Not to be outdone by Brooklyn, Long Island City now has its very own hipster market by the river: the LIC Flea.
Plenty of vendors, including local stores like Matted and Nook 'n Crannie, are offering their wares, as are artists, jewelers, and clothiers. But the real strength is the food: I had Sweetleaf's Rocket Fuel, okonomiyaki, a baked black-bean empanada, a fantastic green-mango salad from Hong Kong Street Cart, and Sweet Silk's truffles. Stuffed to the gills, I stopped myself from eating more, but I'll be back. The market, in a lot at the corner of 5th St. and 46th Ave., will run through the summer on Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Get there early---by noon, it was already impossibly crowded!
