Weather 
It’s snack time.
Smorgasburg, the Big Apple’s longtime bacchanal of bites, is back this weekend for another year of unique, hunger-inducing treats, ranging from lollipops made with pork belly to painstakingly authentic Açai bowls from a wide array of vendors across NYC, making it the food market’s biggest lineup yet.
“I’m excited to get out there and eat my way through, because this year we have our most diverse bunch of new foods yet,” co-founder Gaston Becherano Cohen told The Post.
Aside from its flagship slot in Williamsburg’s Marsha P. Johnson State Park starting this Saturday, April 4, the festival can also be found in Prospect Park, kicking off this Sunday, and on a newly announced two days in the World Trade Center on Thursdays and Fridays, which started April 2 and 3. It continues through the last weekend in October.
Cohen originally launched Smorgasburg as part of Williamsburg’s Brooklyn Flea in 2011, when the fest initially sold greenmarket fare alongside local food trucks.
Eventually, Smorg shifted to solely selling cooked food after Cohen realized that brought in the biggest sales, thus lodging itself in the annals of foodie history.
Over the past 15 seasons, the annual outdoor food festival, which now spans across all of NYC, has drawn long lines for viral eats from crisp ramen burgers to luscious pulled pork.
It’s also gone national. There are locations in South Florida — kicking off from noon-8 p.m. on Saturday, April 11, and Sunday, April 12, at 536 NE Second St., Fort Lauderdale, after three years in Miami — and Los Angeles. Its long season is starting from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Sunday, April 5, through Dec. 20 at downtown’s Row DTLA, 777 S. Alameda St.
“Every year, we get thousands of applications from vendors who want to sell at Smorgasburg,” Cohen said of the much-sought-after NYC slots. His team then winnows them down to a lucky 150. “We look for really delicious food, a passionate story, and a sparkle in their eyes.”
Out of a total of 74 vendors, they settled on a mere 22 new additions for its 16th season.
Here are some of the most mouth-watering new bites at Smorgasburg ‘26.
Humos BBQ’s Pork Belly Lollipops
Pig out!
Say goodbye to candy lollipops. The minds at Humos BBQ, based in Maspeth, Queens, have turned the lickable treat on its head.
“We can safely say nobody else has this; it’s our viral item right now and has been going absolutely crazy,” Humos’ Patricia Quintero told The Post of the concoction that plops yummy pork belly on a stick and dips it in a sticky-sweet glaze.
The result of a kitchen experiment to fill a menu gap — Humos also hawks smoked jerk chicken and fall-off-the-bone spare ribs — Quintero said the belly is baked first, then smoked.
For the glaze, they initially tried an array of fruit. “We tested peach and mango, but the best match was cherry,” she noted. “It turned out to be incredible, and now we have long lines just for people wanting to try it and see what the fuss is about.”
The Munchkins’ Lollipop Guild would be pleased.
The Purple Cup’s Acai Fruit Cups
Filled to the brim.
Immigrants from Pernambuco, Brazil, Ricardo Rosa and his wife, Vanessa, originally came to the US in 2012 and have been hawking the food of their homeland at street fairs since, along the way studying the palates of hungry New Yorkers.
“Everybody is always looking for something healthy and fast,” Ricardo told The Post. “So we decided to build the most authentic açai bowl we could.”
An entirely different treat from the açai found at chic juice bars and urban mini malls, the couple has gone to painstaking lengths to replicate how it’s really done south of the border.
“Most of the places in the States say they have acai, but most of them are blended with all different fruits, use syrups, or just throw in a powder,” Ricardo said.
The Purple Bowl uses actual açai pulp imported from northern Brazil, which lends its distinctive purple hue. It’s an otherwise rare find in NYC.
“There’s a big difference in taste,” Rosa said of the popular bowls that flaunt toppings ranging from crunchy granola to juicy strawberries. “It’s something most people have never tried, but once they do, they get really excited.”
Pretty Horse’s Kale Chicken Caesar Salad Wraps
This is one revved-up wrap.
What started as a weeknight dinner experiment has evolved into a delectable lunch — and turned the otherwise tired chicken Caesar wraps into a clucking masterpiece.
“If there’s one thing I love talking about, it’s chicken caesar wraps,” Pretty Horse co-founder Aaron Siegel proclaimed to The Post. “They’re usually an afterthought, but I think ours is the best one you can get — and I don’t say that flippantly.”
During normal work hours, Siegel is a downtown Brooklyn-based public defender and attorney. But on the weekends, he and co-founder Aaron Bryce Lee, a friend from law school, run Pretty Horse, which had deconstructed the fine art of making a Caesar into a viral lunchtime item.
Initially sold independently in Prospect Park on a lark, Pretty Horse has thrived on word-of-mouth without a morsel of marketing, despite the two being amateur cooks.
Its success comes from Pretty Horse “thinking through every component,” Siegel boasts.
That starts with swapping out typical romaine leaves with crunchy kale. “The fluffiness of shredded kale adds a nice texture that holds up under the elements,” he said.
For the chicken, the team uses thighs instead of breasts because “They just have more flavor and are juicer,” which are marinated and seasoned with a Za’atar spice blend.
Since a Caesar’s gotta have croutons, theirs are homemade from sourdough bread, and then seasoned with garlic, salt and olive oil.
Even the dressing is a gourmet affair, with the team grating fresh Italian Parmesan and hand-squeezing lemon juice.
“I think it all speaks for itself,” Siegel said.
Kolachi Rolls
They’re on a roll.
Over in Pakistan, Kolachi Rolls and Fries owner Saif Qazi says his homegrown snack is as ubiquitous as pizza or cheeseburgers.
“It’s grab and go, and everyone loves it,” Qazi told The Post of Paratha Rolls.
But in New York, they’re a needle in a haystack.
That is, until he and his wife opened their eponymous East Village snack shop, which sells the flavorful food of his native country to hungry Americans. “We just wanted to bring them to New York,” he said of the juicy rolls made with flaky flatbread and stuffed with tender chicken and succulent beef.
“The meats are made with around 20 spices, from cayenne pepper to cumin, coriander and cilantro,” Qazi added of the intricate process that enables it to burst with layered flavor.
“It’s hard to find the ingredients and equipment to even make them here; they’re very labor-intensive,” he said.
For Qazi, he calls their inclusion in Smorgasburg “anxiety-inducing and rewarding.” “We get two kinds of customers: people who had it back home and know exactly what it’s supposed to taste like, and folks who try it for the first time. I’m equally nervous about both of them.”
Garoso Colombian Bakery’s Bandeja Paisa Sliders
Call it a Colombian cacophony.
Longtime New York cook Bill Arango has been serving up Colombian food to stomach-rumbling New Yorkers since 2009.
Previously the owner of a brick-and-mortar bakery, his team recently took their show on the road and learned how to make the dishes of his South American homeland out on the field.
“We started experimenting, and eventually landed on the idea of making different sliders using different Colombian breads filled with traditional Colombian dishes,” he noted.
Their standout creation, stemming from a classic Colombian dish, is the Bandeja Paisa Sliders.
“We make ours with refried beans, ground beef, smoked chicharone, chorizo, fried egg and sweet plantain,” Arango said, noting all of the ingredients are imported.
The concoction is then sandwiched in a Buñuelo — their version of a fried-dough fritter.
While the general dish is a staple in Colombia, the grab-and-go style is Arango’s own idea. “You can’t even find something like this in Colombia,” he said.
“It’s fulfilling and exciting to be able to introduce these ideas to foodies and people who actually want to try different things,” Arango glowed.
“That’s why we wanted to get into Smorgasburg: the crowd is an adventurous one.”
