flea at laff #1: asiadog.

snack: "sidney" chicken dog
drink: fresh squeezed limeade soda

here in brooklyn there's the brooklyn flea, a flea market held every weekend at two different locales--on lafayette ave in ft greene on saturday & right outside the atlantic center on sunday. it just started up again back on the 10th & this year, they've assembled an impressive lineup of TWENTY-FIVE hott food vendors, with folks like sigmund pretzel shop, kumquat cupcakery, pizza moto, mile end, porchetta & red hook lobster pound serving up treats to flea-goers. since i need to get outside more often, i've decided that over the next few months, i'm going to try to pay the flea as many visits as possible & sample as many of the copious snack & drink options as possible.

on saturday, i met up with the bro at the flea so we could check out the brooklyn edition of the national food bloggers' bake sale, an event being held to raise money for share our strength (SOS), an organization trying to end childhood hunger in america. they had a few tables set up with goodies & all told, i contributed $6 to the cause, picking up some andes candies cookies, a few breads from the naked beet and not one but TWO types of bacon cookies--bacon macaroons & bacon chocolate chip cookies.

after picking up my bake sale goodies, we strolled over to the food vendors, perused the selection & decided to try out asiadog, a pop-up gourmet hot dog vendor. i've crossed paths with them at a number of events, but until this weekend i've never tried them. it's basically because i'm cheap. at $4 for a single hot dog, it's a pricey snack, but since i'd skipped breakfast on saturday, i figured that my food costs for the day would sort of balance out. on a related note, i've just realized that i technically had a hot dog for breakfast this weekend. awesome.

with seven different types of gourmet dogs & a bulgogi burger to choose from, it could've been a tough decision, but i'm in love with all things thai, so i went with the "sidney" chicken dog. it's a thai-style dog topped with relish with mango, cucumber, red onion, cilantro, crushed peanuts & fish sauce. my bro stayed on the tame side & went with the "mel & steve," a dog with asian sesame slaw.

since moving to the city, i've tried a number of gourmet dogs, from the ny hotdog & coffee bulgogi dog to the f&b güdtfood farm dog to crif dogs' tsunami dog & they're all pretty badass, but based solely on the sidney dog, asiadog's food bests that of all three of those hot dog joints. the hot dog itself appears to be of good quality, but gourmet hot dogs aren't really about the dog. they're about the toppings & the toppings on the sidney dog leave you with a mix of spicy, cool & crunchy yumminess that i rather enjoyed. my taste buds were all like, um..."hot dog."

i paired my dog with some fresh squeezed limeade soda. the name says it all--limeade infused with carbonation. the flavor was ridiculously sweet & tart at first, and it took a bit of getting used to, but once it got a little watered down & mixed up, it was cool. when the summer weather finally comes around & it starts being ninety degrees outside, i'm sure a fresh squeezed limeade soda at the flea will have even greater appeal. in the fifty-degree weather on saturday, it was just aight. HOT DOG though!