Atlantic Antic 2009
Woo! Street fair! Most of these things aren't worth attending. The 5th Avenue Street Fair in Park Slope is one exception. The Atlantic Antic is another. Usually the socks stands to unique food stands is a telltale sign of a street fair's worthiness. If there are more stands selling socks than original food stands, then skip it. Original food stands would the the ones not selling corn, mozzarepa, or italian sausage with peppers. Although really, I'm just looking for street fairs that don't sell too many socks. Another great thing about the Atlantic Antic is that it's probably one of the last street fairs of the year until the next summer.
Even though Italian sausage stands wouldn't dominate the Atlantic Antic, something else took its place. The Antic was full of Caribbean or West Indian stands. It was impossible to turn your head without seeing signs for jerk chicken. There were also lots of fried food stands. For the people on the Bloomberg diet, that would have been good for you. I had to pass on the fried goods because pre-fried goods usually mean soggy crust. And what's the point of eating fried food unless the outside is crunchy?
There was a Thai food stand selling samosas for $1. It was hard to pass that up because it was a nice chunk of food, it looked warm, and damn it, it was just four quarters. It was filled with a mashed potato filling with some peas. The outside was surprisingly crunchy, given that these were pre-fried. For a dollar, I was willing to break my own rules. Why not? It paid off in this instance.
Oh and I saw this scene while I was trying to take pictures of some BBQ. There was this guy who just came off of the line, and he walked to the side and just automatically held up his food, as if he was holding it for someone. Then a girl he was with busted out her dslr and was about to photograph it. He made a great face so I took a picture of this scene. This is why I try to blog solo. Ain't no one have to wait to eat the food except for me! This works out better in terms of not pissing off my friends.
One thing that gets my attention quite a bit lately is merguez. There was a stand a the Atlantic Antic that had merguez in a hot dog bun for $3. Since there are places in NY that serve dirty water dogs for $1.50, this seemed like a great deal and I jumped on it. It was wolfed down so fast that there was no time to document it.
Despite walking past many stands with soul food, I also had to pass on this because I didn't want a whole plate of food with me. And why stuff yourself with food from just one stand when the street fair is over a mile long? It's like pacing yourself at a buffet. You always start small...
I remember from attending the Atlantic Antic two years ago, that Steve's Key Lime would have a stand at the end of the street fair. They were there again this year, selling Swingles for $5 a pop. Swingles are basically frozen key lime pies dipped in dark chocolate, and put on a stick. On the scale of genius inventions, this probably is near the top. It's really a tasty dessert, although one that could go really well with a glass of milk. I was dying for something like that, except the most of the drinks for sale at the Antic was beer and lemonade.
I used to really like the Antic, back 10 years ago before the kettlecorn and Italian sausage guys arrived. It seems pretty much like all other street fairs now, which is sad. It used to really be different....
FN
October 5, 2009 3:27 pm
Crap, we missed the merguez stand...looks delicious. We did have an awesome chicken roti and probably the best stuffed cabbage ever. Did you try the brick oven pizza guy? The line is always way too long.
Dennis
October 6, 2009 10:54 pm
@FN,
oh man, there used to be street fairs without the sausage guys? To be fair though, the sausage guys are easily outnumbered by the west indian food guys this year. Not even close too.
@bionicgrrrl,
haha, milk at a street fair. Actually there was a bakery that had free sample of milk because they were selling brownies and cookies...
@Dennis,
Oh yea? I didn't see any stuffed cabbage... haha, it's too easy to miss stuff at the Antic. It's so long and you have to really keep your head on a swivel to take it all in.. I saw the brick oven pizza guys and it's the same guys who are at the Brooklyn Flea, right? I figure there's always a chance to try them later...
Danny
October 7, 2009 9:21 pm
It's probably a good thing they didn't have milk. I wouldn't trust milk at a street fair!
Haven't tried the keylime popsicle yet. It looks crazy good. Yum...
bionicgrrrl
October 6, 2009 12:31 am