Brooklyn Flea

A coupla doozies at the Hunt this week: A dog in honor of Westminster, and a classic American tabletop set. Exscavenganza!

When you find one of the items above (click to enlarge), which can be hidden in any vendor booth, it's yours, absolutely free! Then we post your photo with the generous vendor here on the blog on Monday. Only one winner per calendar month. Items posted every Friday around Noon.

From left:

1. Signed vintage 8"x10" photo of a French Bulldog. Framed: 16"x20". Vintage (Saturday)

2. Set of Pyrex cups and saucers. Vintage (Sunday)

You'll see why below.

What's your names?

Eileen (left) and Jeanne.

Is this your first time at the Flea?

J: Yep. I've heard about it for awhile. We're sisters, and Eileen never heard about it, so I said, "I think I want to check out the Brooklyn Flea. It's indoors, it's in this cool building," and my sister is always game. Then I mentioned we are leaving at 8:30am to get here. Haha. We live in Westchester County.

What did you buy here?

J: We bought this lovely—

E: We think it's a log holder. Want to know what else we got? We got some fun things!

J: We got some Bloody Mary Mix [from McClure's—did you see the Times article, by the way?], it has pickle juice in it, so good.

E: Yeah we tasted it, it's phenomenal.

J: We have this map from 1891 of the region where we live, it's hand-engraved. They [Intaglio Prints + Maps; booths 10+20] have some amazing stuff back there.

J: We bought an old tennis ball holder; my husband is a tennis player.

E: Ooh! I got a vintage Colgate or Crest postcard. [It was Colgate, from Bleecker St. Antiques, booth #76.] Our nephew just got into dental school so we thought that would be perfect for him.

J: And we ate too.

What did you eat?

J: Oh, so good. We ate the fish tacos [Choncho's Tacos]. Amazing amazing amazing.

E: I got the spinach pie and salad [Anthi's]. And we are going to buy some sweets on the way out.

Do it! And so what are you going to do with your wood holder?

J: We were both instantly in love with it. Eileen has a little more room in her house right now, so I'm going to buy it but she's going to housesit it.

E: Which is fine because it's going to look so cute next to my fireplace.

J: We bought it from a super nice guy named Kevin [Regan & Smith; booth #21].

Do you have a working fireplace?

E: Yeah. I have a fire every night.

Lucky!

J: What a fun thing to do today...

Thanks Eileen and Jeanne!

Koichi and Sachiko's stuff is archetypal Americana, which the Flea's Japanese vendors often seem to do best! Find them downstairs right outside the vault entrance every weekend.

What's your name and company's name?
My name is Koichi and my business is just my name: Koichi.
And what's your hometown?
I am from Japan. Saitama, it's near Tokyo.
Where do you live now?
Now I live in Bushwick, Brooklyn, for almost 4 years.
What do you sell and how long have you been selling it for?
I sell vintage clothing. I have been doing it for about 3 years.
Do you have a specialty?
I like simple clothes with ethnic patterns.
What's your most memorable sale?
It was a bicycle. I just really really liked it.
What keeps you coming back to the Flea?
I like talking to the people. I like everybody here.
Is this your full-time job? What do you do for fun?
I also work at a clothing store in the East Village called Argosy. And for fun, I like cooking. I like to cook French. I used to work at a French restaurant in Japan for a few years.
Do you have a website?
I don't have one but I'm going to get one. My [business partner] has one.
Let me talk with Sachiko now. What do you have to sell, Sachiko?
I sell antique homeware. Like here, I combine antique frames with antique fabric and antique key hooks [see slideshow]. And here, I combine antique jars with antique light fixture. In the future, I will be making more lighting.
Will you be bringing those to the Flea?
Yes I will.
And what is your website?
It's www.monroegarden.net.
Thanks Koichi and Sachiko!

Heartwarming Hunt this week, thanks for keeping it pumping strong.

From left:

Nick (left) treated finding the chalice like it was the Holy Grail from Raiders of the Lost Ark, and promptly bought a bottle of vino to fill it properly. It was his first Flea, he's from the Slope, and much wine was drunk from it that day. Cheers Nick! Rick (right) works with Dina and Rob, who are new to the Flea as of One Hanson, but they've been killing it with their Mid-Century finds of every flavor: furniture, lamps, household items, art, all great modern stuff. They also have a spot at the Center 44 Midtown showroom, where they're known as Satyricon. Which basically means they're really serious vendors and can get you stuff if they don't have it at the Flea.

Irina has been to the Flea a bunch, but in her first time at the bank over Valentine's weekend she got lucky—and found the pretty heart-shaped locket. She lives in Park Slope and works at home for Intel, likes movies and cooking. Sweet! Friendly vendor Joseph of Estate of Art Vintage Lifestyle had the perfect Hunt item for the weekend, and generally has the perfect vintage outfit or jewelry for every occasion as well. He's as solid as they come, every weekend at every Flea. Joe's a star!

Check back at noon Friday for this weekend's items.

We're basically overjoyed that our pals at The Good Fork will start serving their delicious dumplings at the Flea this weekend. Whether you're the New York Times, New York, Time Out, the Voice, Chowhound, or just a dumpling-lover, you're psyched.

Ben and Sohui from the Fork will be rocking the pork-and-chive dumplings that are a staple on the Red Hook resto's menu, as well as a Flea-friendly vegetable version, which we're excited to sample. They're also debuting a chicken-and-sausage gumbo over rice—special for the Flea—so get on down to the vault and bring an empty belly and your friends' bellies too. It's all Good!

While you're down there, scan the vault for another new foodie, SCRATCHbread, which is Brooklynite Matthew's burgeoning baking biz, supplying local spots like Cafe Grumpy, Gorilla Coffee, Blue Apron Foods, and the Larder with his insanely good scones (chocolate=death by love), shortbread, and brownies, along with a popover of the week. He'll be rolling out SCRATCH's excellent loaves of bread in the weeks to come. Saturdays only for now.

Photo: Joe Tannis Photography

Valentine's Day, Flea-style....

Nic, the 10-year-old foodie behind the Eat It Up blog, deigned to visit the Flea last weekend and filed this informed report.

Nic samples two cheese pupusas (smart man), a lobster roll (archetypal Flea), a sweet Maine shrimp roll (going deeper than the obvious), and a fish taco. He also scored some lemon meringue pie (news to Senor Flea), and some Kumquat cupcakes (no-brainer). Check out the post for Nic's pics (action shots=journalism), research (sign of a good writer), and his list of vendor links (better than most bloggers do).

Well done Nic. Await the email from Grub Street....

Every Monday morning we ask what you bought at the Flea on our fab Facebook page (4000 fans and counting!). We like to know what you love at the market—that way we can make sure there's more of it every weekend. It's like direct capitalism, with a little socialism thrown in for fun. Thanks for playing!

The chalice returns after its vendor had an emergency root canal last weekend. And for Sunday a Valentine's Day special—Scavenge (but don't steal) this heart!

When you find one of the items above (click to enlarge), which can be hidden in any vendor booth, it's yours, absolutely free! Then we post your photo with the generous vendor here on the blog on Monday. Only one winner per calendar month. Items posted every Friday around Noon.

From left:

1. Mid-Century studio-pottery chalice in organic colors and textures, circa 1960s. Vintage (Saturday)

2. Brass heart locket on silk cord, approx. 2" wide. Vintage (Sunday)

We don't usually pimp offsite Flea stuff, but Kumquat Cupcakery and Liddabit Sweets are hardcore OF (Original Fleaster), and their new confection connection is pure sugah.

Keavy Kumquat and Liz and Jenn Liddabit are doing a real pop-up Sweet Shop (starts tonight, closes Sunday) at the awesome Greenpoint antiques and curio shop Kill Devil Hill. (In a pleasing twist, Kill Devil also happens to be doing the Flea later this month, stay tuned.) Mini-cupcakes, PB+Mallow bars, slurtles, beer-and-pretzel caramels, heart lollipops—yeah, all that stuff.

There's an opening with free wine tonight, 6-9pm. (Of course, you can also find them both at the Flea at One Hanson this weekend.)

Go gals!

The Sweet Shop

Thur-Sun, Feb. 11-14

10am-7pm

170 Franklin St. (btw. Java + Kent)

Greenpoint, Brooklyn