Ellen & Elvin booth

Red Purse from Dot Fox • Brown Loafers from Urban Attic

TRIBE CLOTHING, a local clothing company

Purple Sweater from Black Salt

Brown Belt from Hey Tiger

Dress from Acorn

Ellen & Elvin booth

Red Purse from Dot Fox • Brown Loafers from Urban Attic

TRIBE CLOTHING, a local clothing company

Purple Sweater from Black Salt

Brown Belt from Hey Tiger

Dress from Acorn

“There seems to be a need for this,” says Kunnecke, 36, a native Louisvillian and photographer who has seen the Flea Off Market turn into a full-time job. “There are a lot of makers and collectors and a lot of people who want an alternative to shopping at the big mall.”

Louisville.com | Louisville Magazine by Kane Webb

and so on. Local food trucks are on hand, as well as live music.

Check it out every month on the second Saturday afternoon,  from 12 to 6 PM

Every second Saturday of the month, the Flea Off Market is held in Louisville. Properly named, it is located off Market Street on Shelby Street near downtown Louisville. I finally got a chance to visit on March 10th and loved the atmosphere of the flea market.

Approaching the market, it appears small, then you step into it and realize that it actually larger than expected. There are numerous vendors, of course, selling vinyl records, tiny origami earrings and antiques, food trucks (ye,s like the ones in the television shows), and even live performers.

The mixture of items is sure to entice almost anyone. It is even a place where you could hang out as the atmosphere is very welcoming. All of the vendors I spoke with were very nice and engaging without pressuring you to buy anything. There were even several areas with chairs set up to sit and talk with ‘old’ friends or ‘new’ friends you met at the market.

The Flea Off Market is a nice set up that offers unique items, doesn’t overwhelm visitors, and would be well worth it to go back every month just to have the experience again, besides seeing what new vendors are present and the wares they have to offer.

The next market will be April 14th and the market is open from 12pm to 6pm. So take a friend or go alone and explore what the next Flea Off Market has to offer.

On Friday, the Holy Mole Taco Truck headed over to CROPPED OUT after the Veteran’s Day Parade (picture from the parade above is swiped from Holy Mole’s blog). The truck’s offerings included chorizo, fried fish, and chicken mole tacos, and we opted for the chorizo, which Chef Max Balliet told me comes from Stone Cross Farms. The taco was sweet and a little smoky, not too spicy, and a really great bargain at $4. The avocado salsa that topped the taco would give La Rosita‘s a run for its money. Speaking with Austin, Texas resident and musician King Coffey (whom you may know from such cultural jammers as SHIT & SHINE and, uh, the BUTTHOLE SURFERS), we remarked that Holy Mole may not compete with Austin’s taco trucks. However, King was psyched on trying the chicken mole taco, and reported back that it was “excellent.” Yay, Holy Mole!

I ran into Holy Mole again on Saturday afternoon outside the Flea Off Market, a brand-new indoor/outdoor flea market taking place in Louisville’s Market Street district (editor’s note: we will never refer to this part of town as NuLu, sorry!). Other food trucks and eateries taking part in the market were (favorites) Busta Grill, Please & Thank You, Louisville Dessert Truck, Wiltshire Pantry, Rye, and perhaps a few more I might have missed. Unfortunately for the food trucks, though fortunately for me, I already had a lunch date to meet up at the Blind Pig in nearby Butchertown, where I had the Italian sausage sandwich (sweet, very tasty) with fries, and a Brooklyn Companion wheat wine (more on that below).

The El Rumbon cuban food trailer showed up Saturday night at CROPPED OUT, and what a revelation it was. I had their basic cubano, which was GIGANTIC! Stuffed with just about everything, it also came with a side of chorizo-laden “latin” rice that was incredible. At $7, this was clearly the best food bargain to be found in town!

Now on to the drinks imbibed this weekend:

• Dark Star Porter (Bluegrass Brewing Company, Louisville), 5.6% ABV — BBC, the New Albanian, and Cumberland Brews were all represented at CROPPED OUT, but for some reason I stuck with the BBC’s Dark Star Porter, an old favorite, for most of the weekend.
• The Companion (Brooklyn Brewery, New York) Specs not available — The Companion is Garrett Oliver’s wheat wine equivalent to a barleywine, and boy is it tasty. Nice maltiness, with a fairly high ABV (though we’re not sure the exact number), it was a perfect, ahem, companion to our meal at the Blind Pig. It’s also available on tap for a limited time at the NachBar.
• Des Rocs Brune (Brasserie des Rocs, BELGIUM), 9% ABV — (from last week’s entry: probably the maltiest beer I tasted over the weekend, according to its specs it has 7 different kinds of malt, and 3 different hops. So tasty I bought a 750ml bottle at the Louisville Beer Store to drink at home.) So I opened that 750 bottle and loved it, but followed it with…
• Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve, 15 years old (Old Rip Van Winkle, Frankfort), 107 proof — Probably my favorite of the Family Reserves, because its smokiness is bold without being overpowering, I decided to open a bottle bought last year in celebration of the good weekend. Now I’ve got to go find a replacement from this year’s release to buy!

In the next entry, birthday dinners at Hammerheads and Harvest will be discussed, along with, finally, some more wine!

UPDATE: Apparently The Companion is no longer available at NachBar, so the Blind Pig might be the only place left in town to try it!