{"id":313102,"date":"2026-10-24T01:58:34","date_gmt":"2026-10-24T01:58:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/313102\/"},"modified":"2026-10-24T01:58:34","modified_gmt":"2026-10-24T01:58:34","slug":"friday-food-feature-with-berks-county-eats-sizzling-island-at-the-fairgrounds-farmers-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/313102\/","title":{"rendered":"Friday Food Feature with Berks County Eats: Sizzling Island at the Fairgrounds Farmers Market"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Zach Brown, Berks County Eats<\/p>\n

There are times when I wish I knew more about cooking, especially seasoning. Even with more than a decade of food blogs under my belt, there are times when I don\u2019t have the words to do justice to the flavors that I\u2019m tasting.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the case with the beef legume from Sizzling Island Creole Caribbean Cuisine, one of my favorite stands at the Fairgrounds Farmers Market.<\/p>\n

I first tried Sizzling Island in the fall of 2024 while they were operating a second location inside the Reading Downtown Food Court.<\/p>\n

This wasn\u2019t just my introduction to Sizzling Island, but it was my introduction to beef legume, the delicious Haitian stew that I instantly loved. In my Instagram post at the time, I described it as \u201cbursting with flavor,\u201d the most detailed description I could give.<\/p>\n

The downtown location closed in late 2024, but the Fairgrounds location is still going strong. I visited the market stand during the summer of 2026. When I arrived, there was a short line ahead of me \u2014 a group of four college students who just barely beat me to the stand.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Sizzling Island is at the north end of the market near the Bellevue Avenue entrance. The stand looks a bit chaotic. Flags of countries in Central and South America hang above the order counter. There\u2019s a faux roof on the stand, green metal sheeting that matches the artificial turf that covers a small wall at the end of the stand. Along the base of the order counter were woven potholders and a pair of potted plants.<\/p>\n

I placed my order \u2014 beef legume with a side of plantains \u2014 and waited. Most of the food at Sizzling Island can be found on the steamer table. A variety of stews, soups, and sides sizzle in the pans. However, there were no plantains ready, so all I could do was wait.<\/p>\n

I normally eat an early lunch, so with the clock passing 12:30, I was extra hungry. It was only 15 minutes from the time I ordered until I had my food, but if you had told me a half-hour had passed, I would have believed you.<\/p>\n

The beef legume was everything that I remembered it being. The beef was melt-in-your-mouth tender with bursts of flavor \u2014 garlic, peppers, and other mild spices \u2014 in every bite.<\/p>\n

The \u201clegume\u201d part is a mostly mashed vegetable medley that the beef is stewed in. It\u2019s not the prettiest dish to look at, as it takes on a green-yellow hue from the spinach, with little pops of orange from the larger pieces of carrots that haven\u2019t been mashed up.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t really care what it looks like; it tastes amazing.<\/p>\n

On the side, I had black rice (duri djon djon), another Haitian specialty. Sizzling Island\u2019s version uses long-grain rice with green peas that have been cooked with even more seasonings and spices to give it a unique flavor of its own.<\/p>\n

The plantains, unfortunately, were not as sweet as I had hoped for. They were OK, but I wished I had ordered something that was already on the warming table instead of waiting for the plantains.<\/p>\n

The beef legume meal cost $19. It\u2019s on the higher side for the market, but the portion was enough for two meals, so I felt like I got more than my money\u2019s worth.<\/p>\n

I may not be able to tell you every flavor or every spice I tasted at Sizzling Island, but I can tell you the food is worth trying for yourself.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

BCE Rating
Food: Very Good
Service: Good
Ambiance: Fair
Price: $$<\/p>\n

Sizzling Island at the Fairgrounds Farmers Market
2934 N. 5th St. Highway
Reading, PA 19605<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

This story was contributed courtesy of Berks County Eats, a local resource for food and dining information. Berks County Eats is dedicated to promoting the dining scene in Reading and Berks County, PA, offering\u00a0restaurant reviews,\u00a0news,\u00a0and\u00a0events, and a comprehensive\u00a0Berks County restaurant directory.\u00a0You can read more at\u00a0berkscountyeats.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Zach Brown, Berks County Eats There are times when I wish I knew more about cooking, especially…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":313103,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[128,130,129],"class_list":["post-313102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=313102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313102\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/313103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=313102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=313102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=313102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}