One of the Best Meals of my Life…for $5.

Yes, you read that right. One of the best meals I’ve had in a long time (if not ever) for a grand total of $5. But, let’s start from the beginning…

After hearing that today was the grand opening of the Williamsburg location of the Brooklyn Flea AND was going to be warm(ish) and sunny, Rebecca and I knew that the time had come for a too-rare trip “off the island” in search of great one-of-a-kind homemade jewelry and, of course, a delicious lunch.

After shaking off my morning blurry-headed-ness and doing some quick Yelp-ing to find some good lunch options, I put on a comfy and Brooklyn-appropriate outfit (note: I’m not really sure what Brooklyn-appropriate means, but I did choose my John Varvatos sunglasses over the Chanels. Maybe that’s it?)…

Gap navy v-neck tee, yellow Banana Republic cardigan, Gap jeans, Converse sneakers, Laila Rowe scarf

..and met Rebecca for a ride on the Hipster Express (some people also call this the L Train). On our way to the actual Brooklyn Flea, we stumbled upon Artists and Fleas, another flea market:

…where we oohed and aahed over tons of jewelry, vintage scarves, and a vintage Kiss t-shirt (ok, that last one was mostly me), but wouldn’t let ourselves buy anything until we had checked out the actual Flea that we had traveled for.

It was a little too chilly to sample the food vendors, but when the weather gets warmer, I’m going to need to go back to check out the homemade pickles, lobster rolls, and pizza cooked in an outdoor oven. YUM. We didn’t buy anything, but had fun wandering through racks of vintage clothes, purses, and more jewelry and admiring the views of Manhattan from across the water:

Then, we headed back to Artists and Fleas, where I bought a custom-engraved “Liz” necklace (just gaudy enough while also super-cool) that I’m picking up next week, and Rebecca resisted an amazing skull ring just slightly out of her price range for random flea market jewelry (totally fair, but wow, it was awesome and REBECCA, YOU TOTALLY SHOULD HAVE BOUGHT IT).

After my purchase and her frugality, we went on a trek to find Graham Avenue Meats and Deli, which Yelp promised me had some of the best Italian sandwiches in the city. And it did NOT disappoint.

Heaven on Graham Avenue

We got lost a little (as in, we walked completely in the wrong direction and took a while to realize it), but it was completely worth it when for $6 TOTAL, we got this sandwich to split:

 

Turkey and bufala mozzarella with onions, arugula, tomato, roasted red peppers, oil, vinegar, honey mustard, and Italian seasoning.

It was AMAZING — probably the best sandwich I’ve ever had. Complete and total epicurean bliss, for $3 each, enjoyed on a bench on Graham Ave. And when the sandwich was gone, we got to split this stray piece of bufala mozzarella covered in seasonings:

So…where did the other $2 for our amazing meal come from, you ask? A trip to Blue Bottle Coffee for cookies that were not to be missed, according to Serious Eats. And, for $2 each, they did not disappoint. We got on the longest line I have EVER seen at a coffee shop…

…and ordered one saffron snickerdoodle cookie and one double chocolate cookie. And they were unbelievable. They were more savory than sweet: the snickerdoodle was very heavy on the saffron, almost a turn-off at first, but it got better with each bite and by the time it ended, I wanted another. The double chocolate was definitely chocolate-y, but more salty than sugary, and amazingly ooey-gooey (that’s the technical term, actually).

 

They serve the baked goods in coffee filters! How adorable!

So, there you have it. $5 (ok, $7 if you count the diet cokes we stopped for) each for one of the best meals I’ve had in ages. Manhattanites, go to Williamsburg, walk the mile to Graham Avenue Meats, and stop at Blue Bottle for cookies on the way home. You won’t regret it.

So…a great workout, new running shoes, a new bar and restaurant, a great necklace, a delicious sandwich, and unique and tasty cookies. I’m considering this weekend an Interesting Year success.