Why you MUST go to the Red Hook Ball Fields, Plus How to Get There
May 6, 2009
Let’s keep this plain and simple. Every Saturday and Sunday through October, the most diverse, authentic, affordable, and delicious gathering of Latin American street food vendors takes place at the corner of Clinton Street & Bay Street at the Red Hook Ball Fields in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Mexican, Dominican, El Salvadoran, Colombian, Chilean, Guatemalan. It’s all represented with pride, love and the BEST LATIN AMERICAN FOOD NYC Food Guy has ever tasted What’s more? Nothing is over $10.
Once you arrive, however, it’s an overwhelming experience: so much delicious food and so little English spoken by some of the vendors. NYC Food Guy is here to help. Over the course of the next few months, I will update you on various items at the Red Hook Ball Fields in the hopes of bettering your food knowledge and motivating you to get out there. Trust me when I tell you, if you like Latin American food and you’re willing to try new things, this experience will change your life. Email me: Lawrence@nycfoodguy.com if you have any questions or concerns.
Read on for information on how to get to the Red Hook Ball Fields plus other essential information.
Essential Information
HOURS OF OPERATION
Saturdays & Sundays from around 11AM until 8PM, as long as people are still out there buying food.
RAIN INFORMATION
As of now, there’s no rain information line. Just assume if you wouldn’t want to be out there, they probably wouldn’t either, although it’s a good bet they have a little more of a threshold for the rain than you do. If it just looks like it may rain, however, that will not stop the vendors.
Getting There
FROM MANHATTAN:
You have two options coming from Manhattan:
1) Take the F train to Smith-9th Street and walk to the Ball Fields, outlined in the map below. Lately there have been some service issues and to get around them, you’ll take the F Train to the G Train’s Hoyt Street-Schermerhorn Street stop, the third stop from Manhattan, and transfer to the G Train there, which will take you to the Smith-9th Street Stop. You will hear announcements about this on the F Train.
View Walking from F Train To Red Hook Ball Fields in a larger map
2) The free IKEA Water Taxi which departs daily from Pier 11 (below) near Wall Street.
Here’s the information from the Water Taxi’s Website.
Here’s the information from Ikea’s Website.
Below you’ll see the route from Pier 11 to IKEA’s Red Hook pier.
I’m not sure exactly how to get from the IKEA pier to the Ball fields but judging from the map below, it can’t be that hard to get from the IKEA pier (Boat logo) to the Ball Fields (Food & Drink logo):
View IKEA Pier to the Ball Fields in a larger map
GETTING TO RED HOOK FROM QUEENS:
1) Take the G Train to Smith-9th Street. Here’s the stops on the G Line.
GETTING TO RED HOOK FROM BROOKLYN:
1) Take the F train or the G train to Smith/9th St
2) By Bus: Take the B77 to the Gowanus Smith-9th St/Subway Station stop or the B75 to Gowanus 9th St/Smith St stop
Here’s the Brooklyn Bus Route Page from the MTA’s website
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May 6th, 2009 at 7:07 am
Food guy this is pure genius. You have really kicked up the site a notch. Latin Food and cheap shopping at IKEA can’t be beat, plus it’s easy to get there from downtown via the ferry. Thanks for doing the legwork and making it easy for us. I am an out of towner (I am from DC) and before any trip to NYC I always rummage through your site to see what spots I need to hit. I wish we had something like this down in DC (I would start it, but just don’t have the time).
May 6th, 2009 at 7:14 am
men do I like your web….and I live in Spain!!!
am I crazy or what!!!
naaaa
seriously, keep with the good work
my brother lives there and Im probably going to NY later on this year…maybe sept or october, I would love to try this great latin style gathering….
thx for showin us deliciousness
May 6th, 2009 at 9:07 am
Wow! Nice Maps.
May 6th, 2009 at 9:11 am
This is an excellent find! Thank you so much. I love some good latin food.
May 6th, 2009 at 9:18 am
thank you
May 6th, 2009 at 9:35 am
We’ve only tried the pupusas there, but they were AMAZING! So we’d appreciate any and all tips on what else to try. I’m only familiar with Mexican and Salvadorean food. Will you be posting the names of the dishes in Spanish? Do they have huaraches?
May 6th, 2009 at 9:50 am
Food Guy, I’m proud of you – you’re getting out of Manhattan a lot these days. Some recommendations when you go:
1) Pupusas
2) Ceviche
3) The grilled corn lady – they grill the corn, cover it with butter and parmesan cheese.
PS – you can also catch the free Ikea bus in Brooklyn at Borough Hall. So, if you don’t feel like taking a taxi, take the 2,3,4 or 5 train to Bourough Hall and then as soon as you exit, there is an Ikea bus stop. The bus runs every 20 minutes.
May 6th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
All this food looks awesome! Great pics…love the maps…and would appreciate advice on where you think people should in what order…
May 6th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
When I lived in the area, I used to plan to my visits to the post office, located at, believe it or not, the corner of Clinton and Bush, to coincide with a visit to the food vendors in Red Hook. One modest vendor served the best cut-beefsteak, soft shell tacos in Brooklyn. At the time, two tacos and a soda cost $5.
May 6th, 2009 at 8:02 pm
YES! you finally got the recent comments back up on the top right, THANK YOU!
May 6th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
Way to go NYCFoodguy! And now, on behalf of all your devoted but veggie followers, find us some veggie ball park food. Pretty please with a strawberry lime mojito on top!
May 12th, 2009 at 2:23 am
Brian,
Thanks for the kind words man, it’s good to hear from you. It’s been a while. How’s everything going down there? I’m going to have to give you a shout when I’m going down to DC.
miguel,
You’re more than welcome miguel. Give me a shout when you come back to the US.
Mona,
Thanks, great to hear from you. Have you been out here yet?
Monique,
You’re very welcome. You need to get out there and sample the goods yourself now! Let us know what you like best.
Emily,
Well the pupusas are a great start but you’ve got a lot of work to do. Keep coming back to NYCFoodGuy.com because I’ll be posting plenty about all the delicious dishes at Red Hook.
FN,
Getting out of Manhattan alot. Thanks puff, for the knowledge and the kind words. Let’s meet up out there.
starpower,
You are a smart person to plan trips around Red Hook. We’re going to have to figure out which taco you were talking about! Tell us more about it.
Geeksaregoodfun,
It won’t be easy but I will do my best! Any recommendations?
May 14th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
Thanks for the map man. I’m making my pilgrimage very soon.
May 15th, 2009 at 1:33 am
Lee Frank,
You got it man. Red Hook is the real deal. You need to get out there ASAP. If you have any questions feel free to email me: lawrence@nycfoodguy.com or just leave some comments here.
June 3rd, 2009 at 3:34 pm
[...] reminds me. I want to take the free IKEA water taxi and visit the Red Hook Ball Field Vendors again soon. SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: “A three hour tour”, url: [...]
June 25th, 2009 at 10:42 am
Thanks for the great maps!
June 25th, 2009 at 10:34 pm
Foodguy, I’m from out of town and really appreciate the info and maps. Visiting the Red Hook Vendors has been on my to-do list for a while. Any idea what their July 4th holiday schedule is likely to be? For instance, would they open on July 3rd (Friday) since it’s a holiday. Thanks again!!!
June 29th, 2009 at 10:08 am
Tom Hawke,
I spoke with the head of the Vendor’s committee and he said they will have regular hours the weekend of July 4th and will not be open on July 3rd.
June 29th, 2009 at 8:48 pm
Thanks FoodGuy!! You saved my family from going all the way to Red Hook from Virginia on Friday and starving to death. We’ll see them on Saturday then. Really appreciate the heads-up. Cheers
July 15th, 2009 at 7:44 am
How late in the season are the vendor’s at the Red Hook Ball Fields? I’m trying to plan a visit for some great food and am curious what type of schedule I’m looking at.
Thanks!
September 6th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
Hey Foodguy!!
This information is the best. I cant wait to get some good eats and take in some futbol!!
Same question as Vivian…how long does the vendor season run. I was looking to venture down in early October?
Also, can someone fill me in on the futbol schedule?? Do they play every Sat & Sunday, and what time??? Traveling from PA, so I want to make a day of it.
Lastly, any other suggestions on activities in the area?
Thanks!
September 7th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
hey Foodguy, i must say i sat at this computer for 2 hours trying to findo info on this place. I first heard of it on anthony bourdain’s show(no reservation) but couldn’t rmember the name of the park for my life! LOL gladly i found your post, so now im looking forward to celebrating the independence of chile(my country) in two weeks time
thanx for all the tips and i will be coming bakc with some input…hey got any idea how to get there from yonkers??? LOL well keep up the good work
September 27th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
Do not eat at red hook ball fields the food is dirty you will get sick.These people have no city permits,pay no taxes and are all Illegal aliens.Seriously the city doesn’t have inspectors at the site,you will get sick guarantee.
October 3rd, 2009 at 10:42 am
Jose, perhaps you’ve had one bad experience at the ball fields, but I’ve enjoyed food there at least a dozen times over the last 5 years and have not once fallen ill. Oh, and they actually do have city permits and have to pass DOH inspections. I’m not sure where you’re getting your information.
October 8th, 2009 at 11:07 am
thanks for the detail and directions, im gonna check it out next saturday! excited!
Jose, what makes you think the food you get at a random restaurant is any cleaner? eating out always has it’s hits and misses, you just never know… but i’m willing to take a chance for good food =)