Throughout a chilly, drizzly Monday, I longed for the warm sun and scorching flavors of Saturday's Chile Pepper Fiesta at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. It has gotten bigger and hotter since our last visit 2 years ago. 
The guys from a restaurant called Cabrito got us started with salsas red and green (and wonderful freshly fried chips). Much of what's on the program relates only loosely to the notion of chiles, but these were the real deal. Spouse, of course, had forgotten to bring his Axid.
Vendors doled out lots of spicy concoctions, most created by small-scale and local entrepreneurs. I liked the headgear on this lady making fried Guyanese tidbits to douse with "Guyank" pepper sauce.
Snow cones from "People's Pops" came in watermelon-jalapeno and roasted heirloom pepper. "Convention is overrated," said the shaved-ice maestro. We also sucked back tiny cups of rich, chile-infused hot chocolate from Tumbador that was the anti-Swiss Miss. (The chocolate-chile axis was a major theme, as herds of us waited patiently to snap up tidbits.)
The beer and food tent featured long lines for beer and middling chile-themed chow, but the wait was easier thanks to "Red Baraat", described as "a masala of Bollywood, brass, and bhangra beats."
After all that red-hot festivity, these cool blue sage blossoms beckoned near the pond.
Comments