Dessert Goals

Washing down a big bite of food with a comparable gulp of wine has long been a top pastime of the whole FT Crew. So much so that we’ve come to know the difference between a 2 Buck Chuck and a grape grown in Montalcino. Although they both have a place in our wine cellar (read closet), learning more never hurts. The Brooklyn Wine Fest does this learning thing in the non-snooty, approachable, fun kind of way. I guess you’d expect this from a Brooklyn born wine festival but the legacy of stodgy wine makers is still a hard ship to turn. The organizers have broken these stalwarts down and curated a producers list that will make everyone punchdrunk happy. In addition to the 50+ wineries repping their grape juice there’s some on point food to help coat that belly. Heavy hitters like the Mac Truck, Luke’s Lobster and the Brooklyn Oyster Party, just to name a few, will help you savor every wine wheel tagged sip. Time management alert, the day is broken up into two sessions. (12-4 and 5:30-9) Our advice is, BIG brunch, go early, pace yourself, no spitting and stay until the sun is gone. You’ll be fine. Enjoy yourself and stop by Dandelion Wines post fest to try your new knowledge out. Lily and team will be waiting to help. Saturday, October 28th from 12-9:30 in Brooklyn.

Going down in one of our favorite spots in Manhattan, Porktoberfest is an all you can eat and drink gastro-malay kicking off cider week. As if the rest of this month hasn’t been a beer dizzying, pork face filling entry into the fall season, you now have one more way to anchor your binging before we’re into November. Fleishers Craft Butchery will be dealing up the piggies. There will be something called Harry Hawk “Schnack” burgers and “Bigos” Pork Stew. We have no idea what this is code for but we’re going to throw it down our throats with huge smiles. Saturday, October 22nd, from 12PM to 4PM.

As newish Queens residents, Bushwick is our Brooklyn backyard and they just kicked a ball over the fence that we need to bring back to those hipster kids. That ball looks like Taste of Bushwick, strutting into its 6th year, bringing such a strong line up that we just pasted the whole food linkage below. Archie’s Bar + Pizza, BKE Kombucha, Brooklyn Cider House, Brooklyn Crafted, Bushwick Food Cooperative, Bushwick Grind, City Bear BK, Dock Asian Eatery, Elisa’s Love Bites, Fine & Raw Chocolate, Glazed & Confused, Guadalupe Inn, GuS Soda, House Of Kava, House of Yes, Interboro Spirits & Ales, Kings County Brewers Collective (KCBC), Le Garage, Pine Box Rock Shop, Precious Metal, Queen of Falafel, Sally Roots, The Sampler, Sazon Nuñez, Sea Wolf, Sey Coffee, Superlost Coffee, Syndicated, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, Tony’s Pizzeria & Restaurant, The V-Spot. That list fully covers every food base there is except maybe the Aperol Spritz itch (Mixed reviews. Thumbs down. Thumbs up.) but they have been banned in Bushwick since 2015 anyway. If that’s not enough for one day, the after party rolls on at Pine Box Rock Shop after nine. Slow your roll and hang with the cool kids until way past your Upper East Side bed time. June 10th from 5:30-9pm in Brooklyn at The Brooklyn Cider House.

You know our BBQ history runs deep. This event is at the root of our ‘Que know how. On a rainy Saturday in 2002, I bumped into a guy named Danny while poking around 27th street. I asked him where all this barbecue came from and I quickly learned the far reaches of the expertise that was in front on me. Fourteen years later, Mr. Meyer and the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party is much more than a block, the crowd is far more than a few New Yorkers biting their way down a gramercy park street and a New York restauranteur with an idea to share the world of BBQ with his neighbors. So big in fact there’s some new options like fast pass and VIP that will get pork to your lips faster than you can snort at the crowd you just bypassed. June 11-12 from 11am to 6pm in NYC.