The Williamsburg Brooklyn Flea contd: Dough ! Table Tales Sunday Gravy ! Social Eatz!

On Sunday, I walked to the Brooklyn Flea (a new part of the lazy Sunday routine) and promised myself (for you) to try new things, which is sooo hard because every part of me just wants to eat a Porchetta roll, drink some watermelon juice and call it a day.

But that would be so boring for you, and we can't have that!

My new goal is to spend only $20 each visit to limit myself (my eyes are always bigger than my stomach) and to pace myself for visits to come.

Here's the rundown for this visit: 

1. Luckyrice / Social Eatz - a featured vendor for the week with Angelo from Top Chef (totally adorbs!) showcasing a couple of dishes from his newish Midtown restaurant.  He was dishing up beautiful tomato curry soup ($2) and Korean beef tacos ($3).  

Angelo!

I opted for the Korean taco which had a nice heaping serving of marinated bulgogi.  

The meat was a lot darker than I am used to seeing for bulgogi, and I was worried that it would potentially be dry, but it was sufficiently moist and nicely flavored.  With the crisp fresh julienned vegetables, the taco was a bright, solid snack for a mere three bux!

2. Next stop, my most anticipated new vendor (who I couldn't find the first week of the Willyburg Flea), was Dough, a popular doughnut spot in Bed-Stuy.  The popularity is evident by the patient hipsters lined up to eat their wares at 1pm.

A long line means that at least you will be able to carefully decide the flavors you want to try from their beautiful, portable doughnut display case.  Each donut costs $2 a pop; they are gigantic so totally worth the dough - aah puns! Love them!

Glossy and beautifully iced.

So many options!

Serious Eats identified Dough as having the best doughnut holes.  You'd be happy to see that you can try them here, 4 for a $1.

Coated with cinnamon and sugar.

Soft, crispy and warmly coated in sweetness and spice.

I had a hard time selecting flavors when it came to be my turn (times like this is when I wish Diana lived in the same city as me!), so I ended up with three big fatties:

Dulce de leche topped with toasted sliced almonds.

The toasted almonds were the best!

While Serious Eats notes that Dough's doughnuts are too dense and dough-y, I rather liked it!  Yes, it's a heavy doughnut, but the filling is so soft and pillowy (I want to smother my face in it) which pairs nicely with my favorite part of the doughnut: the crispy fried exterior.  If you look carefully at the picture below, you can see the line of grease along the perimeter penetrating the pure white of the inside.  That my friend, is serious deliciousness.  Because it is so big, you could totally be satisfied with just eating one doughnut, but that is pretty boring.

Let's move on.

Blood orange with slivers of candied blood orange.  The flavors were so remarkably citrusy, bright and refreshing.  With the blue skies and sun overhead, it was the perfect doughnut to mark the emerging spring.

Chocolate with Earl Grey did not fare well in my paper sack (ick, I know) but it all looks the same in my stomach, right?  Could not taste any hint of Earl Grey, but the chocolatey icing was spot on - rich, sweet and satisfying.  

Three donuts and a Korean taco later, I was still trekking on.  I still had $7 to burn and a small spot in my stomach for something savory.

I tried a sample of Flour City Pasta's goods (a cooked medley tossed in olive oil and sprinkled ever so slightly with salt and pepper to let the pasta speak for itself).  I was told the grains are locally sourced in Ithaca and ground upstate to produce this organic pasta.  I couldn't really taste anything particularly distinctive with their pasta, but it's always nice to support the locavore movement.

3. My nose ended up selecting the final spot for my last $7: Table Tales' Sunday Gravy.  I know, Sunday Gravy is a weird name that Diana and I had to get over in Boston (and ended up adoring), and it appears to be similar here: slow braised pork, beef, sausage, and san marzano tomatoes; with those ingredients, what's not to like!  This weekend, they were serving the Sunday Gravy over imported garafalo macaroni.  

It smelled amazing. You will have to order it.

Dishing the thick Sunday gravy over freshly cooked macaroni. 

What?  You want a closer look at the Sunday Gravy?  By all means, stick your face in this lovely red sauce!

Grated cheese?  Uhm. Duh. Please. Yes. Buckets.

I was so excited to dig into this, I love fusilli (it has the word silly in it!) pasta and the sauce was so rich and thick and beautiful and meaty.  All my favorite words in life.

Uhm. Total love / bliss at first bite.  Every bit as flavorful as it looks: hearty, sweet, savory, and I even found a thin slice of super-fennelly sausage that I particularly enjoyed.  They sell the gravy by the pints which I might consider since I could've eaten a punchbowl of this.  What a wonderful new option at the Brooklyn Flea!

One hour later, I took my first swim class, and I am not sure if it's because of my overall nervousness in learning how to swim or the 5000 calories I consumed for lunch, but I sank like a rock.  Maybe I will stick to something lighter next time (or just eat a little earlier) :D.

Till next time!

Brooklyn Flea

27 N 6th St

Williamsburg, NY

*Note: for those of you doing the math, $3 is unaccounted for...the watermelon juice was so refreshing :)