Calling All Foodies
New York foodies can look forward to late spring for its wide range of culinary festivities, highlights of which are detailed below.
The Ninth Avenue International Food Festival, which stretches over 20 city blocks, is a two-day showcase of food from around the world. The wide-ranging cuisine covers everything from Indian to Latin and is served while live music plays, festivalgoers dance, and vendors sell goods from around the world. The festival is one of the city's most popular, attracting about 1 million visitors a year.
(Saturday, May 17, and Sunday, May 18, Ninth Avenue, between 37th and 57th streets, 11 a.m.–7 p.m., 212-484-1200, free.)
In early June, the Grand Central Oyster Bar hosts its annual Herring Festival. Each year, the bar gets the very first shipment of the highest-quality herring. The delicacy is sent from the Netherlands, where the fish make their home in the North Sea. For about three weeks, diners can feast on herring before it is removed from the Oyster Bar menu until next year. (First week of June, Grand Central Oyster Bar and Restaurant, Grand Central Terminal, 89 E. 42nd St., lower level, between Vanderbilt and Park Avenues, 212-490-6650.)
In addition, the sixth annual Big Apple Barbecue Block Party returns to Madison Square Park, where barbecue pit-masters from across the country will gather for a smoked meat-filled weekend. Against the backdrop of live jazz, bluegrass, and rhythm and blues, barbecue enthusiasts can also partake in a series of cooking seminars and barbecue-themed films. (Saturday, June 7, and Sunday, June 8, Madison Square Park, between Fifth and Madison avenues and 23rd and 26th streets, noon–6 p.m, free.)
And for food lovers and film aficionados, there's the New York City Food Film Festival. The event features a program of food-centric films, combined with tastings of the edibles featured on-screen. The festival is the brainchild of a co-owner of the Brooklyn burger joint Schnack, Harry Hawk, and filmmaker (and hamburger enthusiast) George Motz. The festival returns this year to the Water Taxi Beach in Long Island City. Highlights of the inaugural festival included a screening of Joe York's "Whole Hog," during which a whole hog from RUB (Righteous Urban Barbeque) restaurant in Chelsea was served up. And while festivalgoers watched the documentary "Asparagus!" they munched on asparagus roll-up snacks. In addition, a Stahl-Meyer hot-dog-eating contest took place just prior to a screening of the competitive-eating film "Swallow Your Pride." This year's featured films will be announced in May. (Water Taxi Beach, 2 Borden Ave. at 2nd Street, Long Island City, Saturday, June 14, through Friday, June 20, times to be determined, nycfoodfilmfestival.com, free.)
