Dressler and Dumont (two separate restaurants and same owner?) had a stand that had gazpacho with marinated rock shrimp and basil oil. The person running the stand was awesome and didn't even bother punching our tickets after we waved it in his face. On top of that the gazpacho was very well done and rock shrimp was still oh-so-tender. The basil oil was the icing on the cake! Dressler is another place I would love to stop by and check out. Their New American menu looks amazing...Dumont Burger is supposed to not only have good burgers but also an excellent mac and cheese.
Halcyon Gourmet had a stromboli with chickpea and grated carrot salad. The stromboli was solid and the grated carrot and soy based dressing made it taste almost like an appetizer salad you'd get at a Japanese restaurant.
Amber, a Greenpoint steakhouse, had delicious looking NY Strips , served with mash and steak sauce. The sample dish was also solid and the steak was just cooked to medium rare (my preference). A look at their restaurant menu shows that their steaks appear to fairly reasonably prices in the $20s and the appetizers are mostly less than $20. Non steak meat entrees, as well as seafood entrees, are all below $20...Methinks this is another restaurant to add to the list!
Caracas, an arepas bar with locations in the East Village and Brooklyn, is a place I've been looooong meaning to try. The sample was a tilapia stew with rice, black beans, plantains, and mini-arepa. The flavors were great and everything tasted very homey...the actual arepas at the restaurant are probably amazing...
Teddy's had a lamb burger with greek salad with feta and olives. Although another pretty solid dish, the serving size was pretty good and the sample was substantial.
Loreley Beer Garden had a sausage with kraut, as well as a few German beers for sample. Here I got a half pint of the Gaffel Kolsch.
Calyer had a delicious looking chicharones with tangy tomato sauce....they were ok, but the serving size was TINY (ironic that it's all caps hahaha). Still, their very new restaurant has gotten some pretty good reviews on Yelp so far...
Two other cocktails worth noting...Trix Bar's Trix Cocktail.. Red and White grapes with Pisco, lime juice, and chardonnay.
The Counting Room's "Modern Fleet" cocktail...Rum with vanilla infused port, fresh lime, and allspice.
Lastly, this seemed interesting so I'm going to just throw it in...Zico, who sells flavored bottled water, had a stand that was giving out free bottles. I had to try the chocolate flavored water...and interestingly enough....it actually works! It's like a lighter, low cal chocolate milk....but the flavors are still there.
So that's it...two entries, a ton of food and drink samples, and all for $35 with a half off coupon. Hopefully they'll have a similar deal next year!
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