Midtown Lunch

We love Street Vendor Project here at Midtown Lunch. Not only do they throw one of the best food event of the year (the Vendys) they do noble work on behalf of our beloved street carts and food trucks. Amazingly enough they turn 10 years old this year and to celebrate they’ll be throwing a special party on March 27th! It will take place downtown at Judson Memorial Church, from 7pm to 10pm, with live music, drinks, and food from past Vendy Award winners. Early bird tickets are just $45, but are only available until tomorrow at 6pm, so grab one before the price goes up!

UPDATE: After this post initially went up we got word that Solber Pupusas and Paty’s Tacos will both be at the event… with more vendors to be announced soon.  Stay tuned!

For those of you didn’t get enough of The Vendy Awards from Chris’s post this morning, we figured we’d end the day with a few more snapshots of all the food and folks what were out on Governors Island Saturday afternoon. We start with the gentlemen of Korilla BBQ celebrating their Rookie of the Year win.

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Another New York City Vendy Awards has come and gone, and this year’s certainly didn’t disappoint. This yearly event provides the Street Vendor Project one of their largest sources of funding, year over year, and allows them to provide free legal advice and support for street vendors across the boroughs. They’re the reason why we can enjoy a dirty water hot dog or an upscale Mexican fusion truck, and they also throw a great party to boot.

This year’s event, held on Governers Island, featured an impressive line-up of street vendors, all of which were invited through a nomination process. In addition to the great line-up of food, there were fantastic live music performances as well as free drinks provided by Brooklyn Brewery, Volvic, Carpe Diem Kombucha, GuS Grown-up Soda, and Lapostolle wines.

But the Vendy’s aren’t just about good food, friends, music and booze – there’s a serious competition at hand. All attendees were allowed to vote for the best Rookie vendor, Best of New Jersey, best Dessert, and best use of Makers Mark bourbon in a dish. The vaunted Vendy cup was decided by an esteemed panel of judges, featuring notable food writers, city council people, and Chefs. And we were on-site to try the incredible spread of food from across New York and New Jersey.

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Only two days until the Vendy Awards, and longtime fans of the event might have noticed there is one thing missing… videos! Every year the Street Vendor Project releases videos of the finalists and we got our hands on them. After the jump hear Fatima Khan talking about the origin of the Tini Paki Boys Cart, and Arturo Macedo talking about how he turned a normal doughnut cart into a breakfast eggstravaganza!

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We’re less than a week away from New York’s biggest street food event of the year, and the last piece of the puzzle is finally in place! Vendy Award Dessert finalists, Rookie finalists, and the New Jersey participants were all announced over the past few weeks, and earlier this morning NYT’s City Room blog posted the finalists for the ultimate prize- the 2011 Vendy Cup. And they are…

• The Eggstravaganza Cart – Mexican & American cart on 52nd & Park that specializes in mexican wraps and egg sandwiches.
• Chimichury El Malecon – Inwood vendor that has been selling Dominican hamburgers known as “chimis” for 25 years
• Souvlaki GR – Last year’s Rookie winner, this truck serves up Greek pita sandwiches downtown
• Tamales Guadalupe – Brooklyn tamale vendor
• Trini Paki Boys Halal Food – A Midtown Lunchmainstay, this cart has been parked on 43rd and 6th serving up street meat with an island twist for over 20 years
• Sam’s Falafel – A FiDi lunch legend, this was one of the first carts we covered on the Downtown section of Midtown Lunch
• Solber Pupusas – Now a 2 time Vendy Award finalists, this pupusa truck was nominated back in 2008 when it was known as Soler Dominican

We can’t help but feel especially excited for the Trini Paki Boys Cart, Eggstravaganza, and Sam’s Falafel, but a huge congrats to all the deserving finalists! This is going to be a great year, and a super tough decision for the judges. You’ll be able to read more about all the finalists on the Vendy Awards website, and while General Admission tickets are completely sold out there are a limited number of early admission and VIP tickets available (as well as sponsorship packages, which come with tickets.) The awards take place this Saturday, on Governor’s Island from 12:30-5pm.

The Vendy Cup finalists haven’t been revealed yet (with the exception of Comme Ci Comme Ca spilling the beans), but this morning the New York Daily News announced the nominees for the Vendy Award dessert category, and it includes our very own MISS SOFTEE!!! Also nominated is La Belle Torte cannoli truck, Wooly’s shaved ice truck, the Cupcake Crew Truck, and La NewYorkina Mexican paletas cart. You can read more about each on the nominees on the Vendy Award website. GA Tickets for the September 24th event on Governor’s Island are sold out, but there are early entry tickets and sponsorship packages still available.

Got super excited when I saw this on the Twitter Tracker this morning… thinking that the Vendy Award finalists had been announced. No such luck though! It appears as if the Comme Ci Comme Ca truck jumped the gun a bit on the announcement. The Street Vendor Project makes videos about each of the vendors, so the finalists always find out a bit before we do. If it does turn out to be true, a big hearty congrats to Chef Samir! (I guess nobody said anything to him about keeping it a secret?)

Oh, and if you haven’t bought your tickets yet for the September 24th event at Governor’s Island you might want to get on that. There are less than 40 General Admission tickets left. Scratch that. General Admission tickets are now sold out! But there are still early admission tickets left ($145) and sponsorship packages come with tickets, making sponsoring the Vendys not much more expensive than buying tickets directly (plus you get to support a great cause.)

I know it seems like just yesterday that we were on Governor’s Island watching Freddie the King of Falafel take home the 2010 Vendy Awards Cup, but the website for the 2011 Vendy Awards is already up and running! The event is back on Governor’s Island again, and will take place on Saturday September 24th from 12:30pm to 5pm. A limited number of early bird tickets are on sale now for $80 (plus service charge) and as always all proceeds go to benefit the Street Vendor Project. In recent years the event has become as close to a no-brainer sell-out as you can get in this town, so we’d recommend getting in on this while the getting is good.

But wait there’s more… amazing author (and ML friend) John T. Edge has already been announced as a judge, and the nominations are open. So after you’re done buying your tix, make sure to nominate your favorite street vendor! And as an added bonus, this year will feature for the first time an award for heroism and everybody who buys early bird tickets will be entered into a drawing to be this year’s “Citizen Judge”!

Related:
2010: Freddie The Falafel King of Astoria Sweeps the 2010 Vendy Awards
2009: Diary of a 2009 Vendy Awards Judge
2008: Biryani Cart & Treats Truck Are People’s Choice at The 2008 Vendy Awards!
2007: Dosa Man Wins but Kwik Meal is the People’s Choice at the 2007 Vendy Awards

The third time was a charm for Freddie the Falafel King of Astoria, who took home the Vendy Cup and the People’s Choice Award at the Vendy Awards on Saturday at Governor’s Island.  Freddie left empty handed in 2007 and 2009, but made up for it on Saturday by taking both of the two top awards, a first for any Vendy nominee.  What made this year different than the other two years Freddie was nominated?  Simple… he brought his A-Game, especially for the judges- who were served a plate of food that left no doubt The Falafel King was in it to win it.

The judges’ plates, the dessert and rookie winners, plus tons more Vendy porn is after the jump…

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Just because you didn’t score tickets to this year’s Vendy Awards, doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy some street food on Governor’s Island this Saturday. There will be a few Vendy winners from previous years set up and selling food to the public, including the Treats Truck (2008 Dessert Winner) and Thiru the Dosa Man (2007 Vendy Award Winner).  For those who do have tickets, we just saw this news on Midtown Lunch: Philadelphia… 3 food carts from the city of brotherly love have been added to the roster of participating vendors- Honest Tom’s, Denise’s Soul Food, and Birch Run on a Roll will all be making the trek to NYC this weekend. It’s the first time ever the Vendy Awards have invited vendors from another city, bringing the total number of participants to 18!!!

Related:
BREAKING: 2010 Vendy Awards Finalists Have Been Announced!
Vendy Award Dessert Finalists Announced
Mexicue & 99% Vegetarian Get Vendy Rookie of the Year Nods