Delicious Artisanal Food at the Queens County Market in Long Island City

This past weekend we had the pleasure of checking out the latest Queens County Market, a monthly artisanal market that “pops-up” in various spots around Queens (see our write up of July’s market). For a while it’s been based in Sunnyside in the Sunnyside Community Services building (read The Experimental Gourmand’s experience last month there), but this month it changed venues and took place at the Laughing Devil Comedy Club in Long Island City.

There were ten vendors this month (a number of which got their start at The Entrepreneur’s Space), offering a range of items including spicy chipotle salsa, steaming West Indian chicken curry, luscious Bavarian cream, chocolaty whoopee pies, rich tomato sauce, fruit ketchup, and more. The space was cozy, which made it easy to chat it up with the vendors, all of who were excited about their product, as well as being super friendly and gregarious. It was nice to see so many smiles at the market! Not to mention a slew of enthusiastic and eager customers.

As we entered the Laughing Devil, a somewhat narrow space, there was a bar on the right serving up tasty brews by the pint and friendly staff happy to make beer suggestions (and offer samples so you knew exactly what you were getting). Katrina Schultz-Richter, the founder and organizer of the Queens County Market was there right near the beginning of the vendors and gave us a cheery hello and a hug to welcome us there.

The first vendor was Manda’s Bananas, which has connections to Sweet Silk (see below). The product consists of savory and slightly spicy plantain chips that are cut really thin – most plantain chips are rather thick and a bit of a chore to chomp through, but these were so light, they were really a joy to eat. They are also a nice alternative to potato chips, and like the slogan of a famous potato chip company, “betcha can’t eat just one” of these plantain chips either.

Next to Manda’s Bananas was Sweet Silk, offering up wonderful little truffles made with ingredients like high cacao content chocolate, coconut, and fruit. They were truly delicious and it’s great to find products out there that do not add extra unnecessary sugar. Take a look at the Edible Queens interview with Sweet Silk’s owner Shefalee Patel earlier this year, too, for more insight into the startup.

Spicy ‘n Sweet (aka Nonna’s) is a returning vendor, and they make incredible Italian tomato sauces and red pepper pesto. Their sauces come in both sweet and spicy versions; and the red pepper pesto is quite spicy, so chiliheads – this one’s for you. These sauces really go well with pasta, whether it’s fresh prepared, store bought, or homemade.  It’s actually good enough to eat with a spoon, too.

Cookie Fairy Sweets, featuring My Man Cookies, make classic cookie styles like chocolate chip, peanut butter, oatmeal, and chocolate, and they are available in your grocer’s freezer, ready for you to pop in the oven and bake – such convenience! They also make a wonderful whoopee pie – two light, cake-like rich chocolate cookies with creamy vanilla buttercream sandwiched inside.

Mel’s Melting Pot is known for their wonderful Quebecois-influenced fruit ketchups – one is sweet and one is spicy. They also make a lovely apple-quince sauce, too. At the market they served one of the fruit ketchups on a sliced corn dog – brilliant! The local mamas at Queens Mamas love their product, too.

2 Penz was back with a Bayerische Cream, which is a Bavarian cream. It’s light and fluffy, with specks of vanilla bean, and topped with an orange sauce and some fresh fruit (an orange supreme and halved red and green grapes). The taste is so wonderful – pleasantly sweet, with the bit of tang from the sauce and fruit – and the texture – creamy, light and fluffy – so remarkable, this is really an outstanding thing to eat.

On the other end of the spectrum is this remarkable chipotle salsa from Gustavo’s Salsa, which is bright and spicy, with that classic smoky flavor of the chipotle pepper. Sturdy tortilla chips were on the table with which to scoop up the salsa sitting in the molcajete, and it was like a flavor explosion in your mouth. This is a really excellent product and one of the highlights of the market.

Sabba’s Spicery makes excellent spice blends – their very popular Southwest blend is great on anything from chicken to beef, serving as a really flavorful dry rub. They also sell a spice blend that is particularly good on fish and one that is great mixed in with sour cream for a dip or into cream cheese for a bagel schmear.

Chulita’s Famous was there with a big tray of tasty chicken empanadas. They even had a container of Gustavo’s chipotle salsa on the table for people to put on their empanadas – and that choice was a wise one. The two went together perfectly. They also sell sofrito, adobo, and sazon.

Toward the back of the market was the i heart keenwah table. This product is a kind of brittle made with the protein-rich grain, quinoa. It’s really crunchy, a little sweet, and perfectly delightful (lots of other people love it, too). They have four flavors, including almond, ginger peanut, cranberry cashew, and the most popular flavor involves chocolate, natch.

In the back of the market was a table with trays of both chicken and meatless West Indian curry, made by Veda’s Cakes & Catering. And while we didn’t taste it, it sure smelled good. They had tins of chicken patties for sale as well. In the past, they’ve sold these delicious almond cookies, so keep an eye out for them at a future market. Veda recently taught a class at Global Kitchen, a setting for immigrant-led cooking classes, and here are the photos – looks like it was a fabulous time.

All in all, it was a terrific event, full of good food, friendly people, and great times. There are a bunch of artisanal food markets in other parts of the city (e.g. Smorgasburg and Dekalb Market in Brooklyn, New Amsterdam Market in Manhattan), it’s great to see the momentum move to Queens, and the appreciation for artisanal foods increase. We’re looking forward to next month’s market.