The New York Times fawns over ze Flea again today, this time with a slurping sampler of our scrumptious food vendors in the Wednesday Dining section. (The dad in the pic is licking a Blue Marble cone btw.)
As Fleagoers know, the market is a place to both shop and eat, and in coming weeks we'll be making it a weekly stop on your grocery shop, with fresh baked bread, fancy pickles, kimchi and readymade "japchae" Korean soups, and of course the granola and sweet stuff we already know and love.
As Times scribe Peter Meehan notes, at long last this Sunday we welcome Rafael and Fernando's renowned huaraches and pupusas, which join the delicious grilled corn and fruit from the Vaqueros from last week.
Come, graze with us.
Photo: Hiroko Masuike for the New York Times
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Comments
I am REALLY excited about the pickles and kimchi! As much as I love me some delicious sweets....I am a true addict to all things in the pickle family.
Posted by: kumquatcupcakery at May 21, 2008 5:13 PM
no love in the article for wafels and dinges? that's my favorite.
Posted by: z at May 21, 2008 6:22 PM
A journalist friend is impressed by the PR work being done for the market. But she said the quote: "Most of the 100-plus vendors I saw were craftspeople, young designers and folks selling costly vintage items rather than peddlers of bric-a-brac who would make the appellation “flea” a more fitting one", did the flea vendors no favors.
Few people understand or appreciate how difficult it is to get inexpensive items to NYC markets. Flea market vendors are not magicially immune from inflationary pressures. It ain't the 1970s.
Buying isn't what it used to be, nor is the price of gas or the cost of storage. Prices are going up in thrift stores, estate sales, auctions, and everywhere else vendors do their usual shopping. Maybe its time for someone to write an ariticle about how difficult it is to bring low-cost items to NYC markets while still making a profit. It get's harder every year.
It's true that cheap bric-a-brac markets still exist. But my family spends a few hundred hours a year driving to remote towns and villages, across half a dozen states, to find them. You can still buy a decent $3.50 vintage handbag at the Salvation Army in Western Massachusetts, but if you're from NYC, it will cost you $75 in gas to find it.
Flea markets in NYC are a dying breed. They have gone the way of cheap diners, rent control apartments and the local corner bar with $2.00 beers. If New Yorkers want to preserve the NYC fleamarket, everyone will have to make more of an effort to support them.
Posted by: mballe at May 22, 2008 11:57 AM
could you tell me what this last post has to do with food at the flea? seriously, everyone has to complain about something.
Posted by: guest at May 23, 2008 7:43 PM
Have to say I thought it sucked. Traveled down from Williamsburg to go, but was no allowed in because I had a small dog in a bag. Her feet would not have touched this precious stretch of ground--no way she could have done any damage. Let me see, I can take her on airplanes, the subway, Metro North, and New Jersey transit, no problem. All of these INDOOR venues trust me to keep my pet in her bag, but not the OUTDOOR flea market. Was I really in Brooklyn, becasue the attitude felt more like Manhattan--oh wait, I can take me dog to the flea market in Manhattan. Total crap. Won't waster another hour of my weekend heading down there.
Posted by: guest at May 25, 2008 5:05 PM
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