My girlfriend Alex and I went to Stinkfest, which is like an enlightened street fair. You New Yorkers know that street fairs - with their tired assortment of artisanal handcrafts, reggae CDs, fresh-fruit smoothies, and overcooked gyros - are not really that big of a deal, but this one was. Sponsored by purveyors of all things fromage Stinky Bklyn and some likeminded eateries and shops (Smith + Vine, JakeWalk), the fair offered a glancing blow of The Good Life to anyone who knew where to look for it, and the food - oh the food! - was magnificent:

But before the food: one of the least appetizing things I’ve ever witnessed, and the centerpiece of Stinkfest: the cheese-eating contest. Our winner, Willie, seen in maroon diligently washing his challenge down, ate fifteen ounces of chalky, cheddar-like Cantal cheese in under a minute, besting last year’s record by eight ounces and easily taking home the prize. For his efforts, Willie was awarded the orange-and-yellow championship belt from Marty Markowitz, Brooklyn borough president, who declared Willie “a true Brooklyn character.

Now, on to the delicious food: we started with a trio of mini-sandwiches which I didn’t get the chance to photograph because we devoured them so quickly. They were:

1) Fresh mozzarella, roasted red peppers, rocket on black olive bread: Pretty good, but clearly the least interesting of the three.

2) Smoked salmon, cream cheese, and cucumber on Pullman white bread. Terrific sandwich - at crudite-sized triangle, not nearly enough of it. The cucumber is the hidden superhero here, offering a great textural balance to the salmon.

3) Prosciutto, goat cheese, and figgy jam on ciabatta. Oh my. This was terrific, and the definite highlight for me. That figgy jam worked so beautifully with the delicate prosciutto and the robust goat cheese. I’m still thinking about this sandwich days later.

Next we moved on to some roasted corn, a staple of the street fair, but not an unwelcome one: some of the sweetest roast corn I’ve ever had, with a wonderful honey-jalapeno butter slathered on top:

After all this eating, we were starting to get a little thirsty, so we got a delicious lemonade mixed with fresh blackberries and shared it. This photo’s a little weird because Alex was also trying to photo the cool neon Nike at screen right.

Here’s a non-celebrity to gawk at: it’s Alex McCord from The Real Housewives of New York City and her husband - the ones who live in Brooklyn:

Then we found a booth of Peruvian food and there was no restraining us:

On your left, you see a traditional shrimp ceviche with A LOT of shrimp, delicious avocado, and all sorts of wonderful seasonings. On your right, a tamalito verde con puerco - green tamale with pork. The tamale is stuffed with a beautifully rich cilantro corn pudding, with large whole chunks of corn inside, and the pork is tenderly braised and laid on top. To go with it, a delicious fresh salsa of marinated red onions and tomatoes. Heavenly

And why not pick up a samosa to follow that up? The green sauce in the middle was by far the best.

No food here, but an artfully composed bunch of colorful decorative baskets. Alex admired them:

As our last culinary stop, we decided to split a fish sandwich. Look at that and tell me it doesn’t look astonishing. Delicious, perfectly seasoned fried whiting with tartar and hot sauces on two slabs of the least pretentious bread imaginable. My mouth waters just thinking about it.

These dancing kids were awesome:

We decided to walk around the beautiful neighborhood after the street fair and admired the gorgeously restrained walkups and elegant French gardens of many in this neighborhood. Here’s a good example, from someone who obviously takes a great deal of admirable pride in their front lawn:

Then we found a group of books in front of an apartment building tagged with the word ‘Free.’ I picked up a copy of Adrian Tomine’s Shortcomings - I had been a great admirer of his Summer Blonde but had never gotten around to reading this. Imagine my surprise on the subway ride back into Manhattan to discover that I was the new owner of a signed Adrian Tomine galley. Yay!

All photos taken by Alex on her iPhone - just a simple iPhone! What a great system!

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