(This venue is closed.) Two contrary traditions surround gumbo z'herbes, a Creole "gumbo of greens" prepared during Lent. In one tradition, it is fattened with the likes of ham hocks and served on Holy Thursday, for the last big meat meal before Easter Sunday. In the other, observed at The Gumbo Bros., it is a meatless dish befitting Good Friday — or any day you please.
The Gumbo Bros.
224 Atlantic Ave. (Court St.-Boerum Pl.), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
917-909-1471
www.TheGumboBros.com
For your consideration in the category "costume design": the halo-halo waffle, crowned with a scoop of ube ice cream. Moments later it also made a bid for "live action short" — but, from the finale of our Filipino brunch, no footage is available. Also shown: octopus salad; bangsilog, a plate meal starring smoked milkfish.
F.O.B.
271 Smith St. (Sackett-Degraw Sts.), Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn
718-852-8994
www.FOBBrooklyn.com
Oatmeal pecan black bottom (above, at the fore) and maple cream (below), two of the dozens of pies on display, and for sale by the slice, at this tenth annual school fundraiser. More pie here.
Eat Pie and Shop
P.S. 29, 425 Henry St. (Warren-Congress Sts.), Cobble Hill, Brooklyn
www.EatPieAndShop.org
(The 2018 event was held on December 2)
Surviving signage, 604 Pacific St. (at Flatbush Ave.), Park Slope, Brooklyn
See also this better-preserved example in Harlem
(This venue is closed.) These aebleskiver (AY-bleh-Ski-wah, $12), fluffy Danish pancake balls, were baked to order and dusted with sugar moments before their appearance; not all of them lasted till the click of the shutter. Can't have too much of that raspberry jam. Also shown: gravad laks ($15), cured salmon with all the Nordic trimmings. On another occasion the gravlax might well have introduced the aebleskiver, savory course before sweet; at brunch for two the dishes arrived, and vanished, in concert.
Bornholm
138 Smith St. (Bergen-Dean Sts.), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
917-909-0850
Belarusian sampler: meatballs, potato pancakes, sour cream, stuffed cabbage, sausage, cabbage stew ($9).
St. Cyril of Turau Cathedral
401 Atlantic Ave. (at Bond St.), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
718-858-2435
www.BelaPC.org/katedralny-sabor---cathedral
(At the 2016 Atlantic Antic, held on September 25)
(This venue is closed.) Kaya, a coconut egg spread, is a coffee-shop favorite in Singapore and Malaysia. Some versions are browner, owing to caramelized sugar, and jamlike in texture; some, such as the Thai-style sangkhaya in this khanom pan ping ($5), take a green color and faint herbal flavor from pandan leaves and have a very smooth, custardlike texture. This uncaramelized style tends to be quite sweet, too, as you'd imagine. Pok Pok's pan-toasted "soldiers" were just precisely crisp enough to serve as swabbing utensils; the serving of sangkhaya was generous enough that every soldier got his due.
Previously: In some obvious regards, my hoi thawt (at the time, $14) wasn't a ringer for the "broken crepe" served at Bangkok's expansive Aw Taw Gaw wet market. Pok Pok's was fresher-looking and considerably fatter, down to the individual mussel meats. Yet the hoi thawt held together, thanks to a minimal not-too-crispy batter, at least till I had at it.
I don't know what hot sauce was served with that Bangkok hoi thawt, but one wouldn't imagine that Huy Fong sriracha sauce — the ubiquitous American-made "rooster" brand found in squeeze bottles throughout New York — would have many takers in Thailand. Possibly it was the well-balanced Shark brand sriracha, made in Thailand, and served at Pok Pok, too.
Pok Pok Ny
117 Columbia St. (at Kane St.), Brooklyn
718-923-9322
www.PokPokNy.com
This annual event, which benefits culinary programs at the nearby School for International Studies, is also an occasion for participating kitchens to push their usual culinary boundaries. Indeed, several of the soups would fit right in with the new collection of edible mashups from Real Cheap Eats, both for their price ($1 per 4-ounce sample) and for their border-bending sensibilities. Shown: from Nightingale 9, a congee made from nutty Carolina gold rice, with crumbled sausage and biscuit croutons; from Shelsky's, chowder prepared with smoked whitefish; and, from Jolie Cantina, seafood being prepped for a Mexican-inflected bouillabaisse. Also shown: from Provence en Boite, lobster bisque. There's always room for a classic.
Smith Street Soup Festival
Smith St. between Atlantic Ave. and 2nd St., Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn
(The 2013 festival was held on October 19)
Nunu's hot chocolate (small, $4) is made with shavings of 65 percent dark chocolate — some garnish the surface — and frothed steamed milk. Think of it when you're in a mood to drink your dessert, but you want a little bitter with the sweet.
Nunu Chocolates
529 Atlantic Ave. (Third-Fourth Aves.), Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
917-776-7102
www.NunuChocolates.com
This cherry lime phosphate ($3.95), like the cherry lime rickey, is a New York drink of yore. The rickey, which in some corners of the city has held its place on the menu as an effective countermeasure against spicy food, can be cloying; the lime adds tartness but, sometimes, not enough bite. The phosphate gets its edge from a dash of phosphoric acid, which you'll find in Coke and Pepsi, too. It's less sweet, so as not to distract from the full cherry flavor. That maraschino pales in more than one regard.
Brooklyn Farmacy & Soda Fountain
513 Henry St. (at Sackett St.), Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn
718-522-6260
www.BrooklynFarmacy.blogspot.com
Thank you!
