ASTORIA — The five finalists for the 2013 Vendy Cup have been revealed — and popular Astoria food cart King Souvlaki is among those in the running for the top street food honor.
The nominees were announced Thursday by The Street Vendor Project, which organizes the annual Vendy Awards. Nominees for other Vendy categories, like Rookie of the Year and Best Market Vendor, were announced in July.
King Souvlaki, at the corner of 31st Street and 31st Avenue in Astoria, turns out Greek and Mediterranean street food. Its grilled chicken or souvlaki comes served on a stick, in a pita or as a platter with salad and handcut French fries.
Other food trucks or carts nominated for this year's Vendy Cup include The Chipper Truck, an Irish food truck that parks in Woodlawn; mobile vegan restaurant The Cinnamon Snail; El Olomega, which serves Salvadoran pupusas in Red Hook; and the seafood roll truck from Luke's Lobster.
The Vendy Awards website has video profiles of each Vendy Cup nominee, made by Liza de Guia of the website Food Curated.
The winner will be chosen by a panel of judges at the Vendy Awards, which will take place Sept. 7 at Industry City in Brooklyn. Tickets are on sale here.
All Vendy Cup nominees are also eligible to win the People's Choice title, which the crowd will vote for at the event. All of this year's nominees will also be up for a new award category, Messiest Street Food, also to be voted on by the audience.
