Monday, May 16, 2011

Street Eats: International Food Festival 2011

I apologize for not posting this up sooner for those that wanted to attend the festival.

This past weekend, the only weekend of the year that the International Food Festival was held. I missed it all the other years so I was super excited to go to this years. The festival stretches from 42nd street to 57th street, a wide span of 15 blocks worth of food and activities (more on the food side).

I'm warning you all, this is going to be one heavy post of photos so bare with me!

J and I decided to work our way downtown, therefore we started our journey from 57th street. Quite convenient since I need to get a book from Borders and Columbus Circle was just 2 blocks away! Anyways, starting from atop was a lot better since there weren't much people. In a right person's mind, they would start down south and work their way up but my mind isn't always right. I was hungry for food so we scrounge around quick to find something to munch on.

We love empanadas but this was so different from the last time we had it. Shouldn't have gotten chicken because beef was so much better. It was oily, but oily goodness.

Crazy turkey drums. I'm quite PO-ed that I didn't get this. We wanted to purchase it from this vendor but he said he's out of gas/coal so his turkeys ain't cooking. I pushed it off til later to get it as we walk further down but by the time we got down there, I was full so that was a total fail. I assure you, next IFF I will definitely get the drum first even if it fills me up!

Red light, green light, one two three?
J and I absolutely love the green lemonade. It's so rare to find vendors with the green one because they usually just sell the yellow and pink one. The green one is actually lime, so the taste is quite different. To me, it's not quite as tart.

I saw this stand and was completely in awe. I love fried food and I love seafood. They even had raw oysters that they shuck on site for you. Whole lobsters for $8 and even soft shell crabs, I was in total bliss heaven.

Somewhere down the road we got a Kobe Beef Slider, a little bland but I love the thickness of the burger. They need to have salt and pepper at the stands rather than ketchup and mustard.

Yay to free popcorn! They let you try some, so just pour a hand full in your hands and chow down. It was extra soft, light, and crispy at the same time. Love me some fresh caramel popcorn.

Random pig just chillin' out and waiting to be taken apart and devour by human carnivores.

I don't know why but I was totally surprised that Red Hook was here. After having Luke's Lobster, I do want to try the other well-known lobster shacks out there, Red Hook being one of them. And what's better than having Red Hook come to us rather than us going to them. We got the Maine style instead of the Connecticut because what's the big deal with mayo? I do prefer Connecticut style since it's a lot more cleaner with only butter. Kudos to them for giving us so much lobster meat.

Kyotofu, so cute. We always end up getting something from them even though we know how it taste and all. They usually never really come up with anything "new" so that's the only downside. I mean we don't crazy love their sweets but it's good to munch on them once in a while. Plus, it was only $2.

Alright, here I go regretting that I didn't get something again. We got the Gator sausage but what I really wanted was the crawfish boil for only $12! I'm still sulking over it. But it's ok, the sausage was pretty good. Loaded with spices you would expect from a Cajun place and that mustard totally worked well with it.

So, that concludes my adventure through 9th Ave. And, no that is not J and me dead center.
I'm quite shocked at how little people there are this year at the festival, maybe people didn't know about it? Overall, the weather was good. I don't like hot sunny days where there are tons of people pushing around to get food. If you missed this year's IFF, there is always next year so look out for that.

International Food Festival
42-57 Street
9 Avenue

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