The Vendy Awards: A Celebration of Street Food

From Portland to Los Angeles to Washington, DC, street food has never been hotter. Whereas sidewalk carts were once confined to the realm of everyday convenience (one-dollar coffee, puffy morning bagels) there are now Korean taco trucks and creme brulee carts, roving schnitzel purveyors and streetside Belgian waffles.

Nowhere has seen a sidewalk food renaissance quite like New York—and now there's a yearly award ceremony for the city to acknowledge the greatest in street eats. The 2009 Vendy Awards, essentially the Oscars of the street vending world, will be held on September 26th, with all finalists on hand to serve up their famous food for a panel of judges.

This year's five panelists span the street food spectrum: the roving Rickshaw Dumpling Truck, selling high-end dumplings; the Jamaican Dutchy, dishing up jerk chicken for Midtown office workers; the King of Falafel and Shawarma, West Bank native Freddy Zeidaies's Astoria cart; Martinez Taco Truck, stationed at the Red Hook ballfields, famous for their huaraches; and the Biryani Cart, a Midtown staple known for their Indian kati rolls.

And for the first year ever, there's a dessert category, with three finalists: The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck, serving up soft-serve with sophisticated toppings like olive oil and sea salt; cupcake truck The Cupcake Stop; and Belgian waffle truck Wafels & Dinges.

Tickets are still available for the event, where Jacques Torres, Pichet Ong, Zach Brooks of food blog Midtown Lunch and Mina Fasolo, the Vendy's "citizen judge," will determine the victor. But attendees will get to eat, too—and maybe even catch a glimpse of the belly dancers that falafel king Freddy Zeidaies tends to bring along with him.