Back to Brooklyn

Well, I may have missed The Brunch Experiment in NOLA but I had a few of my own in Brooklyn. My first experiment was to finally walk in a door I must have passed hundreds of times in Williamsburg and have brunch at The Roebling Tea Room. Bill Murray's son is the chef there and I must say he makes a damn fine biscuit but it was the three large, beautiful jars of pickles on the counter that made me swoon.


My primary reason for returning to New York was to attend the opening of a show by the German artists Venske & Spänle at my former gallery Margaret Thatcher Projects. I was lucky enough to spend a couple of weeks in Europe with the artists last summer and it was so great seeing their work again and getting to spend time with them at their studio in Brooklyn. We spent most of the day around their table eating, well, brunch, and lots of cheese and of course, pickles.

This jar of Polish pickles was already on the table waiting for me and over the course of the afternoon and evening I (we) pretty much finished it off. We also made a trip to the wondrous grocery store a few blocks away called Western Beef where I spent most of my money on weird beverages like purple corn chicha and one lovely jar of pickled "tomato peppers" from a country I can't remember. I also can't find the picture of the pickles although I'm quite certain I took photos of it because it was SUCH a lovely jar...yeah, it was a really nice jar... anyway...

I spent lots of time buying pickles and eating pickles and going into stores and wondering if I should buy more pickles to take home with me but since I wasn't checking my luggage I decided nothing was going back with me this time unless it was in my stomach so I was really glad that respected pickler Nick Horman of Horman's Best Pickles came out to hang and eat more pickles with me my last night in town!


I've missed you Brooklyn and your brine (and yes, this is a subtle note to BROOKLYN BRINE that I missed seeing you dude)! I'll be back!