Sam's Falafel

Another nominee for the Vendy Cup was Sam's Falafel, which is usually located in the Financial District. I think that, during the short time I worked downtown, I went there for lunch once but it's been years and I can't remember for sure. I definitely went to a falafel place located in the park where Sam's is located, and it was the one with the long line, so I think that was it.

At the Vendy's, they were offering a large platter of food:


But when we dropped by, they were preparing their platters for the judges:


We were already getting pretty full by the time we got to Sam's cart, so instead we focused on the sample falafel balls on the table:


And tried out the falafel covered in tahini:


It was good. We were getting falafel-ed out because we were so full, so I don't think we would rank this as high as Taim, which we had eaten earlier at the event. I would have been interested in trying the rest of the platter or tasting the falafel in combination with things other than tahini, but we just lacked the stomach space or time. I can't imagine doing a falafel taste test to find the best falafel. I think you would get so incredibly full!

Wooly's Ice

One of our last stops was Wooly's Ice. I grew up eating Taiwanese shaved ice, and I was really excited about this. First things first, we needed to figure out what to order.

Wooly's hawking their goods
Wooly's originally started out with 3 options: OG Triple OG, The Greenman, and their Maker's Mark special Wooly's Milk Punch.

Ice Shaver and Menu
By the time we got to their cart, they had run out of their Wooly's Milk Punch, though, so we chose between The Greenman and OG Triple OG. Being that this was the first time we had ever tried their dessert, we opted for their original flavor OG Triple OG.

OG Triple OG
First off, I was confused by the toppings. I love the traditional red beans and condensed milk so brownie bites, strawberries, and sea salt leche sauce took a little bit of getting used to. Overall it was quite tasty. The brownies were still odd to me, but they tasted good. Fudgy, chewy, and cooked perfectly. The strawberries added a nice freshness to the dessert, and the sea salt leche actually tasted very similar to condensed milk. The ice was a slightly different texture than I was expecting as well. It was almost ribboned as opposed to snow-like. It had near the same consistency, but it picked up in ribbons.

M also wasn't sure she would like the dessert because of the toppings. She was pleasantly surprised, though, and ended up enjoying the dessert a lot. She was envisioning a more icy consistency similar to a Hawaiian shave ice, but the lightness and fluffiness was a nice surprise, and she felt that the toppings worked very well due to the fluffiness of the ice.

In the end they won for best dessert. They may not have been our pick for best dessert, but they certainly were deserving.


They brought their own Greenman!

Guadalupe's Tamales

The first line we got on at the Vendys was for Guadalupe's Tamales, a nominee for the Vendy Cup and People's Choice Award. Our priority at the Vendys was to try the vendors that we have never tried before and/or can't get on a regular basis. Since Guadalupe sells her tamales on a corner in Brooklyn, we had no idea when we would be able to get these again. The tamales looked delicious in the video we saw and we couldn't wait to try them.

Guadalupe's Vendys menu and some tamales
We were able to watch Guadalupe making the tamales in a giant pot since she was being interviewed by the press when we got there. We were super excited!

They look sad that they're not getting tamales
In addition to arroz con leche (rice pudding) (to which the bees were very attracted), Guadalupe had 2 types of tamales - verdes (tamales with green sauce - available in shredded pork or chicken varieties) and rajas con queso (tamales with peppers and cheese):

Verde on the left, rajas con queso on the right
We got the verde tamale in pork and one of the rajas con queso tamales. (It wasn't really a choice - just whatever tamale came out of the pot next.) They were excellent. The pepper one had a good heat to it but the spiciness wasn't overwhelming (especially considering the amount of seeds in it). We liked the verde one even more as the sauce was so good. If you find yourself near Knickerbocker and DeKalb, check out Guadalupe's tamales!

Eat Here Now Now Eat Here

I'm not sure why I thought Eat Here Now Now Eat Here was a sandwich cart. The cart, which is usually near the High Line, was nominated for Rookie of the Year and served up tacos and a breakfast burrito.


We got there pretty late in the day (our next to last stop) so there were just some tacos on the counter. I had been hoping to try a fish taco but all I saw were a few pork ones.


It was OK. Reading about them online now, it seems that their tortillas are supposed to be good, but I found it really dry and not as good as the tortillas on the other tacos at the Vendys. Maybe it was because of the nature of the event and would be better freshly made from the cart. The insides of the taco were also just OK and nothing extraordinary. A was full so he didn't try this.

I would give the cart another try if we came across it in our travels. I think a freshly made taco might be better than the ones that were sitting out for a bit, and I think I would like a fish taco better than pork. Also, I loved the yearbook nature of their menu board. Another reason for another try!

The Trucks We Skipped

Although the Vendy tickets are for all-you-can-eat, we sadly did not get to sample food from every single vendor. In fact, we missed 8 of them, including 3 of the winners!

Trucks lined up
We got to the Vendys a little later than we had planned (completely exhausted that morning) so the lines for Souvlaki GR, Korilla BBQ and Solber Pupusas were really long. Although they seemed to be working quickly, more people kept joining the lines, so they stayed pretty long for most of the afternoon. Near the end of the food serving portion of the Vendys, the lines were somewhat shorter but by then, we were really full and couldn't think about eating more than a bite of each (and didn't want to waste such good food!). Luckily, we have been to all 3 trucks before. We'll just have to get Greek fries, Korean bbq and loroco pupusas another time!

Part of the Souvlaki GR line, one of the 3 longest lines there
Pupusa lines are longer than in Red Hook!
Instead of a photo of the Korilla line, here's their celebration after the awards
The reason we missed the Trini Paki Boys halal cart was a little sadder. One of their founders was sick and they had to miss the awards. We still gave them our people's choice votes since we love them. I went there for lunch on Friday in the pouring rain and got some chicken biryani for my Vendy nominee lunch week. We wish they could have made it to the awards, but most of all, we hope everything is OK.

My delicious chicken biryani lunch from Trini Paki Boys from Friday
Chimichury el Malecon ran out of food. On our first attempt, they were cooking for the judges. On our second attempt, we learned that they gave the remainder of their food to the judges. Didn't seem like great planning since they were out of food with another hour (at least) to go. Oh well. We really wanted to try it since we had never been before, but it didn't work out.

Empty Chimichury el Malecon
We missed out on the remaining 3 trucks because we were too full. We just couldn't think about eating a cupcake... even if it was a mini cupcake from Cupcake Crew. Two Pitas in a Pod had gigantic sampler plates and we were just too full (and also a little falafel-ed out after having both Taim and Sam's). And Eggstravaganza, the only midtown nominee I haven't eaten at for a regular lunch (I don't always react well to eggs, which I've mentioned before), was giving out half sandwiches which were too huge to contemplate eating at the end of our Vendy day. I'm sure all 3 were great, but we were unfortunately out of stomach space.

The cupcakes sounded so good, but no room left in our bellies
The extensive menu for Two Pitas in a Pod
Big sandwiches from Eggstravaganza
We did make it to 14 other vendors. Can't wait to tell you about them (in completely random order)!

Vendys 2011

The 7th annual Vendy Awards were today! The Vendy Awards, a celebration of street vendors, is one event we look forward to every year. This year there were over 20 trucks/carts there and the rain forecast let up for a day, so it was a great event.

This year's Vendy Awards graphic done by the Street Vendor Project
Congratulations to the winners:

- Dessert: Woolys Shaved Ice
- Best of NJ: Taco Truck
- Rookie of the Year: Korilla
- Makers Mark award: Cinnamon Snail
- People's Choice: Souvlaki GR
- Vendy Cup: Solber Pupusas

Last year, we aimed to write posts on each of the vendors that we sampled at the Vendys (but never did). This year, we're going to do it!