Why haven't you been to the Red Hook Ball Fields yet?

EATERY:

Red Hook Ball Fields

LOCATION:

Red Hook, Brooklyn

REVIEWS:

You've only got a handful of weekends left get to the Red Hook Ball Fields for some of the downhomey-est Latin American eats in the five boroughs. Come October, the vendors who cook up fresh, cheap, and hearty eats at the soccer field will have to pack up their tents for the season (and maybe forever, depending on whether or not they get their vendors' permits renewed). So for the next few weeks, I plan to spend every Sunday snarfing down my fill of pupusas, ceviche, and agua fresca.

RANTS & RAVES:

You'd be hard-pressed to find hand-formed, freshly grilled pupusas as good as the ones at the Ball Fields. They average about two bucks each and come with a tangy cabbage slaw. Definitely suck up the wait on the line for huaraches (quesadillas) filled with meat (beef, pork, or chorizo) and all the trimmings (tomatoes, cotija, lettuce). And they're huge enough to make a grown man writhe in the pain of having eaten something so huge, and they're only about five bucks. My favorite agua fresca stand is the one on the west side of the park where a medium (read: very big) drink of icy cold juice is $2.50, and if you ask real nice they'll even mix flavors for you (watermelon and lime is my default if I'm not getting horchata). And the place is crawling with tacos! It isn't easy to choose from the soft tacos filled with steak or braised pork or even a chile relleno smothered in red sauce for about $2.50, or the deep fried chicken-potato taquitos which will rock your tastebuds for just $1.50 apiece. The good news is you can't go wrong because they're all delicious. The ceviche, served ice cold in tangy lime juice, is worth the $7.00 splurge. And if you buy a mixed plate of anything (different vendors sell variations on combinations of chicharrones, steak, fried yucca, plantains, rice, beans, and the legendary deep fried whole potato stuffed with meat), get some help eating it, 'cause it's dang big. Once you've gotten more food than you could shake a lime-and-chile-powder-covered-corn-cob at, stretch out on a patch of lawn (a blanket is a good idea to avoid the ubiquitous remnants of drippy, juicy tacos) or park yourself on a bench, bask in the sun, and watch the soccer match. And plot your next trip back to the Ball Fields.

TAGS:

New York Red Hook Mexican Latino CHEAP ASS PICK!