Food Fair

This weekend was the Ninth Avenue International Food Fair. I went to the fair a lot as a kid. I remember doing sand art (which is still back at my parents' place), buying big t-shirts (it was the 80s/early 90s...) and trying all different types of food (I remember for some reason there being Greek food and empanadas). Ever since we moved to the area, we have been making an effort to go every year, especially to support the local businesses.

I don't know if it was always this way, but I think "professional street fair vendors" made up more than half the vendors at the fair. It's been like this the past few years, but I don't know if it was like this when I was younger. By "professional" vendors, I mean the people who show up at every midtown street fair over the summer (e.g., the mozzarepa people, the soap stand, the crepe stand, the reggae stand, the $1 Thai food stand, etc.), who also show up over and over again along the fair route. Of course they have as much right as anyone else to be there, but for this fair, we usually try to go to the stands run by the restaurants on the avenue.

Since it's late and I should be sleeping, just a quick recap of some highs (since there really weren't very many lows):


My favorite food at the fair this year was the spanakopita from Poseidon Bakery. The bakery is close to our apartment and has both sweet and savory Greek pastries. I love spanakopita. Their version is filled with spinach, leeks, onions, dill and feta cheese. (I unfortunately forgot to take pictures of the inside once we bit into it, but it looked delicious too!) I wanted another one, but there was so much else to try. Anyway, there's A holding the spanakopita before we devoured it.
My second favorite would probably be the pierogies from Millie's Pierogies. They drive their truck down from Massachusetts for the fair every year (at least since we've been back here), and they sell the pierogies in combinations of 3. This time we got kielbasa, cabbage, and potato & cheese. They were really good! (Is it obvious yet that I love starch with filling inside?)

Favorite dessert (although I guess we didn't get that many desserts because we were full) was clearly Steve's Authentic Key Lime Pies. Last year, they had their truck parked outside Delta Grill, and when we didn't see the truck from down the block this year, we were worried they didn't come! No reason for alarm, instead they just dropped off a cute little trailer with the pies. Yum, key lime pie. One of A's favorites. And this one is a really good version. I'm not sure how it compares with Lahaina Grill's Iao Valley Lime Tart (one of my most favorite desserts ever) but it's definitely good.

So that's the quick summary of the food fair! We tried a lot - spanakopita, crab cake sandwich, key lime pie, pierogies, pupusas (need to go back to Red Hook, I want huaraches!), lemonade, hummus, and pineapple fried rice. I finished it off during Survivor with some pico de gallo/salsa from Chipotle since the only problem with street fair food is that it makes me want fresh vegetables! I wonder who will be at the fair next year.