Let’s do this! NY edition- Part 1

From Smorgasburg

Chris and I started out strong with our mission to explore the city that you can read about here. Over the weekend we met up with some friends of ours and trekked to Williamsburg.

First on our list was Smorgasburg. Located right on the east river it has some amazing vendors from all over NYC with foods ranging from Ethiopian, Thai, sandwiches, wings, locally made ice cream, amazing hipster sodas, and so so much more. I HIGHLY recommend it. Like any place there are good things and bad things about Smorgasburg, but I can honestly say in this case the good FAR outweighed the bad. In my opinion (especially if you enjoy cooking, baking, food, etc) it is a NYC must.

Good: something for EVERYONE, amazing food no matter what you get, always places to sit (limited picnic tables, but plenty of shady seating on the grass), the view (of the east river and Manhattan) is FANTASTIC, the lines move quickly, great for friends visiting the city who want to experience some quintessential NYC dining (i.e. Ramen Burger, Asia Dog, Dough doughnuts, etc. are all there in one place), great for larger parties when you don’t want to have to make reservations, THEY SERVE ALCOHOL (you have to sit in a specific area and they do card so don’t forget your ID).

Bad: can be expensive (although you can definitely do it inexpensively), it’s all out doors so pick your weekend wisely (if it’s raining don’t go, if its extremely hot don’t go).

After Smorgasburg we headed over to the Brooklyn Brewery which is just a few blocks away. I want to preface my review with saying we had a really good time, but I am reviewing these places with the question “are these necessary to see if you are in/visiting NYC?” in mind. Here’s the deal with Brooklyn Brewery. If you live here, it’s a fun Saturday activity. If you are visiting from out of town it may be a pretty big time suck for something that you can do other places (unless you are a huge Brooklyn Brewery beer fan then you should totally go). You start off in line. It wasn’t particularly bad when we went we showed up around 1:30. We got into the brewery and were handed tour tickets for the 3:30 tour which was surprising, but they have the bar area so we just decided to get drinks and wait. You get beer tokens (1 for $5 or 5 for $20) we went with the 5 for $20. Each beer (except 1 which is almost 9% ABV) is 1 token. You can also use 3 tokens to get a souvenir glass with 1 pour in it (Chris and I did that and it worked well… he got 2 beers and I got 1 and we got a souvenir glass). Seating is definitely limited we didn’t get a seat until about 30 mins before our tour although we did have standing tables before that. The tour was fun our tour guide was hilarious he made lots of jokes and told lots of stories. He really seemed to love his job which always helps. The website says you can go ahead of time and get tickets for a tour 1 hour ahead then you could go do something else (just make sure you get a stamp before you leave so you don’t have to wait in line when you come back), but honestly I would just stay and have a drink. Also wear close toed shoes. They didn’t seem to be checking, but it would suck to be turned away for something that silly although you are still allowed in the bar area you just wouldn’t be allowed on the tour. All of that being said, in my opinion if you live in NYC it is worth a visit, if you are visiting and love beer and in particular Brooklyn Brewery beer then it is worth a visit, but if you are just visiting I think skip it and do something that won’t take up so much of your day.

Good: Good beer, nice staff, really fun and informative tour, nice space, reasonably priced, lines move relatively quickly.

Bad: Line for entry to Brewery, long line for beer, little to no seating, loud in the bar area, the whole thing takes about 3+ hours.