On this week’s Dining on a Dime, intrepid host Lucas Peterson heads out to Brooklyn in search of some street food — and finds it near a public park in Red Hook, a somewhat isolated peninsula in western Brooklyn between the Buttermilk Channel and Gowanus Bay. Known for once having heavy industry, it now serves as the home of a number of Latin American food vendors who set up shop on the street throughout the summertime.
Peterson discusses the vendors’ current plight with Marcos Lainez, who serves as the unofficial spokesperson of the vendor collective. Originally from El Salvador, he and his sister operate a truck that serves pupusas, platanos con crema, and other traditional Salvadoran dishes. One of the pupusas is a “super” version, an oversized, personal-pizza-sized masa tortilla stuffed with cheese, chicharrón, spinach, and more. “I’m not sure how to attack it,” Peterson marvels, addressing the foot-long papusa. He ultimately starts work from the edge, topping the dish with salsa and cortido, a fermented cabbage, before diving in.
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