Brooklyn Night Market brings the party back to Industry City

By Scott Lynch

Thousands of hungry revelers descended upon Industry City on Memorial Day for the season’s rowdy return of the Brooklyn Night Market, a monthly food-and-more festival that turns the entire street into a party.

From now through October, on the last Monday of every month, more than 40 food vendors and about 20 designers and artisans — small businesses all — set up shop on on 36th Street between Second and Third Avenues, and within an hour or so the place is packed with Sunset Park locals and destination diners.

“The Brooklyn Night Market is the last of our markets to open this season, and we’re so excited to be here again,” Marco Shalma, the founder of MASC Hospitality, which also operates markets in Harlem and the Bronx, tells Brooklyn Magazine. “The setting over here in Industry City, with the sunset over the water, there’s nothing like it. It’s so gorgeous.”

The lineup will change slightly every month, but there are so many excellent food vendors making the Night Market circuit that it’s impossible to try everything anyway. And because it’s a late-afternoon-into-night scene, with a full slate of live music performances and DJs, the vibe is different here than it is at that other great Brooklyn food market, Smorgasburg.

My Memorial Day feast was led by the wonderfully sloppy chapli kebab cheeseburger, slathered in green chutney mayo, from Mohibullah Rahmati and his incomparable Afghan street food stand Nansense.

Chapli kebab cheeseburger from Nansense, $10 (Scott Lynch)

The evening’s showstopper dish — it literally stopped people in their tracks when they saw it — was the smoked mixed grill from a Venezuelan outfit called Humos, just a magnificent mountain of meat that included sliced up flank steak, pork ribs, chorizo, and BBQ chicken.

Smoked mixed grill from Humos, $26 (Scott Lynch)

Sassy’s Fish Cakes was back with Saundra Crews’s fiery, Barbados-style deep-fried beauties.

Sassy’s spicy fishcakes, $12 (Scott Lynch)

The Filipino LechonBae served up tremendous mounds of fatty pig.

Making the pancit at Lechonbae (Scott Lynch)

Creole Soul ladled out a thick and rich seafood gumbo. And chef Sebastian Palafox brought his hefty, Mexican-style sausage sandwiches and loaded up nacho fries all the way from Puerto Vallarta to the Perros Locos stand.

The Brooklyn Night Market always has a bunch of vegan options as well, including jerk tofu and curry potato “chick’n” at Bevo’s Kitchen. and jackfruit burritos and al pastor mushroom tacos at Pinche Vegana.

And desserts! There are so many fun and delicious sweet treats here. The stellar Twister Cake Bakery made their Brooklyn Night market debut on Monday, and their sweet, chewy, Transylvania-style pastries make for perfect ice cream cones. Also on hand were alfores from Maluli’s Kitchen, creamy, cakey creations from Sisters Vegan Delights, and banana pudding from the Chictreatz crew.

Twister Cake Bakery’s ice cream cone, $7 (Scott Lynch)

There was lots of beer being poured, boozy jello shots from Brazen Flavas, and plenty of nonalcoholic offerings, including a full menu of beverages at the Condensed Juice stand (get the super-tart honey lime), all of which are made by Chrystal Wilkins out of her apartment in Bushwick.

The Condensed Juice stand (Scott Lynch)

The Brooklyn Night Market also gives space to nearly two dozen non-food operations, mostly selling wellness products, clothing, and accessories. Three of these in particular are worth your immediate attention.

The eye-catching hoodies at Sherifa Gayle’s Black N Ugly booth are a personal favorite of mine (my Basquiat-inspired BLK Kings hoodie gets compliments galore every time I wear it),

The Black N Ugly booth (Scott Lynch)

Germaine and Renatta Owens’s positive messaging on their Be the People shirts demand change while embracing hope, and For the Culture NY is owned by fourth-grade teacher Doris Galarza, who launched her clothing line as a counterpoint to the superficial, often overly sexualized stereotypes she saw bombarding her students.

Doris Galarza and her For the Culture wares (Scott Lynch)

“We will continue forever our mission to support small businesses in New York City,” says Shalma. “Businesses that are predominantly immigrant-owned, female-owned, LGBTQ-owned, people of color-owned — this is who we work with, who we want to keep on empowering and giving opportunities to across the city.”

As at all of these sorts of popular events, the best way to avoid long lines is to get here early, eat a few things from a few different vendors, then shop, dance, drink, and people watch until it’s time for dessert (or another round of dinner). And if there’s no room to eat at the standing tables set up at the market, or if your crew wants to spread out and relax for a bit, remember that there’s lots of public seating in all of the courtyards at Industry City. Just walk through either of the buildings flanking the festivities and pull up a chair.

All vibes, no gibes at the block party (Scott Lynch)

The Brooklyn Night Market is located on 36th Street between Second and Third Avenues in Industry City, and runs on the last Monday of the month (June 26, July 31. August 28, September 25, and October 30) from 4 to 10 p.m.