The 2010 Vendy Awards were yesterday on Governor’s Island. It was a perfect afternoon: gorgeous weather, a beautiful setting, and endless amounts of top notch food.
With a total of twenty trucks (five finalist nominees, five newcomer nominees, five dessert nominees, three trucks from Philly as guests, and two past winners out front), and only four hours to eat, the challenge was clear: when you have a full plate of food from a vendor, how do you *not* eat the whole thing?
In the name of documenting my Vendy’s experience, here is what I consumed (in order):
* A sugar cookie from Treats Truck (Past Winner)
* A chicken over rice and veggies plate (pictured above) from The King Of Falafel & Shawarma (Finalist)
* Veal and chicken schnitzel with four sides and a schnitz burger meatball (pictured above) from Schnitzel & Things (Finalist)
* Two sample cups – one with peppermint syrup and cacao nibs, one with fresh berries and saba – from the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck (Dessert)
* Two potstickers from A-Pou’s Taste (Newcomer)
* A cinnamon snail from The Cinnamon Snail (Newcomer)
* Some sort of pepper/onion/sausage roll thing from Birchrun On A Roll (Philly)
* A short rib taco and a cup of lime iced tea from Mexicue (Newcomer)
* A pork souvlaki stick and greek fries from Souvlaki GR (Newcomer)
* A “Bea Arthur” cone from Big Gay Ice Cream Truck (again!)
* Two pieces of candy from Yao’s Dragon Beard Candy (Dessert)
* A warm chocolate bread pudding from Dessert Truck (Dessert)
* A ginger and caramelized pineapple slush from Kelvin Natural Slush Company (Dessert)
* A queso blanco patacon from Patacon Pisao (Finalist)
* A little bit of the 8888 Uprising (mango, lemongrass, and palm sugar sorbet with coconut and lime zest) from Guerrila Ice Cream (Dessert)
To those concerned about my health, rest assured that I skipped three meals (breakfast, dinner, and breakfast again today) to compensate for all of this.
The winners were all well deserved. Kelvin Slush took Best Dessert for their delicious icy concoctions, Souvlaki GR took Best Newcomer for perfectly executed meats and pitas, and King Of Falafel took the People’s Taste and the Vendy with street meat I’ll be dreaming about for weeks.
Kudos to the Street Vendor Project and all the trucks who showed up yesterday for what in my mind is the can’t-miss NYC food event of the year.