Ends meat is the first sandwich shop that I know of which made me want to crawl into a fetal position and fear my mortality. When a man like me hits a certain age all the medical advisories start to kick in.
"You should eat less red meat, reduce your saturated fat intake, work out more, and get a prostate exam every year..."
Just like every red blooded American, I enjoy barbecues, charcuterie and practically everything you can do to turn up the flavor volume on the carcass of poultry, steer or swine. I also like them sold by a jolly knowledgeable butcher with some serious facial hair.
Sunset park (the area around the food hall) suffers from an embarrassment of riches when it came to culinary possibilities. It is a neighborhood of new immigrants hailing from Latin America and Southeast China. There exists a vibrant area with taquerias, carnicerias and dumpling stores all the way from Atlantic center to the edge of Bay Ridge with a ton of small grocery stores / small supermarkets. However, if you are not familiar with the area you might think that it is a food desert. To experience the culinary splendor of the area you should take the B63 bus from Brooklyn Bridge Park down Atlantic/5th Avenue from Greenwood cemetery all the way to Bay Ridge.
The area near Industry City is an alien transplant completely at odds with the surrounding area, with overpriced gourmet eateries trading in the obscure, mostly for people who came off the BQE exit ramp on 38th and 39th. On one end there is Brooklyn's busiest CostCo (hello incline elevator and hordes of Chinese shoppers), and on the other end, a Federal Prison (Metropolitan Detention Complex Brooklyn). I always find it hilarious that the shopping plaza right next to it facing the detainees is called...LibertyView. I actually like that place. I can geek out at Microcenter, the missus at Saks, and both of us can indulge in snackery at World Market.
Of course, there is that 900 pound gorilla in the mist, which is Industry City. I am not really sure what it is. It seems to be a collection of overpriced interior decor shops, a couple of industrial kitchens (for Li-lac chocolate?) and a bunch of slightly overpriced eateries formulated kinda like a food hall, bit the foot traffic seems to be aimed at their relatively overcompensated employees or outsiders - but then I never see massive visitor numbers. Why open an eatery here?
Take ends meat, for instance. They do something similar to, say, Ehmer's in Glendale (Queens) or Schnaller & Weber in the Upper East side - they are your cut-to-order butcher who also can provide you with cured meat products - charcuterie, sausages and meat sandwiches. And in the case of Ends Meat, they also do soups. Of course, Ehmers/S&W are both on busy streets (Mrytle/2nd Av respectively), while Ends-Meat are inside this trendy, design oriented shopping area, so guess which place have the sleek / vintage store interior and the young butcher with the apron and serious facial hair?
Of course, you don't come here to gawk at the surroundings like some fucking hipster with horn-rim glasses, a Leica M7 around your neck and Airpods blasting Chromeo. You are here to eat meat unironically. You will give your sandwich a girl's name, because you will facefuck it vigorously and willingly, emanating sounds that would need a funky, bass heavy 70s porno soundtrack to do it justice. No more eating out Oscar Meyer Mondalez through its purty corporate shrinkwrap, it's time to step up to the 36 chambers of Atherosclerosis. When you are done, you will think back at the fatty flavorful meat product you just consumed, think about how much saturated fat and chloresterol you just ingested, look at all those lithe millenials walking through the food hall who would no doubt outlive you, look back at yourself, and despair. I know I did. Please, if there is a merciful god, strike down those millenials and let me get another round on that sandwich. Oh, that tender meaty goodness, the crispy but soft bread with its jelly or juices drippling down my chin. I have become death, destroyer of meaty goodness.
But seriously, get the beefneck sandwich. That is some seriously tender flavorful meaty goodness right there. read more