Mad. Sq. Eats

Somehow I've missed this mini-food market the past couple years. Mad. Sq. Eats, appropriately taking place next to Madison Square Park (non-NYers - that's different from Madison Square Garden, very very different), brought together some great restaurants/food purveyors who set up stalls with food and drinks that you can either eat at one of the tables, at the park, or take home.

There were some purveyors I was really excited to see like Sigmund Pretzel Shop (I had a pretzel during the winter), Roberta's (it's all the way out in Brooklyn), People's Pops, Nunu's Chocolates and Stuffed Artisan Cannolis. Most of these places I'm either too lazy to go to (LES or Brooklyn) or are available only at food-oriented street fairs which I may miss.

I tried Calexico, which I think was one of the first "trendy" food trucks/carts, about three years ago. I didn't think much of it then. This time was much better. I got a pollo verde taco, which came with two tasty corn tortillas and moist chicken. Unfortunately, the overall flavor was nothing mind-blowing. Their chipotle pork quesadilla on the other hand was ridiculously good (although they could tone down on the cheese). The "wrapped" quesadilla was gooey and salty from the cheese, sweet and moist from the chipotle pulled pork and warm and crunchy from the griddle.

Other tasty bites were the hot dogs from AsiaDog, which have asian-inspired toppings like kimchi and seaweed flakes, thai-style relish with cucumber, red onion, cilantro, peanurs and dish sauce, and a banh-mi style topping, among others. I'm a huge fan of theses. Not a fan of tons of toppings on burgers, but on hot dogs yes.

And also a pretty delicious fresh-made pie from the aforementioned Roberta's featuring speck, mushrooms and red onions.

The event is over, but it seems Calexico has stuck around for a while.