Brunch @ The Grub Street Food Festival

Always happy to peruse a food festival, I was super-excited for New York magazine's Grub Street Food Festival, which took over the Hester Street Fair yesterday. Accompanied by my friend and KKNY fan Cathy--who was in town visiting from glorious Pennsyltucky--we hit the fair bright and early...a good idea, as numerous comments on the Grub Street blog complained about the overcrowded conditions in the afternoon.

I resisted Sigmund Pretzelshop's mini cheddar/truffle pretzels, but I tried a bite of Cathy's plain salted version, and it was beautifully fluffy and flavorful--especially with the beet-infused horseradish sauce.

La Sonrisa's pork empanada. I love my empanadas, and this puppy was one of the fresh and tastiest I've had. Cathy picked up some of their cucumber lemonade--what a great idea!

Goodies from the Macaron Parlour. Cathy went for a caramel apple (the red one), and I went for the bacon maple (He gave me two because one was broken. Score!). The bacon was yummy, but overall it was little too sweet for my taste. I'll try the Thai chili next time around...

Skim Kim's Goguma Shepherd's pie. Who'd a thunk kimchi in that traditional British dish would be so awesome?

I talked Cathy into a waffle and spekuloos spread from Wafels & Dinges, and she was glad she'd listened!

I never made it back to the Melt Bakery's stand for one of its newly-invented fried pumpkin pies. Next time...

All filled up, I picked up some of AnChoi's pickles to take home: the brightly wonderful green mango and the surprisingly spectacular picked shrimp (who knew?!).