Atlantic Antic

Tomorrow is the street fair that shuts Atlantic Avenue down from Hicks Street to Fourth Avenue.

Most street fairs in New York are tawdry, generic things with the same tube socks and roast corn, and awfully inauthentic. At the Antic, I managed to eat, three years in a row, my best schwarma of the year, and also the best one ever. Succulent cubes of lamb marinated in yoghurt, cardamom and many other unidentified spices, stuffed juicily into pita with thick, garlicky yoghurt. I spend a year looking forward to it.

Last year I could not find it, and I was crushed. It may have been there, but not outside the usual restaurant. But. Outside La Mancha, the Spanish bar and restaurant round the corner (from us, since we're so close to Atlantic) I found...fresh-grilled sardines! I brought these home and they made the cat very friendly.

So this year we will look for the sardines.

If you're in New York, it's worth a visit. Last year the sardines were between Henry and Clinton Streets, north side. The lamb might be on the same stretch, south side. The presence of many Middle Eastern eateries along the strip guarantees good food.

The gate at Pier 6 will be opened for what the Brooklyn Bridge Park Developement Corporation calls a 'sneak peak at the premiere destination playground in Brooklyn.' I guess there'll be a convergence of bugaboos and Maclarens. The stuff of nightmares. And the New York Transit Museum will be giving rides on vintage buses as part of the fifteenth annual Bus Festival. The childrens' section of the fair is between Smith and Boerum Place.

Proceed hopefully.

If that's not your scene, and you want to brandish your lute at someone, head up to Inwood, to Fort Tryon Park, where the Medieval Festival is in full swing.