There should be more night markets in NYC, especially along the water. Don’t get me wrong, I love crowding into bars and sipping drinks alfresco on a balcony as much as the next person but neither have the appeal and coolness of what the LUCKYRICE organization pulled off two weeks ago out in Dumbo.

LUCKYRICE is an organization founded in 2010 and has been around for a long time. It is an integrated lifestyle brand with a big appetite for Asian food and culinary culture. In addition to its online portal, the organization hosted an 11-day celebration of all things Asian culinary culture from Apr 29th to May 9th. Ahn young. The organization really pulled off an awesome agenda, hosting not only a Night Market festival but workshops, cookshops, discussion forums, and a restaurant week incorporating participation and support from some of the more renown chefs in NYC. The streets were running yellow from LUCKYRICE week plus.

Back in February, I came across a random food link publicizing the LUCKYRICE Night Market festival in Dumbo. I immediately sent the link around urging my friends to purchase tickets. My friends already think I’m a bit out there but their suspicions were once again confirmed when I sent out a link to purchase tickets for an event almost 3 months in advance. Only a few had the visionary foresight to do so (vision and risk-taking are wonderful gifts) and boy weren’t they glad they did. The event quickly sold out – over 2,000 tickets! – and the secondary prices for the tickets more than tripled. Katie Healey, KJ Wang, and I were ready for the trip – saddle up guys!

Archway under Manhattan Bridge is perfect for an outdoor market or party

Inspired by Asian night festivals, this was a giant outdoor party at the historic and newly re-opened Archway Under the Manhattan Bridge in Dumbo. Asian style lamps lit the area, the crowd was a diverse mix of professionals and foodies but mostly Asian (of course), and the layout was conducive and near felt overcrowded. Vendors lined up the streets with food stalls offering gastronomes traditional and fusion Asian grub. I love street food, but these vendors weren’t one’s local hot dog guy or lamb curry & rice buddy. Big swinging Asian-related restaurants such as Baohaus, Asiadog, Momofuku Milk Bar, KumGangSan, Kati Roll Company (big ups to Tejas and many late night meals here), Kuma Inn, Kampuchea, and the list continues were in full attendance. There was also a special section of the Night Market catered to promoting Malaysian food – a cuisine that has not yet received its due & a unique mix of Thai, Indian and Chinese. And not to be overlooked but a drinking area showcasing some of the finest Asian spirits and beer (and mixture of the two) known to man. Talk about a sensory overload (and I have not even begun to describe the halfies walking around here …)

Asian inspired hot dog toppings from Asiadog

Find me a person who does like love hot dogs and I’ll find you someone that is most likely unpatriotic and depressed. Hot dogs are that sexy mystery meat in a casing normally grilled to perfection and served with toppings of one’s liking – with only creativity being one’s handicap. Asiadog is located in NYC and serves hot dogs with Asian toppings. No, this ain’t a polish dog with fish eyes or a wiener with chickens’ feet bones (although now that I think about it, both sound pretty danke). This restaurant wanted to push the limits on hot dogs and I think they’ve succeeded. With topping choices such as kimchi (which goes well with anything, trust me), bulgogi, bahn mi style, Japanese curry, etc – things can get pretty weird and delicious very quickly. I had an Asiadog with braised pork belly, apples, and kimchi – it was euphoria. The fatty pig succulence with the sweet, snappy apple slice and punchy kimchi were fantastic with the hot dog and melt in one’s mouth bun. I should have begged for a foot long sampling.

Setai  from South Beach showed off Asian surf and turf using oysters and pork belly

The Setai is a hotel in South Beach, Miami with a restaurant that showcases Asian cuisines. The restaurant made quite the trip for this festival and my taste buds & stomach are glad it did. Setai served two things ala surf and turf. The first was a raw oyster in its shell (as it should be) with jalapenos and a cucumber salsa. Briny and refreshing. The second dish was a braised and then crispy fried pork belly with turnips, kimchi, and roasted peanuts on top. It was crispy, sweet, spicy, fat oozing, and a party in my mouth…the party don’t start until this walks in.

Koreans out representing with Korean style pancakes of many varieties from My Brooklyn Kitchen and the Korean Culture Service

Next I came across a stall named My Brooklyn Kitchen. This is a website/blog run by Jina and this was her first foray into serving food for an event. She made a Korean pancake called bin dae duk:  a savory pancake made with ground mung beans, eggs, veggies, and shrimp. It was delicious and all that it was missing, for me, was a vinegary soy dipping sauce. Excellent job, especially cooking these pancakes in mass order!

And speaking of Koreans representing, the Korean Culture Service was out in full effect, winning over people’s hearts without kimchi, soju, and Korean BBQ. They served a non spicy duk bo gi – the standard for Korean street food. Although their duk bo gi was bland (had to dumb down the spice I presume) it was served with shiitake mushrooms, which was new for me. My roommate Adam Rhodes goes bananas for this treat. It is sliced rice cakes served in a spicy red pepper paste sauce (and then usually dressed up with meat and/or fish cakes).  In addition to the duk bo gi, there was traditional pajun and other forms of meat cakes – which I forget by name but love to chug down.

Organic pizza with Indian toppings such as channa masala from Slice the Perfect Food

An interesting food stall was Slice the Perfect Food. While both halfie sirens may have broken my heart, their restaurant and pizza concept is cool. This NYC-based pizza business has one spot in UES and another in the West Village. Both locations churn out fresh & organic pizza. What makes it unique are its toppings combination – such as chicken tikka masala and channa masala. Indian food goes amazingly well with cheese, tomatoes, and pizza dough (it is basically crispy Naan) and was a firm believer while visiting in India that fusion pizzas will make its rounds in the USA.

Many other restaurants in attendance in addition to a sake and bourbon heavy open bar

In addition to these eats, there was great stinky tofu from Baohaus, the standard tuna tartar rolls from Buddakan, meatball bahn mi from Kampuchea, Malaysian curries, and other tasty bites. Not only was there fun eating, but also drinking. Surely though, my memory is a bit hazy on that part of the adventure, other than defeating KJ in a beer chugging contest from the bottle (even though when we started his bottle was half full) and Makers Mark served with tea and liquid nitrogen (which was siiiiick).

Needless to say, this was an amazing time. Being outdoors, snacking on foods, and enjoy interesting cocktails and beers was all great fun. I’m definitely looking forward to next year’s Night Market festival and will on the look out for others like this in the outer boroughs.

Tagged as: Asian, braising, Brooklyn, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, NYC outer borough, pig, pork belly