Red Hook Continued

After finishing up my beer at Rocky Sullivan's we headed over to the soccer fields to check out the scene. It was a bit of a walk, but not too bad on a nice day, even if we did get a bit lost. We knew we were getting close when we began to smell the food. We knew we were there when we saw the crowd and the sign.

We Have Arrived


Now this place is great. Most street fairs in New York are kind of bland these days with the same old food stands at every one. An exception is the Atlantic Antic, but more of that another time. Here you had real vendors making most of the food on the spot and it had the feel of a genuine Mexican fair. Now I know that not all the vendors were Mexican, but I go to Mexico every year and this is what it felt like.

And, of course, a real Mexican staple is the grilled corn smothered in mayonnaise and sprinkled with red pepper.

Grillin' The Corn


I had my heart set on a taco though. Some of the best, and cheapest, food you can get in Puerto Vallarta is on the street. There you have vendors with chairs set out and regulars show up every day and night to visit and eat. It is surprising how many tourists avoid these vendors convinced they will catch some horrible aliment from which they will never recover. Their loss, in my opinion.

Well, there was no problem in getting my taco fix here. I liked the looks of the meat being grilled here.

Grillin' The Meat


Now this was a deal that you don't find in New York too often. I got a big taco, all made on the spot, and a couple of fried pork rinds, also freshly prepared, with all the fixings I could load on my plate for only $3.

My Three Buck Special


It was great fun just wandering among the vendors and checking out the action. There were a lot of people and a lot to see.

More Corn


You can figure out which vendors are the most popular by checking out the length of the lines.

Lining Up


Now keep in mind, a lot of this food is prepared by hand and your plate assembled after you order. As a result, the lines move a bit slowly. But the wait is well worth it.

There was also a stand where you could buy various treats. This reminded me of the road-side stands that I have encountered in Mexico and Costa Rica.

A Road-Side Stand, Kind Of


There are benches by the soccer field where you can sit and some of the vendors also have tables and chairs set up.

Have A Seat


Now, I may have mentioned that the prices here are very reasonable. You can see what I mean.

The Menu


I started out with a $2 Chilean meat empanada and it was delicious. The meat was cooking in a pot and the crispy dough wrappers were being deep-fried before the whole thing was wrapped up by hand and given to you. I could have eaten a bunch, but there was more to be had.

Enjoying My Empanada


I am a big fan of cerviche so I could hardly pass up trying their offering. For $7 you got a very generous serving of some of the best cerviche I have ever had. It was chuck full of fish, shrimp, squid, and octopus. The octopus was a nice surprise because I really like it and it isn't that easy to find.

Savoring My Cerviche


The Mysterious Chinese Woman ordered the seafood rice for $8 and declared it a real deal. You got a full plate of rice heavily laced with both squid and shrimp and maybe more stuff as well. The rice and the seafood were prepared separately and mixed in just before being served so everything retains its flavor. Much better than when everything is lumped together in a pot and cooked together for hours.

After eating our fill we decided to get a bit of exercise by hiking home. It was getting quite warm and the sun was out so I decided to stop into Downtown Bar And Grill for a couple of brews.

I started out with something that I hadn't seen before, a draft Glacier Harvest Wet Hop Ale from Harpoon. Most beers and ales are made using dried hops, partially because it is easier. Most hops are dried and refrigerated immediately after being picked. This makes them easier to store and ship and does result in more consistency. Plus, hops are harvested in the fall and this allows them to be used in brewing throughout the entire year.

Wet hop beers are brewed using fresh hops that contain about 60% moisture when they are picked. This way they still retain some of their natural oils and flavors that dissipate when they are dried. As a result you get a nice intense flavor in the beer. Of course you have to use them within hours of their being picked so you don't see this style too often.

Now, to Harpoon's credit, they don't over-hop this ale so you can really enjoy the hoppy flavor without being inundated by the bitterness. I found it to be quite delicious. It has a decent enough 6.7% alcohol content.

I followed this up with a Saranac Imperial IPA draft. This is a stiff 8.5% alcohol and, in keeping with the IPA tradition, very hoppy and very bitter. Nice copper color and a nice white head. It was good, don't get me wrong, but everyone is so into hops now that I am getting a bit over-hopped. I have to say I preferred the Glacier Harvest, at least on this day. But, being a bit of a hop-head, I will still be hitting the IPAs pretty hard.

All in all it was a great day. It is well worth the trip to Red Hook to try out the food vendors. Their season closes at the end of October and as mentioned in my previous blog, nobody knows what next year holds. I am certainly going to try to get back again. There is a cool liquor store in Red Hook that I want to visit again and when I do I will be posting about it.