Ordering a bloody Mary isn’t the only way to get some veggies in a bar.
The new Bushwick Avenue bar the Tradesman will open up its patio to a farmer’s market this spring, allowing Brooklynites to get everything they need to make a vodka sauce while getting sauced on vodka.
“For a lot of young people, the bar is where they lead a lot of their lives,” said bar co-owner Larissa Varges. “It’s a part of the community and we want to play a role in that community — not just help get people wasted.”
As crops start coming into season, the Tradesman will work with Blooming Hill Farms, an organic grower upstate in Orange County, to stock kale, spinach, shallots and apples on either Saturdays or Sundays.
Varges also plans to invite borough food-sellers to peddle their goods.
“I want to find Brooklyn people who are making amazing honey or charcuterie or baked goods and give them a table,” she said.
The idea to mix a bar with a farmer’s market came after Varges used a table in the front of the pub to sell extra produce intended to be used as ingredients in mixed drinks and the few food items offered at the Trademan.
Neighborhood produce fans are thrilled an organic farmers market is coming to the area, which has fewer green-sellers than Williamsburg, or Bushwick around the Morgan Avenue L train stop.
“There’s a very small farmers market over by the post office. I’ve been going to that one for two years,” said Erica Lopez, who lives on Manhattan Avenue. “If there were one that offered more things and had more organic products or more variety, I would be very happy.”
This isn’t the first time the bar has held events that aren’t very, well, bar-like. Last summer, the Tradesman hosted a small food stand in front of the bar, and in the fall the watering hole was home to a pop-up Ethiopian restaurant called Bunna Cafe.
“The bar is a great canvas for doing things,” said Sam Saverance, one of the owners of Bunna Cafe. “It’s clean and spacious and Larissa is very open-minded. It’s good to have a place like that around.”
The Tradesman [222 Bushwick Ave. between Meserole Street and Montrose Avneue, (718) 386–5300, bushwicktradesman.com.
Reach reporter Danielle Furfaro at dfurfaro@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-2511. Follow her at twitter.com/DanielleFurfaro.
