I was in the city the other night with my good buddy Skeleton Pete as our plan for the day was to attend a music showcase that was being held by WeRoqq PR and their Baltimore based band “The Perfects“.    It’s always par for the course when Peter and I hit an event that we arrive in the Big Apple a little earlier to accomplish some other wanderings and also be able to get a bite to eat without feeling rushed.  As we walked through the streets downtown, I had wantd to see if anything had opened in the space where my beloved Acme Restaurant used to be and while there was still a shuttered space there was also some kind of Middle Eastern cultural event taking place.  Both of us are fans of some of the delectable culinary offerings from this region but the event was closing out so we would not be able to indulge.  We did strike up a conversation with some of the people milling about and discovered from one chap that this same event was going to take place in a part of Brooklyn called Bay Ridge (“if I had ever heard of it” he continued).  I’m very familiar with the region as its home base for PiercingMetal and a lot of my family is here which brings me to the photographs in this blog posting.

Having no lunch plans for the day and while it was a little on the hot side being the beginning of July, I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and headed on down the paths of Shore Road parks until I arrived at the location of this edition of the festival we chanced upon the evening before.  The event was actually titled “The 5th Annual Bay Ridge Arab-American Bazaar” and there was a nice sized stage setup where a number of Arabic artists were performing for the assembled crowd.  I am sorry for not capturing any of the performers names but my mission was more about food than music this time around.  The event was setup in the high 70’s near the playground.

There were a number of different vendors and some of them were selling clothing and others flags from assorted countries.  I didn’t snap any photos of the people around me  however but there were several hundred folks all enjoying their culture, their music and their food.  Sorry about omitting that but I was hungry and hence not thinking straight.

And of course the healthy supply of good eats.  As a big fan of the falafel sandwich I locked into this as my mission.  I saw a section where people could smoke hookah, and there was a fifteen minute time limit for this and a decent line.  This surprised me since you are not allowed to smoke in NYC Parks anymore.  I guess for this event it was being allowed.

 

And there were also some different pastry type things and baklava.

 

More baklava and plenty of falafels

 

Here we see one of the sidewalk Middle Eastern food carts with a decent line for its offerings.  I pass these in the streets of Bay Ridge all the time and while I have yet to order something from them I have to say that the stuff sure smells good.  Maybe one day soon I will order a chicken or lamb platter from them while out on errands.

There was also a corn stand but that seemed more of a State Fair kind of thing than this event.  Oh well.  Hope they did great today.

My mission for a falafel sandwich was now accomplished and the delicious treat depicted in the next photo was made short work of.

I love walking around in New York City, there is always something to see and do here.  Keep your eyes open my friends.