Despite Growing Pains, Brooklyn's GoogaMooga A Hit With City Food Fans
By Siobhan Wallace
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The weekend's GoogaMooga may have been crowded, but it was filled with food from some of New York's greatest restaurants. If you came with a game plan, seeking out vendors with quick lines and ample food, you were guaranteed to leave stuffed and happy.
Taking over Prospect Park, lines were long throughout the two days - though Sunday was a bit lighter. One of the early on favorites was the foie gras doughnuts from Bed-Stuy's Do or Dine.
Do or Dine came prepared on Saturday with 800 doughnuts - only to sell out by 2 p.m.
More: NYC's 5 Best Doughnuts
For Sunday, they upped their inventory and brought 900 airy doughnuts, pumped full of the surprisingly delicious combination of creamy foie gras and strawberry-cumin jam. Each doughnut was lightly coated with powdered sugar before being handed off to the hungry masses.
One of the first vendors many attendees headed for was Brooklyn's Vinegar Hill House who was serving up fried soft shell crab sandwiches. Though the price was steep at $11, the seasonal sandwich was freshly prepared and quite satisfying for crab lovers. Another winner was Queen's M. Wells, also with an interesting use of foie gras in their horse bologna foie gras grilled cheese.
More: NYC's 5 Best Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
For those looking for something more along the lines of traditional summer fare, they could head to "The Hamburger Experience" and the Brindle Room.
Though the cheeseburger did take a while to get, once you bit into the perfectly charred juicy tasty burger, all was forgiven.
More: NYC's 12 Best Burgers
The VIP section, Extra Mooga, also had LA's Umami Burger and the famous Pat LaFrieda Meats serving up delicious burgers. That other classic summertime treat, hot dogs, were also well represented from Craft's duck offering to The Meat Hook's house made pork and beef.
And you couldn't forget about dessert.
More: NYC's 5 Best Food Truck Desserts
Chinatown's Wooly's Ice served up their snowy shaved ice with strawberries and brownie pieces. Right next door to them, Big Gay Ice Cream had a variety of shakes throughout the weekend.
More: NYC's 5 Best Ice Cream Sundaes
A few booths down was Top Chef Just Desserts contestant, Chef Katzie Guy-Hamilton serving up her dirt cake: creamy milk chocolate pudding with devil's food cake.
Despite the few growing pains experienced, the Great Googa Mooga festival did appear to be a success, and the organizers are return next year.
Siobhan Wallace is the co-founder of Blondie & Brownie.
