Clinton St and Bay St
Brooklyn, NY 11231
Red Hook Ball Fields
Categories: Chinese, Latin American, Food, Food Stands, Mexican
Neighborhood: Brooklyn/Red Hook
I was nearly at tears when I walked into the staging area for the Red Hook ballfields’ latin american food. My friends may tell you that it was not nearly, there were no sweat droplets on my cheeks, they were actual tears. It all comes at you like a revelation, this is IT.
You walk into Red Hook Park, and you are at the elbow of an L. Flustered thinking about which way to go, people look like they are suddenly developing parkinson’s. Go right to get that out of the way, then venture left.
There might be 20 or so vendors. Most sell tacos, papusas, quesadillas, huaraches, and other latin fare mostly encased by a shell of some sort. There are usually available benches and tables for sitting, you can also sit on the shaded grassy knoll.
I had chicharones(dreamlike), platanos (amazing, they were the smushed variety with a sweet kick to them.), and yuca (mine were cold, so I could have done without) for $8. huraches which were the size of keyboards, were $5. Everything we had was up there with the all-time bests (had the yuca still been warm, they would certainly be up there also-although not as high as the chichs and plantains – my god). The vendors have lots of other foods that are amazing! And mostly at the places where the lines are very small – I don’t know why people are so obsessed with the tortlilas and papusas… not my thing. Sometimes you have to ask just to see what they got. Last time, I got trapped at the Colombian stand and got just about Everything – beef on stick, papas rellena (fried stuffed potato!), fried chicken, chorizo.. Oh, and ceviches at one of the last stands on the train. Ok now I want to go back.
The only thing I missed were coke bottles from Mexico.
note: The actual baseball fields are probably not the best place to discover this food. When we first got there, I went on the actual baseball fields where there are a few vendors. Now, I am willing to venture almost anywhere for food, but they were not nearly as outsider friendly as the food grounds and I don’t think they were happy about me looking into what they were cooking.
nonetheless…
Is this what love is?
[...] My review of Red Hook Ballfields NYT Video Primer on RHB Gothamist Article on the extension Red Hook Talking Head Save Soccer [...]
By: Red Hook Ballfields - Seis Anos Mas « Jeffrey Tastes on March 12, 2008
at 10:40
are they open yet?
By: NTHK on April 28, 2008
at 17:32
nope. not up yet. It will be a while. Unfortunately, I would expect late May/June. yep. They are having trouble getting the necessary equipment for passing the state inspections. It’s really a shame that the state is regulating it so much. I’ve heard that stands will have to put down upwards of 30k to get the necessary equipment. Someone who has the means should help them out (Hello Eliot Spitzer – you need the PR).
By: Jeff on April 28, 2008
at 18:35