Fall Festival @ Brooklyn’s The Yard

butternut squash soup, mm mm good

You may have noticed my beloved New York Times chose “Frugal New York” as its main travel feature this weekend. Had I written the article, I wouldn’t have considered a $29 burger & beer meal at the Parker Meredian ”frugal” traveling (instead, try beer with FREE pizza at the Crocodile Lounge on 14th St.!). But whatev, that’s why you have Rachel and I to share all the cheap secrets with you.

On Saturday, our friend Sammy (of awkwardiswawesome.com) and I took a tip from Time Out New York and checked out Brooklyn’s fall festival at the Yard. It was a benefit for Just Food, a non-profit that aims to develop a sustainable food system in New York City. Admission was only $12…kids 5 and under were free, which explained the stroller derby, but hey, they gave us something to awwwwat. The event also attracted twentysomething Brooklyn hipsters, who sat on bales of hay and sipped their seasonal beers.

For $4, we snacked on honeycrisp apples from upstate New York and each devoured the creamiest bowl of butternut squash soup we’ve ever had.

But what we REALLY wanted was pumpkin pie. How can you celebrate fall without it? With none to be found at the Yard, we walked back to the Carrol St. subway stop (take the F from Manhattan) and from there, wandered down Smith St. It was less congested than Manhattan and tourist-free, lined with trendy clothing boutiques and cozy restaurants representing all types of cuisines, from Latin to Indian and Thai. I spotted the Fall Cafe and our eyes lit up — they must have pumpkin pie, right? Wrong. The wanderlust-deprived dude running shop couldn’t even tell us where there would be a nearby bakery! Ah well, the cafe still had a nice, intellectual vibe, making you want to pen your novel or read The New York Times there. 

Second try: a French bakery, where they didn’t seem familiar with the glory that is pumpkin pie, but they tried to sell us on a porcupine ball of chocolate mousse (yes, the chocolate ball had quills…do the French eat that?). No thank you. Pumpkin pie and pumpkin pie only.

my my miss American pie

We were almost ready to give up, taking our hunt just one block further. Sammy spotted a graphic novel shop and suggested we browse, but then she grabbed my arm and started pulling me in the opposite direction — she’d spotted a beacon of hope: a Met Foods grocery store. And there, right by the deli, we found the selection of packaged Entemanns’ desserts…which included, lo and behold, a pumpkin pie for $5.49. Score, third time’s a charm.

We left Met with our pie, realizing we had no “cutlery,” as Sammy put it. So we revisit our French bakery buddies. We showed them our pie, flashed bright smiles, and asked if they knew where we could find some plastic knives and forks with which to enjoy it. They gave us some and assured us that they’ll be carrying pumpkin pie by the end of October.

Mission accomplished, we met up with our LES friend Leah at the Gowanus Yacht Club and Beer Garden, which wasn’t the least bit as pretentious as it sounds…it felt like hanging out in someone’s backyard at a barbecue. Lights were strung overhead, a Tom Petty CD played, and the menu of beer, hot dogs, and burgers is chalked on hanging boards (even the bathrooms have chalkboards encouraging you to be a graffiti artist). It was so laid-back, even a beagle sat on a bar stool to order. Hey, come to think of it, Matt Gross, the New York Times’ Frugal Traveler, is from Brooklyn. Wonder if he’s been?

Tags: Brooklyn, carroll st., fall, frugal traveler, New York Times, pumpkin pie