LOWER MANHATTAN — The contenders for the city's top food cart honors are in — and Downtown's trusty and tasty staple Biryani House made the cut.
The longtime Financial District cart, which usually sits on Broadway and Cedar Street as it serves up its spiced Bangladeshi fare, is one of five finalists vying for the Vendy Awards top prize, the Vendy Cup, the competition announced Monday.
"Yes, yes we're very excited," said Shaheen Malik hurriedly during a busy lunch hour Monday about the nomination. He has run the beloved cart for nearly 10 years, and they consider themselves the first cart to serve up Bangladeshi cuisine to hoards of hungry Wall Streeters.
Along with the biryani — a flavorful basmati rice dish, often with with chicken, mango chutney and creamy curry — the cart's kati rolls are also customer favorites. The filling rolls are flatbreads stuffed with a variety of aromatic meats, or stewed veggies, and can be topped with a spicy, green Bangladeshi sauce. With prices around $6 to $7, the food has a loyal lunch following Downtown.
Other contenders this year include Astoria's Souvlaki Lady, who has been grilling her tasty kebobs for nearly 25 years, as well as two trucks from Brooklyn, Sunset Park's Guandong Cheong Fun, serving up Cantonese fare, and Mill Basin burger cart Hard Times Sundaes.
Rounding out the competition is last year's Rookie of the Year winner, Snowday, a "farm-to-truck" food cart that's known for its "gourmet lumberjack" dishes, like local beef neck and maple grilled cheese sandwiches.
The Snowday cart spends its weekends stationed on Governors Island, where the Vendy Awards will take place, on Sept. 12.
There's also a new category at this year's Vendy's: Street Drinks.The five finalists up for their drinkable treats are Long Island City's Tea+Milk, Brooklyn's Renegade Lemonade, Washington Heights' Catalina’s Champurrado, which serves up a warm chocolatey Mexican drink made with corn, and Williamsburg's CoCo & Co, which makes a variety of coconut concoctions and Best Juice Uptown.
The Vendy Awards are slated for Sept. 12, on Governors Island, from 12:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, and tickets, head to the website.
