Midtown Lunch

The Vendy Award Rookie of the Year finalists were announced yesterday afternoon by the New York Times, and it’s a decent looking bunch.  A Pou’s Taste, the Taiwanese dumpling cart that popped up Downtown last month, will compete against the Souvlaki Truck (which still hasn’t come to Midtown for lunch yet!), Cinnamon Snail (the Vegan truck from Jersey), Midtown fave Mexicue, and the 99% Vegetarian Cart– which started its career last year in Midtown before moving Downtown back in May. Congrats to them all…

Related:
Vendy Award Dessert Finalists Announced
BREAKING: 2010 Vendy Awards Finalists Have Been Announced!

The finalists for the 6th Annual Vendy Awards were announced last month, but those 5 vendors aren’t the only ones who are going to be at Governor’s Island next Saturday.  There will also be 5 new vendors competing in the Rookie category (last year’s winner, Schnitzel & Things, is up for the big prize this year) and 5 more vendors in the Dessert category, which was announced today.  And the finalists are…  Big Gay Ice Cream Truck, The Dessert Truck, the Guerilla Ice Cream Truck, Kelvin Natural Slush, and the dragon beard candy vendor that our very own Danny posted about on his blog Food in Mouth a few weeks ago.

The Vendys have been sold out for almost a month (you snooze you lose!), but if you’ve got deep pockets there are still some sponsorship slots open… for example, a $500 Gold Sponsorship gets you 4 tickets (not much more than 4 tickets would have cost at regular price.)  And all the money goes to benefit the Street Vendor Project, so you can feel good about that. We’re hearing the rookie finalists will be announced by the end of the week.

The finalists for the 2010 Vendy Awards were just announced on TONY’s Feed Blog, and 3 of the 5 vendors have ties to Midtown! Last year’s “Rookie of the Year” Vendy Award winner Schnitzel & Things has been graduated to the big dance, along with 2 year old Midtown Mexican fave El Rey del Sabor, Flatiron Lunch standout The Bistro Truck, Freddie “The Falafel King” of Astoria, and the Patacon Pisao truck (El Dugout) that Dave Cook wrote about in the New York Times last year. Tickets are $85 (which goes to benefit the Street Vendor Project) and get you free drinks and all you can eat from all 5 finalists, plus “Rookie of the Year” and “Best Dessert” finalists- who will be announced at a later date.   This year the event will be held on Governor’s Island on September 25th, and it always sells out, so you might want to get your tickets now if you haven’t already.

Check out this year’s amazing videos (created by Food Curated) after the jump…

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Just a friendly reminder regarding our favorite food event of the year… you have until Saturday to nominate your favorite vendor for the 2010 Vendy Awards. Plus, everybody who submits a nomination will be entered to win a pair of tickets… but truthfully, if you haven’t bought your tix for the September 25th event on Governor’s Island you probably shouldn’t leave it to chance. We heard that they are on track to sell out even earlier than last year. Tickets are $85, but it’s all you can eat (and drink) and all the money goes to benefit the Street Vendor Project– so it’s tax deductible. Need more motivation to buy your tickets now? Check out our coverage from last year, and the year before. (And when they sell out, don’t say we didn’t warn you.)

The new Vendy Award website went live this afternoon, which means tickets are on sale and nominations are now open for the 2010 Vendy Awards. Governor’s Island is the place, September 25th is the date and if you buy your ticket before Wednesday at Midnight and you’ll be entered to win a pair of tickets to Taste of the Nation NYC (to benefit Share Our Strength.) But your ticket before May 31st you’ll be entered in a raffle to be this year’s “Citizen Judge”. Uh… what are you waiting for? Buy your ticket now (you know it’s going to sell out), and nominate your favorite (ahem) Midtown (ahem) vendor.

See our coverage from last year’s Vendys:
Diary of a 2009 Vendy Awards Judge