They took a bite out of Bushwick!
Hundreds of hungry Brooklynites chowed down on dishes from restaurants in the hip neighborhood at the Taste of Bushwick food fair on Tuesday, where one attendee said he finally got to sink his teeth into a vegan sandwich he’s been dying to try — and was not disappointed.
“I was really excited about the jackfruit ‘pulled pork,’ ” Park Sloper John McLauhlin said of the fruit disguised as meat served by Bushwich Sandwich Lab, an eatery inside Troutman Street cocktail bar Precious Metal. “It was spot on, and really hard to tell the difference.”
Fifty vendors from around the North Brooklyn enclave set up shop at the fifth-annual event, which, ironically, unfolded at Williamsburg venue Brooklyn Steel instead of in its namesake neighborhood.
Other Bushwick businesses that sampled their cuisine included Knickerbocker Avenue seafood shack Cape House, Bushwick Avenue vegan bakery Brooklyn Whiskers, and Irving Avenue Vietnamese joint Lucy’s Vietnamese Kitchen, whose co-owner said she handed out lemongrass-chicken-stuffed summer rolls topped with peanut sauce until the last guests left the building.
“It was really busy,” said Sahra Nguyen, who lives in Bushwick. “A lot of people came back for seconds, and thirds. That was a great sign.”
Guests shelled out as much as $60 for a ticket to the all-you-can-eat-and-drink bash, with proceeds going to local theater, the Bushwick Starr. But the cash earned came second to the joy of watching Kings Countians come from all over to savor the neighborhood’s flavor, according to Nguyen.
“We love to be a part of anything that supports the Bushwick community,” she said.
