Village Voice Choice Eats Tasting Event 2009

So I went to the Village Voice Choice Eats Tasting Event last night. And it was fantastic! There were plenty of vendors of different cuisines and lots of free booze too. But I was there for the food. I was there on a mission: to try everything and capture the moment on my camera. The doors on the 69th Armory at Lexington Avenue opened at 6:30pm. Of course there was a line that wrapped around the block. Mostly due to the checking of ID's for bracelets. I was promptly in by 7:15pm and I started at one end and snaked my way through. Unfortunately, by the time I got to certain vendors, they had already run out of food. Some of the places that I really wanted to try but missed were: Dirt Candy, Fatty Crab, Jimmy No. 43, Momofuku Milk Bar and Bakery, Nicky's Vietnamese Sandwiches, and Porchetta. Fortunately, I still got to stuff my face with delicious food from terrific vendors.

Urban Rustic Market: meatballs and vegetable soup (sorry blurry picture)

Fette Sau: smoked meat...one of the favorites!

Peppa's Jerk Chicken: jerk chicken with (really!) hot sauce

Tiffin Wallah: rice, falafel type food, and some cake-ish thing

Cabrito: stuffed chile relleno...another favorite!

Kampuchea Restaurant: one flavorful chicken wing

Salumeria Rosi: mortadella, salami, and ham

Baoguette: banh mi...still got the fever!

Barbao: spicy beef salad

Pacificana: duck liver spring roll

Patisserie Des Ambassades: something with chocolate but unfortunately it was dry

Smorgas Chef: swedish meatballs and lox

Xunta Tapas: spanish omlette, chorizo, stuffed date, croquette

Krik Krak: mushroom rice and fried (fatty goodness!) pork

Smoke Joint: 12 hour pulled pork over grits

Max: lasagna

Madiba: spiced ground beed with almonds

Kuma Inn: flavorful tofu with mushrooms

Radegast Hall and Biergarten: goulash with dumplings

Eisenberg's Sandwich Shop: liver pate on bread (surprisingly good!)

Favella Grill: fried everything (chicken, cheese, beef, pork, chile, seafood, etc) but wasn't very good (cold and dry)

Motorino: chocolate bomboloni

Sheep Station: roasted lamb sandwiches (juicy and delicious! one of my favorites!) - sorry another blurry picture

Bajan Cafe: shrimp-y goodness

Cafe Glechik: sausage on toats and some kind of sauce (only the sausage minus toast was good)

Bella Napoli: sausage and pepper roll and pizza

Pam Real Thai Food: pork dumpling (tastes just like dim sum shu mai)

Village Voice Choice Eats Tasting Event Tuesday, March 31, 2009 The 69th Armory at Lexington Avenue 69 Lexington Avenue @ 26th Street New York, NY 10010 choiceeats.villagevoice.com/