Ooey-gooey grilled cheese with a mission took home the coveted Vendy Cup at the 11th annual Vendy Awards held at Governors Island in New York City. The prominent event hosts sidewalk chefs throughout the city to showcase their scrumptious fare, as event-goers taste their way through, voting for favorites. Proceeds from this cook-off support The Street Vendor Project, which advocates for NYC street vendors’ rights.
Chef Mario Batali dubs this event “the Oscars of street food for real New Yorkers,” so, as you can imagine, winning the best street fare title is no small feat. This year, judges—including ticket holders, chefs, TV personalities, and city officials—chose Snowday for the top prize, the Vendy Cup.
This food truck is famous for their maple grilled cheese: sharp cheddar and local maple syrup smooched between two slabs of sourdough from She Wolf Bakery. Not enough flair for you? Not to worry, Snowday offers enticing add-ons to up your grilled cheese game: Flying Pig smoked ham, pea shoot pistou, and strawberry chutney. And with tantalizing sides like house pickles, charred asparagus, and new-potato-and-beet salad, it’s hard not to drool over this truck. Snowday also took home this year’s People’s Choice award with one attendee explaining to This Is New York, “those little maple grilled cheese bites were just incredible.”
Photo Credit: Snowday via Facebook
Snowday is NYC’s first “farm-to-truck” operation—all ingredients sourced from upstate New York farms (which are listed on their website). Their menu changes with the seasons—delivering the best of local, fresh food. What’s more? Snowday is the first food truck by Drive Change, an organization aimed at broadening opportunities for formally incarcerated youth. All sales from Snowday food trucks recycle back into the Drive Change organization. “It feels incredible to win, because of our food and our mission,” said executive director of Drive Change, Jordyn Lexton. “When people think about our food truck we want them to think about social justice.”
You can find Snowday at Governors Island every weekend and in Prospect Park on select Sundays—follow them on Twitter (@SnowdayTruck) for their up-to-date weekday location.
Don’t live in NYC and now I got you craving some top-notch grilled cheese? Not to worry—culture has an entire section dedicated to grilled cheese recipes, including a Broiled Gruyère Sandwich with Maple-Caramelized Apples.
Feature Photo Credit: Snowday via Facebook
Marissa Donovan
Marissa Donovan is a former upstate New York girl living in a cheese-centric world. Although cheese is her day one, she doesn’t discriminate, as she adores all food. Similar to what Beyoncé advises, she likes food so much she put a degree on it—she’s a registered dietitian and master’s student in the nutrition communication program at Tufts. When she’s not filling her head with food info, she’s filling her belly with food and, as always, trying to bring up cheese in casual conversation.
