Crowning the King of Falafel
Monday, 27 September 2010 | by Pat's Picks
It’s not every weekend you get to crown a king. I was the MC for this year’s Vendy awards, New York’s annual search for the most delicious street food, on Saturday. The legions of fans who line up outside Freddy Zeidaeis’ food truck in Astoria every day already know him as the King of Falafel. But now it’s official.
Zeidaies was crowned the winner not only by a panel of food experts, but also by the crowd gathered on Governor’s Island. He’s been a finalist twice before but this year, he got the recipe just right. The Rookie of the Year Award went to the Greek food served up at the Souvlaki GR cart. Kelvin Natural Slush got top honors in the Dessert category. It’s a fun event to attend because there’s nothing “corporate” about these vendors. They’re entrepreneurs who work their own trucks and really care about impressing customers and judges at an event like this.
There was a good turn out for the event—Eater.com estimated about 1000 people made the trek to Governor’s Island. They also noted that the 80-degree weather may have skewed people’s favorites as long lines formed in front of the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck and Kelvin Natural Slush Co.
For a more comprehensive roundup, check out Erin Zimmer’s post on Serious Eats NY.
New York Daily News’ coverage of the 2010 Vendys
