Mic Mania at The New York City Graffiti Hall of Fame
October 5th, 2012 by chocko
Afrika Bambaataa
Special K
A couple of weekends ago, we stopped by the New York City Graffiti Hall of Fame in East Harlem for the Mic Mania Event which featured an all day hip hop art and music event. We didn’t expect to run into the legendary Afrika Bambaataa when we hopped out of the spaceship. For all you new jacks…Bambaataa is the Godfather of Hip Hop who was once the leader of a gang, The Black Spades. Today he is the leader of the Zulu Nation, spreading hip hop culture and knowledge throughout the planet and outer galaxies. All you extra-terrestrials know him for his many electro funky records such as Planet Rock, Looking For The Perfect Beat and Renagades of Funk. Special K, a legendary MC, was also in the house. Special K along with Kool Moe Dee and L.A. Sunshine formed the well known lineup of the highly influential rap group, The Treacherous Three. Their songs Feel The Heartbeat and Body Rock still sound funky fresh!
The Captain of the Legendary Cold Crush Brothers, Grandmaster Caz!
DJ Eclipse (Check him out on The Halftime Radio Show Every Wednesday Night 10:30-1 AM EST 89.1 FM . and on USTREAM) and DJ JS-1 representing Rock Steady Crew. DJ JS-1 (aka JERMS) hasn’t painted at the Graffiti Hall of Fame since 1992! Welcome back. Be sure to check out his Ground Original albums for dat real hip hop from the underground!
Peace to NIC ONE, a prolific graffiti artist, former head curator of 5Pointz and photographer of hip hop culture. The man in the shades is an original graffiti outlaw from Spanish Harlem , Lava 1 & 2 (a.k.a. Straight Man).
DJ JS-1 (aka JERMS) at THE GRAFFITI HALL OF FAME 2012
PHOTOS by CHOCKO, VIDEO courtesy of DJ JS-1
Tags: afrika bambaataa, DJ Eclipse, dj js-1, graffiti, graffiti hall of fame, grandmaster caz, harlem, lava 1 & 2, new york city, nic one, nyc, photos, special k
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All chile peppered out in New Mexico!
October 2nd, 2012 by Mr. C
(green chiles roasting on the fire at the farmers market on Cerrillos Road & St. Francis Drive in Santa Fe)
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Last week the Planet Chocko raggamuffin crew flew out to New Mexico for a little excursion hoping to get abducted by a UFO in order to find out more about our martian ancestry. We bounced from Albuquerque to Santa Fe to Taos with no such luck on discovering our family tree. Instead we got molested, slapped in the face, and burnt in the mouth by New Mexico’s roasted chile peppers! We went to a whole host of cheap eats throughout our travels in New Mexico and every single establishment had remnances of red/green chile peppers as their defining influence in their foods! Apparently, green chile is a popular ingredient added to everything including burgers, fries, enchiladas, burritos, pizzas, potato chips – I think you get the idea! Even Mcdonald’s had a green chile double cheeseburger on their menu! We snapped a few photos and provided some captions on some noteworthy cheap and good eats in New Mex below!
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El Modelo Mexican foods
1715 2nd St SW
Albuquerque, NM 87102
El Modelo was located in an industrial looking area and definitely off the beaten path of wandering tourists. That didn’t stop us though as we stood in line with the locals as everyone was getting food to go for dinner. El Modelo was strictly takeout with no tables inside but there were picnic tables located across the parking lot. The restaurant was run by ladies from the back of the house to the front and they served up some serious down home Mexican eats with ginormous portions! The food was delicious and the chile chorizo sauce was on fire if you know what I mean! Overall, I gave the food 4 out of 5 chile peppers for taste and heat!
(The Mexican Plate – tamale,taco,enchilada,rice,refried beans,chile chorizo sauce,spare ribs,tostadas, & sopaipillas! This plate could feed 4 people. Loved the enchilada,tamale,spare ribs,rice,sopaipillos, and chile chorizo sauce. Didn’t care too much for the taco and tostados.)
(chile cheese fries)
(Sopaipillas soon to be taking a bath in some honey & chile chorizo sauce!)
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Frontier Restaurant
2400 Central Ave SE
Albuquerque, NM 87106
Next up to the plate residing from Albuquerque is the heavy hitting Frontier Restaurant conveniently located across the street from the University of New Mexico! The Frontier looks like it feeds the local masses, students, & tourists with the utmost efficiency! You line up to order, get your receipt, find an open table, & then pickup your order by number which is posted on an lcd screen. Breakfasts, burritos, burgers, roasted green chiles, homemade flour tortillas, their famous sweet rolls, & freshly squeezed orange juice can be had here. The sweet roll or what we call cinnamon rolls back home was delicious and not as sweet as the cinnabon variety. Overall the food was good and the spice level of our carne adovado was pretty tame. I was expecting some more heat but the strands of pork stewed with the red chile was flavorful. Buggy said the Fiesta Burger was delicious albeit a bit sloppy with the red chile sauce. Heat was not an issue as well. The Frontier is a great place for decent-homestyle cooked food for a person on a tightwad budget. I gave the Frontier a 3 out of 5 chile peppers for taste/convenience/price and a 2 out of 5 chile peppers for heat.
(Breakfast Burrito – one egg, hash browns, carne adovada, cheddar cheese and green chile)
(Breakfast platter – carne adovado, eggs, hashbrown, & flour tortilla.)
(Fiesta burger with red chile + cheese fries)
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Blake’s Lotaburger
404 North Guadalupe Street
Santa Fe, NM 87501
The next cheap but good eats spot landed us into Blake’s Lotaburger in Santa Fe. Blake’s is a New Mexico only burger chain that started in Alburquerque in 1952. Now, they have over 70+ stores in New Mexico! All their burgers are of the angus variety and very tender to boot! Lotaburger is a fast food joint, sort of. They cook all their burgers to order so it’s not really fast, but it is tasty! The green chile on the burger definitely got up and slapped my face and my tastebuds quite a few times! I ordered the fries, shake, the green chile burger and never looked back. The shake provided a nice cool down period for the green chiles! I give Lotaburger a 3.5 chile peppers for taste and 3.5 chile peppers for heat!
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Bobcat Bite
420 Old Las Vegas Hwy
Santa Fe, NM 87505
And now batting cleanup – hailing from Old Las Vegas Highway in Santa Fe – Bobcat Bite! If there is one thing that you must order from here, it’s the green chile burger. Actually, I ordered the bacon green chile cheeseburger for added insult to my heart and arteries! The bun was airy & was toasted nicely on the grill – lathered with butter. The bread offered as a nice pillow to sop up the burger juices and green chile! The burger meat, a mix of sirloin and boneless chuck was a nice blend of fat to beef. The meat was juicy and thick in all dimensions! It was cooked to about a medium to medium well I would estimate. I almost had lockjaw trying to clamp down on my bobcat bite burger! The burger was delicious in all of its parts including the bacon, cheese, the green chile, burger meat, and bun. Suffice to say as big as the footprint was of this green chile cheeseburger, I had no problems destroying it! My only gripe was that the green chile was not as smoky nor as spicy as I would of liked. But overall, Bobcat Bite’s Cheeseburger was one of the better burgers that I have ever had! I give Bobcat Bite a 4.5 out of 5 chile peppers for taste and 2.75 out of 5 chile peppers for heat/smoke. I so wanted Bobcat to take a bite out of me with some heat!
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Michael’s Kitchen – Cafe & Bakery
304 Paseo Del Publo N
Taos, NM 87571
And if things couldn’t get any heavier in the heart, we continued onwards up north to Tao’s. Michael’s Kitchen was highly recommnended to us by our flight attendant on our travels from Denver to Albuquerque. Michael’s is a bakery/cafe/rustic diner of sorts with homestyle new mexican cooking. The food here was hearty, heavy, and fit for the long haul truck driver. That’s a compliment by the way! I’m not sure if I would travel long distances like that 4 hour drive the flight attendant would make but if you are in the neighborhood, this is definitely a great option to fuel up. I ordered from the local favorites category on the menu, the poor man’s eggs benedict with a side of hash browns. The eggs were done over easy nestled on top of a few slices of shaved ham and a toasted english muffin layered with a generous portion of green chile and melted cheese!
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Zia Diner
326 S Guadalupe St
Santa Fe, NM 87501
Now back in Santa Fe after some consignment store shopping and milling about we ended up at the Zia Diner which is less of a traditional Diner and more of a Bar and Grill. Being all chile peppered out, I decided to order a salad. What? At least it was a Southwestern grilled chicken salad with romain lettuce! The salad was actually quite fresh and tasty with the orange-chipotle vinaigrette! The grilled chicken was on the dry side but the components of the corn, avocado, slivers of tortilla chips, and orange-chipotle dressing picked up some slack. Our server disappeared like Houdini at times but was friendly at the very least. I would place Zia as a decent safe option if you get tired of the Cowgirl BBQ joint across the street.
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Last but not least we had a delicious homemade Southwestern omelette a la Roseanne made by our friend and travelmate – Roseanne! The omelette was started by sauteing diced onions and peppers in butter before the freshly whisked eggs were married into the mix. The omelette was accompanied by a jalepeno corn bread with two healthy dollops of salsa and green chile! Yum! Thanks Roseanne!
Tags: eats, food, new mexico
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Giallo Fever!
September 24th, 2012 by chocko
It’s hard to believe that the Giallo genre has not received its own showcase in NYC, but it’s here now and 10 Italian thrillers from the late 60’s and 70’s are being screened until September 30 at the Anthology Film Archives (32 Second Ave, NYC). Malastrana Film Series and Anthology Film Archives have curated an excellent series of films shown in glorious 35mm that needs to be experienced in a movie theatre with a roomful of fans of this overlooked genre of movies. You want to see psycho-killers in leather gloves, gorgeous women, bloody stabbings, soundtracks by the likes of Ennio Morricone and Goblin? Come on down to Anthology Film Archives for some of the best films by Dario Argento, Mario Bava and Lucio Fulci. Check out the Giallo Fever teaser below!
Tony Musante, star of Dario Argento’s Bird With Crystal Plumage made an appearance last week at opening night of the festival. He introduced the film about an American writer who witnesses a beautiful woman stabbed by a mysterious figure in a dark raincoat and leather gloves. Musante’s character obsesses over the bloody attack and gets involved in solving the mystery only to become the killer’s next target. Check out the fun and informative Q&A following last week’s screening below.
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Tags: anthology film archives, dario argento, giallo, giallo fever!, italian cinema, malastrana film series, new york city nyc, tony musante
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Chinese Mid-Autumn Moon Festival celebrations!
September 24th, 2012 by Mr. C
The Mid-Autumn Moon Festival is one of the most festive & celebratory holidays in chinese culture sitting right behind the Lunar new year blastoffs! The Moon Festival is a time to reflect back upon the thankings for the summer’s harvest, the fullness of the moon, and to pay respects to the folklore of the goddess of the moon. Eating and sharing Moon Cakes as well as lighting candles and lanterns are a few ways to celebrate the occassion with your loved ones. Many compare the Mid-Autumn festival as the chinese thanksgiving of sorts because of giving ‘Thanks’ to the abundance and generosity of food! Moon cakes are symbolic to this holiday of gratitude.
I started off the mid-autumn moon festivities by attending the 10th annual Autumn Moon Festival & Children’s Lantern Parade at Sara D Roosevelt Park in NYC’s Chinatown by Canal Street. Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay for very long but I was able to catch a few plates of ‘Dim Sum’ for the soul as the celebrations will continue onwards until September 30th. The event program included performances of traditional lion dancing, ballet, the children’s lantern parade, modeling, an Acrobatic Troupe, a modern dance troupe, Kung Fu demonstrations, singing, & a hip hop martial art dance troupe!
Get down with some moon cake today and celebrate like there’s no tomorrow! Happy Mid-Autumn Moon Festival!
(Hosts – Jesse Chow & Mr. Wang(singer))
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8th Annual Vendy Awards NYC
September 24th, 2012 by chocko
Last Saturday, perhaps the happiest event on the planet happened on Governor’s Island…people ate delicious food, lounged out and then street food vendors got recognized for excellence in their craft. Yes, The 8th Annual Vendy Awards went down in NYC, my caloric intake went up with each food sample and pandemonium broke loose along with my belt buckle. Mr. C got to the event at a reasonable time and sampled almost all of the street food cuisine and did an excellent job covering the event. Check it out HERE. His Food Porn photos gets people breathing heavy and masticating vigorously! Chocko arrived on the scene late, but quickly went into rapid attack mode to try to sample everything on the menu.
Baby Got Back Ribs had a nice sampling of slow-roasted, fall-off-the-bone baby back ribs, with some apple slaw and jalapeno cornbread. Delicious!
To cool things off, a nice old fashioned italian ice from Andy’s Italian Ices & Expresso Bar did the trick. Its seems like everybody on the line ordered the mango flavor. The staff at the truck were quite efficient, friendly and cranked out the ice with the greatest of ease. Dolce è molto delizioso!
Mayhem & Stout had 2 different braised pork sandwiches on their table for the taking. The one with their famous Dragon Sauce (Asian BBQ) with spicy slaw is highly recommended and will have you kicking your favorite Bánh mì to the curb. Tasty meats, quality bread…Me love you long time.
This serving of MOMO from Chinese Mirch was a mashup of Chinese and Indian cuisine. Noodles topped with pan seared dumplings and spicy sauce will set your mouth ablaze with flavors. I was not ready for the onslaught of spice and quickly ran for cover and the comfort of a cool refreshment.
Monsieur Singh Lassi provided a cool, creamy treat with their Lassi Pops and Lassi Drinks. Their drinks and popsickles are made of yougurt, fruit, and herbs and spices. Look for their cart of goodies on a corner near you!
The Cinnamon Snail is a well known food truck that serves delicious vegan and organic food in NYC and NJ at reasonable prices. When I got to the front of the line, I got a box of heavenly goodness that consisted of a fig pancake, a cake donut with lemon lavender glaze and an out of this world white chocolate macadamia twinkie. I housed it. I went back later before the awards ceremony (they won the People’s Taste Award!) and they hooked me up with more sugary sweetness. Cinnamon Snail, you rock!
Pestle & Mortar don’t mess around when it comes to their Ceviche, a well known dish in Central and South America which features seafood marinated in citrus juices. Pestle’s technique was a lobster, shrimp and mango combination that won me over! You can find them every Saturday (now through November17) at Smorgasburg in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Xin Jiang Prosperity Kebabs served me up some yummy, marinated tender lamb kebabs made over a charcoal grill. They also serve beef and chicken wings. Look for them Monday-Sunday 10:30am-8:30pm at the corner of Forsyth and Division Streets under the Manhattan Bridge. Do it!
Tortas Nezas served up some heavy hitting tortas (each one is named after one of Mexico’s soccer teams). They are the real deal and have been serving Mexican food to the masses for over a decade. Find them daily from 1pm-1am at 111th St. and Roosevelt, near Citifield in Queens.
Congratulations to Sammy Kassan for winning the 2012 Most Heroic Vendor Award. Sammy is a vendor of Middle Eastern food in Bay Ridge Brooklyn and had been harassed constantly from neighboring restaurants, but after standing strong against adversity he remains on the corner of 86th and 5th to serve his customers and to make a decent living.
Chocko and Mr. C were busting out at the seams and sat back with fuller bellies and watched the Awards Ceremony where attendees and judges cast their vote for the best vendors in a variety of categories. James Cunningham, from Food Network Canada’s “Eat St.” provided the laughs and hosted the awards show. Check out the video below of some of the Awards Ceremony. We hope to be back in 2013 for more food and fun!
Tags: 2012, Andy's Italian Ices & Expresso Bar, chinese mirch, governors island, Mayhem & Stout, new york city, nyc, Pestle & Mortar, The Cinnamon Snail, Tortas Nezas, vendy awards, Xin Jiang Prosperity Kebabs
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Chinese Mirch Lion Dance at the Vendy Awards
September 18th, 2012 by Mr. C
The Chinese Mirch Food truck team stepped it up a gear or two at the Vendy Awards by serving delicious chinese food with indian spices as well as by hiring a troupe of traditional chinese lion dancers from the Wan Chi Ming Hung Gar Kung Fu School to mesmerize the crowd with some traditional drum beats and cultural dance with two performances throughout the day! The Mid-Autumn/Mooncake festival is just around the corner, y’all!
For excellent Chinese-Indian food visit Chinese Mirch at various locations including the food truck.
For excellent Hung Gar Kung Fu instruction and Traditional Lion Dancing visit the Wan Chi Ming Hung Gar Institute in Chinatown.
(All photos and video by mr c)
Tags: chinese lion dancing, chinese mirch, vendy awards
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2012 NYC Vendy Awards
September 17th, 2012 by Mr. C
(Pushcart Peddler on the Lower East Side of NYC in the late 1800’s – Photo courtesy of the NY Public Library digital gallery)
From the same vibe, struggles, and DNA of the storied New York pushcart peddlers of the past have come a new generation of street food vendor warriors walking the path of entrepreneurship and self-employment. With the ever rapid changes of ‘New Yawk’ at the speed of thought and dollars come the high rent and gentrification pricing out the local mom and pop shops out of the box in a New York minute. In comes the business model of the mobile food carts/trucks as a viable alternative for businesses with big hearts and passion for their products who can’t compete with corporations for the storefronts. That being said, surviving as a street vendor in NYC is no easy task in itself with no help from the City of New York. But thanks to organizations like the Street Vendor Project, a non-profit entity that helps unite the vendors together to create a movement of change, awareness of legal rights, instilling education as well as providing a voice to their members, the game is slowly changing for the better for our sidewalk vending warriors!
Fast forward to last Saturday where we had a chance to celebrate the gathering of the Best Street Food Vendors in New York City with an event which some dub as the “Oscars of food for the real New York”. The 8th annual Vendy Awards took place at Governor’s Island with about 24 vendors in the mix serving their pride and joy for all attendees to taste. Awards will be given. Bellies would be full. A few notches on the belt buckle would be cranked up and a fun time was had by all as well as a message of unity will be sent to the City of New York along with a note that the strength and community of the mobile food business is only getting stronger with every successful meeting at this event!
(The lovely ladies at the Merch/Vote Vendy table)
While writing this on Monday afternoon, a full 2 days after the Vendy Awards, I still haven’t fully recovered from the self induced food coma after sampling most of NYCs favorite street food vendors at Governors Island! I tried so many great eats that day that I almost needed someone to escort me out on a wheel barrow! Of the 24(Cambodian Cuisine was absent) 23 vendors at the awards, I was only familiar with one of the streetcarts which is based in Chinatown located underneath the Manhattan Bridge – Xin Jiang Prosperity Kebabs. My final tally was that I sampled 18 out of the 23 contestants! My favorites out of the bunch included Parantha Alley, Cinnamon Snail, Phil’s Steaks, Okadaman, Uncle Gussy’s, and Imperial Woodpecker SnoBalls! Every vendor brought a slice of the tasty, though! Congratulations to all of the Vendy Award participants as well as to all of the 20,000+ street vendors of NYC! You guys are the real winners! For more informatioin on the Street Vendor Project organization click HERE.
The official 2012 vendy award winners are:
The Vendy Cup: Piaztlan Authentic Mexican
Best Dessert: Melt Bakery
Best Market Vendor: Lumpia Shack
Rookie of the Year: Phil’s Steaks
People’s Taste Award: Cinnamon Snail
Checkout some photos that we took at the Vendy’s when we weren’t gorging out on food! We hope to get invited back to next year’s festivities!
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Phil’s Steaks
www.philssteaks.com
Location: varies
Check Twitter: @PhilsSteaks
Food: Cheesesteaks
Phil’s Steaks won the 2012 Rookie of the Year Vendy Award! Congratulations!
(Team Phil greeted me with open arms worth of cheesesteaks and blessed me with my first eats of the day at the Vendy Awards! The bread was firm, tasty, & had a nice bite. The bread proved to be a great carrier with holding in the chopped up tender steak dressed with cheese whiz which melted into my mouth at first bite!)
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Xin Jiang Prosperity Kebabs
Forsyth & Division Street
Chinatown (Manhattan Bridge)
Food: Xian Jiang style kebabs
(Awesome Lamb kebabs with spices unique to XinJiang cooked on charcoal.)
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Imperial Woodpecker Sno-Balls
www.iwsnoballs.com
Twitter: @imperialSNO
124 Macdougal Street
Food: New Orleans style shaved ice
(I voted for the Imperial Woodpecker SnoBall team as my favorite dessert pick!)
(The nectar cream and Mardi Gras King Cake flavors were divine on the shaved ice. Not too sweet – perfection!)
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Parantha Alley
www.paranthaalley.com
Twitter: @paranthaalley
Located at the Smorgasburg Market in Williamsburg
Food: Spicy Indian fillings in whole wheat roti
(working the parantha grill!)
(Parantha sampler: ground chicken,potatoes+peas, & Goat cheese. The side chutneys included the cilantro chutney, spicy pickled mango, cucumber spiced yogurt, & the radish relish.)
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Monsieur Singh Lassi
www.monsieursingh.com
Twitter: @monsieursingh
Location: check twitter
Food: all natural yogurt based drink and popsicle
(Lassi Drinks and Lassi Pops)
(Rose lassi pop)
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Uncle Gussy’s
http://unclegussys.com/
Twitter: @unclegussys
51st Street & Park Ave.
Food: Greek food
(Nicholas Karagiorgos serving me the sampler platter)
(One of the most delicious platters of the day that almost stopped me in my eating tracks. The food seemed to keep regenerating itself after a few bites! The platter consisted of sliced lamb, gyro meat, grilled BBQ Chicken,pork souvlaki,greek salad, rice, & fries. Wheew!! I voted for Uncle Gussy’s to win the Vendy Cup!)
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The Cinnamon Snail
www.cinnamonsnail.com
Twitter: @veganLunchTruck
Location: Check twitter
Food: Spicy, bold organic vegan food, & fresh made donuts & pastries.
The Cinnamon Snail captured the people’s hearts by winning the 2012 People’s Taste Vendy Award! Congratulations Team Snail!
(This was my 2nd favorite vendor of the day and a surprise to me considering it was vegan food. My friends had raved about this food truck when it hovered in Hoboken, NJ but I didn’t believe them because it was Vegan food for god’s sake! I’m a believer now!)
(The fresh fig pancakes were out of this world!)
(The white chocolate macadamia twinkie was delicious! I can’t/won’t forget about the chamomile cake & lemon lavender glaze donut as well! Hostess who?)
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Piaztlan Authentic Mexican Food
www.facebook.com/piaztlanBK
Twitter: @PiaztlanBK
Location: Saturday & Sunday 10a-8pm May-October Red Hook Ball Fields in Brooklyn
Food: mexican street food
(The winners of the 2012 Vendy Cup!)
(The delicous taco sampler of Goat, Al Pastor, & Carne Asada)
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Melt Bakery
www.meltbakery.com
Twitter: @meltbakery
Location: Highline daily
Food: Ice Scream sandwiches
(Melt won the Vendy Award for best dessert!)
(The Zen Ice Scream sandwich – Ginger cookie sandwich with green tea ice cream! Yes, the combo tastes as good as it sounds!)
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Baby Got Back Ribs
www.babygotbackribs.com
Twitter: @babygotbackribs
Location: Smorgasburg (summer) & Madison Square Eats (Fall)
Food: Ribs
(The ribs were tender and fell off the bone. Loved the slaw & cornbread!)
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Okadaman
www.okadamannyc.com
Twitter: @OkadamanNYC
Location: check twitter
Food: Authentic Japanese street food
(The chef that wore many hats that day at least for the first batch of Vendy attendees.)
(Crispy, tasty, & tender Karage served with rice & shredded lettuce.)
(Loved this rendition of the Osaka style Okonomiyaki. Pan fried omelete to a crisp with fresh veggies and of course octopus & squid topped with seaweed flakes!)
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Chinese Mirch
www.chinesemirch.com
Twitter: @chinesemirch
Location: Check twitter
Food: Chinese with indian flavors, just the way you would get in India!
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Lumpia Shack
www.lumpia-shack.com
Twitter: @LumpiaShack
Location: Saturdays at Smorgasburg
Food: Filipino inspired spring rolls
(The Lumpia Shack were the 2012 Vendy award winners for the Market Vendor category.)
(Real crispy spring rolls with thin wrappings and tasty fillings. They were serving Truffled adobo mushroom,Peking duck,Adobo chicken, & Original pork. The adobo chicken is below.)
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CoolHaus
eatcoolhaus.com/locations
Twitter: @CoolHausNY & @CoolHaus
Location: check website
Food: signature item is the made to order ice cream sandwich.
Tags: 2012 vendy awards, street vendors, vendy awards
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Adventures of an Autograph Hound Part III
September 14th, 2012 by chocko
One of Chocko’s hobbies is running around the Metropolitan area and collecting autographs at book and CD signings. First up…Blues legend, Buddy Guy at Bookends in Ridgewood, NJ. I brought some CDs along with his book When I Left Home for him to sign but his party pooper manager only allowed for books to be signed. Security was watching me and I got the stink eye when trying to slip Buddy some albums to get autographed.
Gianni Russo (Don Carleone’s infamous wife beating, double crossing Son-in-Law from the movie The Godfather) made an appearance at the Heights Beer and Wine Emporium in Hasbrouck Heights, NJ for a wine tasting last March. He signed my Godfather DVD Boxset and a couple bottles of Gianni Russo Merlot. Gianni thought Chocko was pulling a bomb out of the knapsack when asked to sign some DVDs. Baddaboom!
Slaughterhouse (Joe Budden, Joell Ortiz, Royce Da 5’9″ and Crooked I) made an in-store appearance at the Best Buy in the swamps of Secaucus, NJ to promote the release of their new album Our House on Eminem’s label, Shady Records. A couple hundred fans were squeezed into the lobby and the hip hop super group performed 3 songs: Hammer Dance, Throw It Away and My Life. If you weren’t standing near the front, you couldn’t see jack! What’s up with not setting up a stage? Pictured above are Joell Ortiz (top), Crooked I (middle) and Royce Da 5’9″ (bottom).
Jimmie Walker (comedian and star of Good Times) had a funny and revealing Q+A before his signing of his autobiography “Dyn-O-Mite!” at Bookends at Ridgewood, NJ. The man shared lots of stories about his television and comedy career. I found his story about the short lived Starsky and Hutch rip-off, B.A.D. Cats which also starred Michelle Pfeiffer, quite amusing. Check out that Q+A with funnyman, Jimmie Walker here.
Korean actor, Choi Min-Sik was on a cigarette break during his appearance at the New York Asian Film Festival when all of us fanboys bum rushed him. He was cool and more than willing to sign and pose for photos. I got him to sign my Oldboy DVD. Read more about meeting Choi Min-Sik at the NYAFF at the Unseen Films blog courtesy of dbborroughs!
Jess Abbott from Now Now, the sweet indie band from Minneapolis. The band hung out after a recent show at Knitting Factory in NYC to meet fans and sign stuff. I got their Record Store Day 7″ signed. Jess said that it had been the second one of the vinyl singles she had ever signed. I also got their new album, Threads signed. That album is on Chris Walla’s label, Trans Records and is highly recommended for fans of ambient, indie rock!
ZZ Top (Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill, and Frank Beard) were in the house at J&R Music in NYC, signing their new Rick Rubin produced album La Futura. They were all business and cleared out the line of about 100 fans in about an hour. If you were sneaky enough, they signed other albums too.
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Tags: autographs, book, buddy guy, choi min-sik, gianni russo, jimmie walker, joell oritz, now now, signing, slaughterhouse, zz top
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REEWIND: Joey Ramone’s Blitzkrieg Bash II
September 13th, 2012 by Mr. C
Chocko with a flashback update from the Joey Ramone Blitzkrieg Bash II show at Coney Island High on September 6, 1997. On the bill that night included The Fiendz, Motochronic, Blackfire, and Planet Chocko favorites – Joey & Dee Dee Ramone, Ronnie Spector, The Prissteens, and The Independents!
We also included some neat scans of flyers from Chiller Theater and the 1st annual Royal Fest ’98 – Zine Festival & competition whose advertisements we featured on the flipside of this Blitzkrieg Bash II writeup on our zine.
“Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go – I wanna be sedated!”
Tags: joey ramone blitzkrieg bash, planet chocko zine archives
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Fashion’s Night Out in NYC
September 7th, 2012 by chocko
Last night the freaky, stylish and flashy fashionista zombies of NYC roamed the streets showing off the latest trends while shopping and looking for free drinks and bargains. The Planet Chocko Crew put on their freshest gear (which is not really saying much) and took part in the gawking and cat-walking in the SoHo section of NYC. Anytime there’s free food and free music Mr. C, Joey Teacups and Chocko are not too far from the scene. Our first attempt at getting into a free performance was shot-blocked. We got to the MAC store on Broadway where the line to see Azealia Banks perform, spilled out in all directions. At least three lines formed to get in and most likely half the crowd had no shot in seeing Azealia rock the microphone. We elbowed our way to the next event.
We went to the Helmut Lang store on 93 Mercer St. to soak in some spirits and tunes spun by the Swedish electropop duo, Icona Pop. Aino Neneh Jawo and Caroline Hjelt were all smiles while they got the party rocking. We fist pumped and scored some free sandwiches to go with The Macallan. Next, we sashayed among the throngs of beautiful people to Prada (575 Broadway) a couple blocks away to catch the next show.
We waited for over an hour for the Brooklyn snythpop band, Chairlift to hit the stage at Prada. Free caramel popcorn served on huge silver trays kept the crowd at bay. The place erupted when Chairlift appeared. The duo of Caroline Polachek (synthesizers and vocals) and Patrick Wimberly (bass guitar) were accompanied by a drummer and played a set of songs which included a sultry reggae cover and a soulful cover of a Honey Ltd. song, “Silk ‘N Honey.” Their song “I Belong In Your Arms” is a bouncy, catchy song that will have you dancing like a fool. They recently recorded a rocking Japanese version of that song to celebrate the release of their album in Japan. It’s so good! Chairlift will be back in town when they open up for The XX next month at Paradise Theatre in The Boogie Down Bronx.
We kicked and clawed our way back to the Helmut Lang shop to catch Katy Goodman (Vivian Girls) and her other band La Sera. Katy sounded awesome and looked striking in her Helmut Lang dress and sneakers (keeping it real!). Chocko caught the last 3 songs in the set: Drive On, Never Come Around and You’re Going To Cry. Shoutout to Chris Cantalini of the blog Gorilla Vs. Bear for curating the evening’s music at Helmut Lang. We’re looking forward to next year’s Fashion Fright Night!
VIDEOS by CHOCKO and MR. C
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Tags: chairlift, fashion, fashion's night out, fno, helmut lang, icona pop, la sera, new york city, nyc, prada
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food pron <~> porn
September 7th, 2012 by Mr. C
Just a few photos of some eats that we’ve enjoyed over the past few weeks or so….
The Mile End Sandwich shop is a Montreal inspired Jewish Deli in New York City.
Mile End Sandwich
53 Bond Street
NY, NY (NoHo)
(The Ruth Wilensky – fried beef salami, mustard, onion roll – the roll was crispy, charred, & flavorful!)
(Smoked Meat – cured & smoked brisket, mustard, rye)
(Poutine – Classic fries, cheese curds, & gravy)
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The ramen noodles were springy and not overcooked. The broth was rich with miso flavor without being too rich or overpowering. A tad salty though – yes, I know it’s miso.
Ramen Misoya
129 Second Ave
New York, NY 10003
East Village
(Grated cheese miso based ramen with char siu – Hokkaido Style)
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Ramen Yebisu
126 N 6th St (between Berry St & Bedford Ave)
Brooklyn, NY 11211
Williamsburg – North Side
(Seafood Ramen – Whole prawn, mussels, snow crab, scallops, scallion, & seaweed).
Tags: food, photos
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aerosol art in Hackensack
September 4th, 2012 by Mr. C
Some really neat aerosol typography in wild style and burner formats exists near the Planet Chocko experimental labs and we didn’t even know about it until recently. Thanks to one of New Jersey’s finest old skool graff writers – ZAR – from Paterson, NJ for pointing out the location to us. ZAR is a frequent contributor to the eye popping lettering & artwork that lines the walls of the basketball courts in Hackensack and School 15 in Paterson. Graffiti writing crews such as EOS, FC, TDS, & COD have all graced us with some amazing pieces on the wall as well. SHIRO from Japan even made her mark here!
hey-hey-hey, don’t forget to use Atlantic Cleaning Services in Hackensack for all your cleaning needs! Fat Albert & the crew on Union Steet said so!
Tags: graffiti, new jersey, street art
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