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.

photo by erin gleeson

Our fridge isn’t as impressively stocked as Ricky’s from last week (also in Queens), but what can I say? I like to keep it understocked, at least with fresh stuff, because that way it never goes bad before being used. I have too many memories of my mom buying a bunch of produce that would slowly spoil…

Mine and Caroline’s uncluttered fridge:

In the above photo, you can vaguely make out some umeboshi in the fridge door. There are two varieties at the moment:

The main cavity wasn’t that exciting when I took this photo:

The cheese in the drawer above includes Parmigiano Reggiano, some kind of Manchego-like Spanish sheep’s milk cheese, cheddar, and some Brie-like substance. Party leftovers…

Here is a photo of that night’s dinner—mussels with a massive jug of leftover white wine:

And here is the freezer; as usual, mostly stocked with bread, sauces, soup, etc.

But despite the modest amount of food in the fridge, it’s not too difficult to make quick weeknight meals out of ingredients you have on hand… usually I just need to pick up one or two components for a given night’s main course. The larger point I want to make is that it’s convenient and cost-effective, especially as the world financial situation melts down into a thick goo all around us, to cook at home!

For example, I try to decide what’s for dinner by lunchtime, which cuts down on the paralyzing “what should I eat” indecision, and also saves cash by cutting out the purchasing of redundant ingredients. Here are some sample dinners from the week in which the above Fridgin’ Out photos were taken:

Mussels (moules mariniéres? my French is rusty, sorry)

Breaded chicken cutlets

Shrimp and snow pea stir fry (made with leftover shrimp)

Turkey burger with tomato salad and oven fries (an attempt at something different, this ended up more like meatloaf on a bun. It was tastier reheated the next day, but beef clearly makes the best burger.)

Sesame-crusted tuna

These recipes all took half an hour or less to prepare (or rather, they would have if not for my agonizingly slow knife skills).

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed reading, and stay tuned for more cooking-related posts and restaurant updates from Astoria, QNZ!

What’s hiding out in the back of your fridge? To feature all your luscious (and/or moldy) specimens on UM’s Fridgin’ Out, email umamimart@gmail.com

GOLDEN MALL
41-28 Main Street
Queens, NY

ON THE DUMPLINGS

YAMAHOMO
Dumplings were tasty, but to me a bit too chive heavy.

HAMAMAMA
I wasn’t feeling too adventurous – tried more dumplings (this time steamed — flavorful and fresh as well, but preferred our first stop).

JONES
I preferred the basement food court dumplings (steamed) rather than the leek dumplings at the counter (pan fried). But they were both delish.

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ON THE CHINESE BURGER

RICKY
Lamb sandwich – if I didn’t buy these myself I wouldn’t have guessed these were Chinese. These tasted like really spicy Moroccan lamb tangine in freshly made english muffin.

YAMAHOMO
Chinese burger tasted like a taco, because of strong cumin flavoring. Again, lamb smell was everywhere and I was getting nauseated by this time.

HAMAMAMA
Intriguing, but as Yamahomo said, “It tasted Mexican”… because of the spices — cumin? Maybe they should change the name to Chinese taco?

SONJA
“Chinese burger” was quite good…more like Chinese Manwich, no chewing needed. Actually the guy said it was pork but totally tasted like super soft Korean kalbi jjim (braised beef).

KELLY
The Chinese hamburger was good because the filling was chopped meat, and it reminded me of Korean “kalbi-jiim”. The meat was wrapped in a tortilla-thin bun which was lightly toasted. It was good, but half of it went into the trashcan.

TYSON
I had seen and read about most of the various stalls inside the Golden Shopping Mall, but it was my first time trying this location of the Xi’an “lamb burger” joint (the one in the now-closed Shi Fong mall was good, at least based on my sole visit in July).

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ON THE COLD APPETIZERS

TYSON
The cold-gluten-noodle “salad” liang pi was tasty as always, although this version seemed to lack as much chili oil in the ‘dressing.’

KAYOKO
Liang pi ROCKED! Very refreshing, would be great on a hot tropical day.

TYSON
Also, there was a Sichuan / Hunan stall that had dumplings and nice appetizers / room-temperature prepared foods; the dry tofu slices with chili and Sichuan peppercorn were $3 for a large styrofoam box-full, and were tasty.

HAMAMAMA
Loved the spicy tofu dish that Tyson got in the food court– reminded me of the cold appetizers that you can get at Spicy & Tasty.

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ON THE MALL

YAMAHOMO
Totally shocked. Utterly speechless.

HAMAMAMA
I had always wanted to go to the food courts in the mall, but was too intimidated. Glad to be going with someone who had experienced them before. There were more menus written in English than I was expecting – but the tight quarters and just the overall “unknown” still made it quite intimidating.

JONES
I do enjoy watching the food preparation and trying to guess the ingredients (note to self: do not ever bring Health Department brother on an Umamiventure).

TYSON
Probably as a result of Julia Moskin’s recent Times article on Flushing as a food destination, there were more non-Chinese than I’ve ever seen down in that smoke-filled basement. I definitely want to further explore the network of stalls at the Golden Shopping Mall, especially since many of them now have picture menus posted on their walls with English captions.

But I’m taking some time out for the post that everyone has been waiting for- FLUSHING! I brought on Tyson as our guide- he’s a true Flushing Pro who had a meticulous agenda mapped out for us. SWEET! I had wanted to tour Flushing since our very first Umamiventure- we had walked across the street to Flushing Mall and the food court like nothing you would find at your local mall- stay tuned to see what I’m talking about.

Tyson incorporated a mall into the itinerary, as well as some stand alone shops to mix things up a bit. I was going to try to do this all in one post, but it’s pretty hefty, so I’m gonna break it up into 3 parts. Va bene? Ok.

This was a totally awesome trip, in my opinion one of the best Umamiventures we’ve had (16 people came out!). Some weren’t so enthusiastic, however… read on for all the feedback.

Most importantly though, thank you Tyson for showing us around!!! We couldn’t have done this without you!

Photos by Hamamama, Jones and Tyson.

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Chinatown to Chinatown Shuttle
Pick up is like every 5 minutes on Division, right east of Bowery.

This is so sweet- for $2.50, you get a shuttle ride from Chinatown Manhattan to Chinatown Queens (Flushing), which only takes about 30 minutes. We got to watch the Beijing Olympics opening ceremonies on a flatscreen all the way there- could you do that on the subway? I don’t think so.

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$1 Pecking Duck Pancake Sandwiches
Corner of Main Street and 40th Road


A takeout window we randomly stumbled upon as we waited for people to get together, right in the thick of Flushing. Check out the neon signs- you can’t miss it.

HAMAMAMA
I can’t forget the one nice surprise that was not on the scheduled tour – the $1 warm, crispy peking duck in the little bun. What a bargain!

SONJA
Peking duck takeout was the best! Needs a little more cucumber but what a fantastic idea.

KAYOKO
How amazing is it that this is only $1? Seriously, they are made to order, the buns come right out of a large steamer and the beautifully marbled duck is nestled within.

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Qin’s Lamb Noodle
13631 41st Ave, Queens, NY
T: 917.838.1011

HAMAMAMA
The noodle shop was interesting and needed to be accompanied by someone who has been there and/or spoke Chinese as the menu was entirely in Chinese. Tried a little bit of both the lamb and beef noodle soup. Though the noodles were fresh and homemade, thought they were too thick & doughy and without the chili sauce the broth was bland… an interesting find and definitely off the beaten path.

TYSON
Delicious. I love the cloud ear mushrooms, the strips of tripe, and the unidentifiable pickled vegetables… This is the ultimate noodle (literally–it’s one gigantic noodle!), in texture and mass… I still like Lanzhou/fujianese hand-pulled noodles a lot too, but Qin’s has more subtle broth and better toppings.

YAMAHOMO
I don’t like the smell of lamb. I like to eat lamb chop, but hate the smell. I have a lot of olfactory issues. Probably I would eat a lot of cheese if I didn’t have a nose, but the smell always keeps me away from stinky stuff. The place smelled of lamb, lamb, and lamb! The fact that a place where only customers are Chinese, and no English is spoken exists in New York is quite amazing. Noodle was weird. The way the chef stretched it and dumped in the water was cool, but way too doughy. Soup? What soup? It was white, so I am thinking they put lamb bones but it didn’t taste like much. We had to put in a lot of salt and hot sauce. Toward the end, I had to evacuate from the place to breath fresh air. Failure for me.

JONES
I wasn’t crazy about the lamb noodle venue, partly because I have a low mutton-stink tolerance, and partly because I wanted the broth to be richer (like tonkotsu ramen, maybe?).

RICKY
The lamb broth didn’t have much flavor, adding pepper oil helped it. It was pretty evident that the chef cut corners by using a pressure cooker instead of simmering for hours judging by the way the lamb cubes retained shape as if they were just cut.

SONJA
I had the beef noodles that were only slightly improved by copious amounts of chili oil. Only took a few bites but it was lacking…in everything?? There was no flavor. Noodles were nicely elastic though.

KELLY
The beef noodles were just freaking nasty, and it was even nastier when you had to throw out the remains in a bucket that had a sieve on top (which was one of those cheapo neon green baskets you find at Asian marts).

KAYOKO
Like nothing I had ever had- perfect for a cold winter day. I enjoyed the broth- it was light and drinkable. The noodles were really doughy, mochi-like. I especially liked the tripe and pickle toppings. It was neat to watch the guys behind the counter pull these noodles though- they were really sweet too (even though we couldn’t really communicate properly).

We got to the Tennis Center at 11am all bright eyed and giddy- we knew that Federer would be playing and were super stoked to get to see him. Admittedly, neither of us really know anything about professional tennis tournaments (er, or tennis in general), so it was basically the blind leading the blind here. It took us a while to figure out how things work, but we eventually got it.

The Center is a huge sprawl of 3 bigger stadiums and 14 regular courts. It was a little self-contained society, with sponsor clothing shops, beer and ice cream stands and lots of food and alcohol- it’s a bit of an alternate universe here.
Throughout the day, we watched 5 games- 3 of them from start to finish. Jie Zheng vs. Jelena Jankovic, women’s singles, was a well-matched game- Zheng really made Jankovic work hard for that win.

Then, we got to see Federer, playing Brazilian Thiago Alves. Alves was seeded 137, so Federer really wasn’t taking it all too seriously. Here are some shots of Federer I took for Jenny from our boondock seats at Arthur Ashe Stadium. The man is so HOT- he just dances on the court, it’s awesome:

After the first set, Federer was clearly bored, so we took a break and went to the “Food Village” to get some lunch.

This village was pretty incredible and went way beyond dogs and burgers. Sushi, Carnegi Deli pastrami sandwiches, Indian, fish & chips, tacos, crepes, and on and on- they had everything.

We got these things called “Salad Pizzettas” from the Pasta and Pizza stall- basically a salad on top of this large circular cracker thing. We thought it was a really smart dish- easy to prepare, fast, good, and not a bad deal for $12.50 (by US Open standards).

I got the shrimp with arugula, tomatoes and red onions in a vinagrette:

How to eat this:
Mariana got the chicken caesar salad:

Tables, chairs, and a big screen to watch the game. This was a little weird- to be watching a game on the screen as it was going on just on the other side of it.

And introducing the new love of my life: Marat Safin. Russian, temperamental, a huge dude, and omg SO HOT! It was tragic to watch him totally shut down mentally at the end (last set 0-6), but the crowd was pulling for him the whole time.

This game went on for nearly 3 hours- not including the 1.5 hours we waited out for the rain to clear. We didn’t get out of there until close to 11pm- we were there for 12 hours! If you are in NY and have never been to the Open, I highly recommend you do this at least once! Just make sure you bring a wad of cash for the beer and ice cream breaks.

Beer gardens are funner in the sun- duh. But Bohemian is known for getting really rowdy, really fratty, and really hard to find anywhere to sit. It can be a nightmare. But the rain totally emptied out the backyard, and they put up a tent, so the bad weather was sort of a blessing in disguise. Isn’t it unfathomable that such a huge place devoted to drinking exists in NYC?

You order your beers inside, yes you can get yourself a huge beer stein, and get your Bavarian beers on. The place is awesome- cheap European beers ($14 pitchers!) and cheap, really satisfying, hearty Eastern European food (average price of a dish was around $13).

There’s a little food station that is self-serve, which is where you can get grilled items like burgers and sausages. There’s Troy ordering his kielbasa below- you see him?

For all the stuff on their expansive menu, you’ve gotta order with a server. There was only one server for the entire backyard! We felt so bad for her, she was running from one end of the yard to the other, it was crazy. Anyway, here’s what everyone thought of their meals:

COREY
I shared both the sausage/sauerkraut and goulash with Troy and was really happy with the selection. The fries on the side were the only uninteresting part of the meal. The sauerkraut was delicious and the kilbasa quite tasty. The goulash was excellent too, prepared with double cream and sweet paprika. Im not even sure if it was beef or pork but it disappeard quickly from the plate!

Was a memorable rainy day event and we had fun. Thought of course the beer selections complemented the meal and our moods!
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LECY
Returning to the garden for the first time since last year, I was looking forward to revisiting the Portobello Mushroom Sandwich, which has since, sadly, been replaced by a Veggie Burger.

A vegetarian, I appreciated that the burger was chock full of vegetables and not cooked on the same grill as the sausage.

But alas–It was deep fried! Thus, the crispy surface of the burger was like oil to the water of the juicy vegetable innards, as though there was a wall between my teeth and the good stuff.

While I wouldn’t say avoid the Veggie Burger (we vegetarians have to take what we can get sometimes!), I would say pile on the mustard, kraut and horseradish–and petition for last year’s Portobello on Rye!
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SHIRLEY
The chicken schnitzel was pretty good. The breading was light, not greasy, and the meat was moist, tender, and not overly seasoned.

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KANITRA
My memory is failing me a bit, but I had the pierogi, which was delicious, as was the sauerkraut. The pork schnitzel? Eh. Ours was tough, dry, and overcooked. Shirley’s chicken schnitzel put ours to shame, even her potatoes were cooked better. But I have no complaints about the beer! Or the prices.

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TYSON
The roast pork was… very dry, as the photo suggests. I like generally Latin American roast pork better, as it has plenty of garlic and oil to augment the juices of the meat… or Chinese roast pork, where the sheer fat content of the meat keeps it from drying out.

The Beer Gardens’ rendition was still decent, but the “dumplings” (actually thick slices of moist pale white dough, more like Chinese mantou) and gravy were the best part. The goulash and sausages, pierogis, and chicken schnitzel all seemed great, though.

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AMY
My potato pancakes were perfectly round, crispy on outside and melty on the inside, a douse of pepper wouldn’t have hurt, but nearly perfect once the apple sauce and sour cream were slathered on top.
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Here’s Judson’s kielbasa (he ordered his from the menu, whereas Troy and Corey got their’s from the self-serve shack). The sausage was cut up really intricately- it was really pretty/ creepy.

Thanks everyone for coming out!!! Ironically, it really was a nice way to spend a lazy, rainy Sunday.

Bohemian Hall & Beer Garden
29-19 24th Ave.
nr. 29th Ave.
Queens, NY
T: 718.274.4925

Please join us for our next Umamiventure! Join the Umami Mart FACEBOOK group to stay updated on these monthly trips, where we burrow deep into the crevices of NYC for unique, cheap eats.

Past Umamiventures include:
Dinosaur BBQ – 4/08
Puerto Alegre (The SF Edition) – 3/08
Pacificana – 02/08
Jackson Diner – 01/08
WINTERMARKET – 12/07
Sripraphai Restaurant – 11/07
Taste of Jackson Heights – 10/07
Red Hook Ball Fields – 06/07
Ocean Jewel Restaurant – 06/07

Aside from the soft, char-grilled octopus, the gooey garlic musselfest, and the plethora of grilled fishes we ordered (red snapper, salmon, the kickass monkfish), my favorite part of the meal was a little something our gregarious server plopped down on the table after our meal was over.

“This is on the house,” she said. Big smiles all around here.
“What is it??” I asked.
“It’s Fried!!!!” she exclaimed.

Best answer EVER! This plate consisted of beignet-like fried dough pieces, coated with a pint of honey. One word: orgasmic. It was sad when it all had to end.

Vestiges of our meal:
Red snapper- the head is the best part! David ate the eyeball. Then swallowed it. Brian freaked out.

Garlicy oozy mussels- very original.

I accidentally dropped a mussel into our carafe of white wine. How does one do that?? I finished it off anyway. No shame- it was fine. You figure that there’s wine IN the mussel dish, so why not the other way around?

Hyoe- we’re devastated you’re leaving the city, but happy we got to send you off with a good meal. You’ll be back though!

Elias Corner for Fish
24-02 31st St.
Astoria, NY11102
T: 718.932.1510

Afterthought: Andy just informed me that these fried donut pieces are called Loukoumades. Here’s the recipe. Yamahomo, get on it, pronto! These are heavenly!