While they are inspired by the traditional tamales of several Latin American countries, Bonnin also explores new flavors.
“I’m not interested in people thinking my tamales are the most delicious in the world, what I care about is that you eat one of my tamales or one of my soups and that it transports you – to your abuela’s house, to Colombia, to Peru, to Argentina,” she told Remezcla. “Because that’s the other thing – my cooking is also in dialogue with being in NYC, and the way that I’ve connected with so many other cultures here. Working in the kitchen at Cosme, I was cooking Mexican food alongside Venezuelans, Peruvians, Colombians, people from all parts of Latin America and even Russia! The kitchen becomes a place where people from all cultures can connect. So that’s what I hope La Tropikitchen conveys – I want you to remember the tastes of your home, but also realize you are part of something bigger, a larger global community.”
3
Borrachito
With Borrachito, Yuval Ochoa draws from his family’s recipes. The tacos – pork bomb, brisket barbacoa, al pastor chicken, and sweet potato – are packed with flavor and ingredients.
4
Chofi Birria
Started by Kim Martin-Flammia and Patrick Flammia, Chofi Birria is “a blend of New York and Mexico.”
5
Petisco Brazuca
Vanessa Oliveria and Ricardo Rosa are the forces behind Petisco Brazuca, a restaurant selling Brazilian street food. The duo started off selling their food online before getting a physical location in 2018. Frequent travels to the United States to run a bazaar inspired them to break into New York’s food scene.