This is a red velvet cupcake topped with apple chips from Cupcake Stop at The Vendy Awards last weekend at the Queens Museum of Art.

The annual Vendy Awards is an intense cook-off between the best sidewalks chefs in New York City, where food truck vendors all vie for the prized Vendy Award trophy. You buy a wrist band for $100 and get to eat freely from the top street vendor food in the city- there were 11 delicious finalists parked and cooking this year. The Awards is a fundraiser to support the Street Vendor Project of the Urban Justice Center, a nonprofit that provides a voice for the thousands of people who sell food and merchandise on the streets of NYC.

2009 Vendy winners:
- Vendy Cup: Country Boys (Fernando & Jolanda Martinez)
- Grey Poupon People’s Taste Award: Biryani Cart (Meru Sidker – second year!)
- Dessert: Wafels & Dinges (Thomas DeGeest)
- Rookie Vendor of the Year: Schnitzel & Things (Oleg Voss & Jared Greenhouse).

Congratulations to everyone!

photo © erin gleeson

*Erin Gleeson is a food photographer based in New York City. She enjoys shooting cookbooks and teaches at the Fashion Institute of Technology.