Astoria's King of Falafel The Big Winner At 2010 Vendy Awards

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The New York Vendy Awards, now in its sixth year, sure has grown over the years. They've outgrown their original location in an East Village warehouse where vendors stored their carts to this year's event on Governors Island, without a doubt their largest yet. From the many nominations received by the Street Vendor Project, the field was narrowed down to five finalists for the 2010 Vendy Cup: Bistro Truck, El Rey de Sabor, King of Falafel and Shawarma, Patacon Pisao, Schnitzel & Things. Add to that the five finalists each for best dessert and rookie of the year and now you've got 15 vendors serving up their wares, which included patacons, chicken and rice, schnitzel, pot stickers, slushies, and ice cream.
The turnout for this year's awards was the largest yet and though no exact numbers were made available at the time, it seemed to the naked eye to surpass the 1,000 or so that attended last year. The attendees were treated to an absolutely gorgeous sunny day on Governors Island. The lines for food were long but manageable with the longest lines easily belonging to Big Gay Ice Cream Truck and Kelvin Natural Slush Co. which makes total sense with temperatures soaring well into the upper 80s.

This is however, an event that doles out awards and if the deliberating we saw from the judges were any indication, there was some serious thought given to who deserved to win. Finally, before the patrons started melting away in the sun, master of ceremonies Pat Kiernan came up on stage to announce the winners. They are:

Dessert: Kelvin Natural Slush Co.
Rookie: Souvlaki GR
People's Taste: King of Falafel and Shawarma
Vendy Cup: King of Falafel and Shawarma
—Gary Wong
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