Smorgasburg Announces New 2024 Vendors
March 28, 2024
Everyone’s favorite outdoor food market is back in Prospect Park! Kicking off its 14th season on Sunday April 7, Smorgasburg Prospect Park is back on Breeze Hill every Sunday through October. Presented in partnership with Prospect Park Alliance, this year’s Smorgasburg Prospect Park features over 60 new and returning vendors ranging from first-generation, immigrant-owned businesses and family-operated eateries to market debuts and long-time NYC-established and loved spots.
We hope you have worked up an appetite this winter because highlights include fragrant Ethiopian stews with fresh 100% teff-flour injera from Emeye Ethiopian cuisine, Hawaii-style street comforts like octopus poke tacos and garlic soy chicken sandos by Mama Guava at Kalihi, Jamaican favorites from Tosh’s Patties complete with top ingredients, Lisbonata’s Portuguese custard tarts, pastéis de nata, and so much more. This year’s Smorgasburg season opens with a remarkable breadth and depth of new vendors. The full, mouth-watering lineup of new vendors coming to Prospect Park is below:
Double(s) or Nothin’ Flatbush born-and-raised registered nurse turned chef Renee Davis emphasizes the iconic street food’s “importance within the Trinidadian cuisine panel.” Doubles, or curried chickpeas between barra, gets dressed up with curry goat, shrimp curry, callaloo and more. The business name not only plays on this iconic food, but nods to Davis’s mother’s resilience and commitment making a way for her family in New York as a first-generation immigrant.
Emeye Ethiopian Cuisine Meaning “mother” in Amharic, Emeye serves traditional dishes like meser wet (red lentils with the spice blend berbere) and sega wet (slow cooked beef with berbere and caramelized onions), all served with fresh, 100% teff–flour injera, the fermented flatbread that chef Ferehiwot Sheffield describes as “the backbone of Ethiopian food.” After years of working in other Ethiopian spots, she launched Emeye to introduce a wider audience to the beauty of Ethiopian food and culture—and of perfect injera.
Je T’aime Patisserie French pastry with self-described “Black girl spin,” Jatee Kearsley’s Je T’aime Patisserie is “made from love, made in love, and made to extend love to our community” in Bed Stuy. A self-taught baker known for her neighborhood bake sales as a teenager in Queens, Kearsley brings classic viennoiserie to the people plus weekend specials like a churro-inspired croissant filled with spicy chocolate or a matcha croissant, each layer laminated with matcha butter, stuffed with pineapple cream.
Kalihi Monique Cadavona aka Mama Guava aims to share “real Hawaii food” with New York: food influenced by a range of Asian, Pacific Islander and Native Hawaiian ingredients and techniques, interpreted through her private events and catering business, Guava Story, and now her new street food offshoot, Kalihi. Flavors of Cadavona’s Hawaii are showcased at Kalihi through dishes like octopus poke tacos and garlic soy chicken sandos piled with cucumber kimchi and mac salad.
Perro Slang Food Upending the New York street dog conventions, Perro Slang Food’s Colombian-style hot dogs feature melted cheese on each one plus lots of fixings and homemade sauces “that give our ‘perros’ a tasty and comfy touch.” Come for the perros, stay for the corn skillet: corn kernels, chicken, bacon and mushrooms, smothered in cheese and served with garlic bread.
Lisbonata Founded by George Kaya, a trained pastry chef with roots in Turkey most recently living in Poland, Lisbonata launched last year centered on a single item, pastéis de nata: Portugal’s signature sweet, flaky pastry with a custardy middle and leopard-spotted top. Lisbonata’s modern take emphasizes its all-butter crust and unorthodox flavors like pistachio cream and raspberry.
Poutine Dauphine A new concept from Antony Nassif, the shawarma mastermind behind Smorg-stand-turned-brick-and-mortar East Village runaway hit Hen House; inspired by the chef’s Montreal roots, this “fun and playful” poutine concept lays potato puffs (pomme dauphine) as the poutine foundation instead of fries.Toppings include classic cheese curds and gravy, Montreal smoked meat, even truffle and foie.
Twig’m Husband-and-wife duo draw on the Korean street food niche of “gangjung”. Try plump bites of chicken in spicy-sweet and soy-garlic glazes, mixed with chewy rice cakes; a glossy green pumpkin seed brittle; and yakgwa, a honeyed flower-shaped cookie recently repopularized in Korean pop culture. After years of working in the New York restaurant industry, this is chef Sean Lee’s first independent venture, alongside his life and business partner Jenny Yeo.
Tosh’s Patties Julian Tosh Chareton’s “high-quality hand-crafted Jamaican patties” are not your ordinary bodega patties. Seeing a gap in the market for a well-made option with good ingredients—as well as the general love of flaky, juicy, stuffed-dough foods among eaters—Chareton turned to his Jamaican heritage and lifelong “obsession with Jamaican foods, especially patties” as a response.
Virginia Smashburginia A passion project from restaurant chef turned recipe developer Tyler Thrift, Virginia Smashburginia—say that three times fast—is “inspired by the comfort of back porch gatherings and family cookouts,” drawing from Thrift’s Virginia upbringing and coast-to-coast smashburger research. Burgers on the menu reference everything from his hometown joint, Ettrick Deli, to more recent favorites from LA travels, all built around his custom beef blend, available as singles, doubles and even triples, with thinly sliced grilled onions pressed right into the meat, and a tangy “Thrifty” special sauce.
Wings by Chef Picky Osei “Chef Picky” Blackett is known for many things: Traveling the world espousing his “Everything Oxtail” platform (a hit Smorgasburg stand out the gate last season with oxtail empanadas, tacos and more); co-organizing community-centered events like the diasporic celebration Come For Curry; running his Flatbush Trinbagonian restaurant and rum shop, Ariapita. Wings by Chef Picky offers an array of turkey legs and duck and chicken wings featuring sauces inspired by the history of Asian influence in the Caribbean.
