The Brooklyn Night Market kicked off its third season with rain and revelry Monday

By Scott Lynch

Thousands of hungry revelers hit up Industry City on Monday for the season opener of the Brooklyn Night Market, a monthly food (and more!) festival that takes over an entire block with more than 30 different vendors slinging everything from Mexican street dogs to Barbadian fish cakes to Filipino meat skewers to vegan deep fried pizza.

“We’re taking Mondays and making it the hottest night in Brooklyn,” said Marco Shalma, the founder of MASC Hospitality, which runs the Brooklyn Night Market, the Bronx Night Market in Fordham, and the Uptown Night Market in Harlem. “Monday is the new Saturday! This is where the party really starts.”

There were lots of Night Market rookies out there on Monday feeding the crowds. Williamsburg resident Pete Roth served up three different monster sandwiches on slabs of his just-baked sourdough focaccia at the new ‘Caccia! booth. The braised beef with chili de arbol was particularly appealing. “We’re super stoked to be here,” Roth said. “This is going to be the summer of ‘Caccia!”

Braised beef sandwich on sourdough focaccia from ‘Caccia!, $20 (Photo by Scott Lynch)

The Jasmine’s Roti stand featured a family from Flatbush sharing their best curry chicken and shrimp. And a Connecticut outfit called Paella Party made its Industry City debut by rolling out enormous, eye-catching pans sizzling away with all manner of mariscos.

Paella de mariscos, at the Paella Party booth (Photo by Scott Lynch)

The best thing I ate at the opener came from the sprawling BarrelHouse tent, a Columbian barbecue operation specialized in smoked chicharrón. Colombian chicharrón isn’t fried, so although the pork skin was plenty crisp, the meat (and fat) was incredibly tender. Just delicious, especially with the garlicky green sauce and chunks of grilled pineapple. The smoked picanha, or rump steak, was also incredible.

Colombian chicharron with pineapple from BarrelHouse, $12 (Photo by Scott Lynch)

Other dishes I sampled on Monday included a small plate of that paella de mariscos from Paella Party, a trio of skewers (saucy chicken, smoky pork, chimichurri-buried beef) with tostones from the Pincho Truck, and a vegan fried funnel cake covered in blueberries and lemon from the liveliest booth of the night, Carnival Dreams. The best sweet treats on offer were the cookies from Chictreatz.

There was a lot going on at the all-vegan Carnival Dreams booth (Photo by Scott Lynch)

There were at least three burger spots, several jerk chicken grills, multiple Filipino food stands, multiple juice stands, and more physical trucks than you usually see at these sorts of festivals (the pizza truck seemed a bit unnecessary to be honest … come on man, this Brooklyn). And maybe because there was so much grilled meat being served up and down the block, in general the prices at the Brooklyn Night Market seemed pretty high this year.

Meat galore, grilling up and down the block (Photo by Scott Lynch)

There were many, many dishes that cost $20 and above. With tax and tip you could easily drop 30 bucks at some spots for a small boat of food that, for the most part, you had to wolf down standing on the street, getting jostled by the crowds. Not that these vendors — small, family-run businesses all — are getting rich by any means, but still, those are full-service restaurant prices.

Blueberry and lemon vegan funnel cake from Carnival Dreams, $12 (Photo by Scott Lynch)

That said, the folks that came out seemed determined to have a good time in spite of an early burst of rain. As Shalma put it: “The biggest compliment that I hear is when people say, ‘the people who show up here are real New Yorkers. Not tourists. These are real neighborhood people.’ That makes me happy.”

Photo by Scott Lynch

The Brooklyn Night Market will be held at Industry City, on 36th Street between Third and Second Avenues, from 4 to 10 p.m. on the last Monday of the month through October. The remaining dates are May 27, June 24, July 29, August 26, September 30 and October 28.