Tuesday, May 7th was a beautiful night for the outdoor Choice Streets food festival. Sponsored by the Village Voice and held on the Intrepid, the 2nd annual Choice Streets allowed attendees to sample some of the best meals on wheels around the NYC area. Over 25 food trucks were stationed in the vast venue, allowing for the large crowd to occupy the space comfortably. Trucks featured a wide variety of cuisines, from hibachi to waffles and everything in between.
As the crowd flooded the entrance promptly at 7:00pm, lines in front of every truck quickly grew long. As far as I could see, the longest line formed for Seoul Food Truck. (I enjoyed my vegetarian Korean taco and Seoul fries but didn’t quite see what all the fuss was about). Many groups opted to delegate people to wait on different lines and get multiple orders of food at each place, which proved an excellent strategy. Little tables scattered throughout allowed people to post up and chow down quickly before scampering to the next line. Music playing made for a relaxed environment at one of my favorite food festivals to date, yet the air was somewhat frantic–it almost felt like a race to hit every truck before food and/or time ran out! Sure enough, as the night passed, several trucks had to cross items off their signs that had already sold out. Luckily, I believe I hit every vegetarian option in the nick of time–including a few second helpings.
Mac Truck’s super-cheesy macaroni and cheese unsurprisingly ranked high amongst my favorites, as did Wafels & Dinges’ decadent creation (although I skipped the bacon on mine). I was pleasantly surprised by the Hibachi Heaven’s fried rice; despite the delicious aromas this truck regularly emits around the corner from my office, I wasn’t expecting much from the food. Boy was I wrong! Kelvin Natural Slush Co. made for a great palate cleanser in between savory items. Neapolitan Express churned out perfect pie after pie made with ingredients that tasted super fresh. In terms of dessert–the red velvet “cake shot” from La Bella Torte was to die for, and the extensive list of flavors available Andy’s Italian Ices was enough to keep me coming back for more. Coolhaus’ ice cream sandwiches were more like melty cups of ice cream with a bite-size chunk of cookie but were tasty nonetheless.
Notably absent from the vendor lineup and online post was the Gorilla Cheese truck. I was disappointed I didn’t get to sample their grilled cheese – so I’ll have to hunt them down on a lunch break from work. Valducci’s Original Pizza had an abadoned empty truck at the event, which was also puzzling.
Despite such minor setbacks, my friends and I prevailed and happily managed to fill our stomachs to the brim. I would highly recommend attending this event next year–I know I can’t wait!
By: Emily Giove
@emilygiove