EVENT: Food Trucks + Fighter Planes = Choice Eats 2014

[All photos by Casey Feehan]

Like I've said over, and over, and over again - any Village Voice food event requires intense preparation that includes dieting for the entire week leading up to it, with the anticipation of stuffing dishes from pretty much every cuisine into your belly. This year's Choice Eats was no exception - and with food trucks galore, tons of drinks, and the extra perk of wandering around the Intrepid without the crazy touristy hordes, this yearly event is extra special to my heart (and stomach).

Normally an insane all-you-can-eat pigfest, this year Choice Streets used a passport system where each patron's pass got a hole punch per dish. The thought of monitoring my food intake is normally a major turn-off, but I usually have one dish anyway (I didn't even make it to every dish!) and hey, alcohol was unlimited - so what's there to complain about? No worries, pigging out still happened...

 

[Chicken and chorizo pupusas]

Cue the dish rundown: I'm the biggest fan of Solber Pupusas (in fact, I requested to visit their Red Hook spot for an early birthday treat) so naturally, we headed there first. I could inhale multiple pupusas in one sitting, so thank God for those passports, right? Solber Pupusas is enough reason to trek to Red Hook (among many others!) so if you've never visited the neighborhood, please, at least go for pupusas, and you'll thank me later.

[Love Mamak and Lucky Yim's Rendang chicken served with pandanus infused coconut Thai jasmine rice]

My absolute favorite dish of the night, hands down, was Love Mamak & Lucky Yim's absolutely beautiful and completely inhale-worthy rendang chicken served with pandanus infused coconut Thai jasmine rice - Love Mamak, where are you at all hours of the day and why aren't you parked outside my office, because I would visit you every day for this dish alone.

[Four Roses bourbon grapefruit cocktail]

[Uncle Gussy's mini pork souvlaki pita]

As a gluten-free girl, there were some dishes I couldn't technically eat, but I finagled my way around that one - picking out the pork souvlaki in Uncle Gussy's mini gyro and shamelessly eating the cheesy steak out of Carl's Steaks cheesesteaks with your fingers is totally acceptable at Choice Streets.

[Big D's Grub Truck Thai green curry over jasmine rice a.k.a. the spiciest thing in the world]

[Moo Shu Grill's toasted Moo Shu wrap]

[Shock Top!]

[Kelvin Slush's boozy slushies!]

Kelvin Slush is usually my favorite sweet treat in any situation where Kelvin is involved - especially when it's spiked with alcohol - and here we sampled Strawberry Fields and Bushwood Country Club, two slushes spiked with what is probably my favorite vodka, Tito's Handmade Vodka (and I'm not even really a vodka fan!).

[The view from above!]

As soon as we were full, we moseyed around the rooftop deck of the Intrepid in an attempt to kind of walk off what we just ate while ogling some super cool fighter planes and NYC skyline views. Thanks for being so awesome always, Choice Streets and Village Voice - hope to see you next year!