Friday night I had the pleasure of attending Viva La Comida, a food and cultural festival that takes place on 82nd Street in Jackson Heights, Queens. It’s in its second year now, and going strong. They had more space this year compared to last, and more food vendors, too. My friend Jeff Orlick is the organizer of the food side of things, and has done an excellent job getting great food vendors to participate. I ate some extremely delicious things—two dishes that stood out were from a new vendor and a returning vendor.
It was great to see food that represents so many different parts of the world—El Salvador, Ireland, The Phillipines, India, Tibet, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru. I also understand there was Ecuadorian, Dominican, and Italian food represented too. Additionally, I picked up a pandebono (Colombian) from Las Delicias En Pandebono (they make THE BEST pandebono in Queens) a cup of fresh strawberry-tangerine-carrot juice from 82 Market, and a glass of horchata from Taqueria Coatzingo, all local businesses on 82nd Street.
I was also happy to hang out and share food with my friend Dayna, talented animator and food fan (so good to see friends and fellow food writers Sue, Bradley, Anne, and Joe during the evening, too!). We got there early, which was great for getting food relatively quickly. First dish we tried was two pupusas from El Oolmega, a truck based at the Red Hook Ballfields, home to amazing, authentic global food. They’ve been in business for 23 years, and their pupusas were one of the highlights for me.
We got two pupusas, one stuffed with pork and cheese and one stuffed with loroco and cheese. Loroco is a flower from Central America and used commonly in pupusas. It was delicious! They were topped with curtido (a traditional tangy cabbage condiment) and we got the optional pickled jalapeños on it, then sprinkled a bit of hot sauce and crema over everything. I couldn’t get over how fresh and delicious it all was—the masa yielded easily to the fork, with flavorful fillings. Definitely a high point of the evening.
My other favorite food of the night was the arepa con queso from Jackson Height’s own Arepa Lady crew. These arepas are excellent and have quite the glowing reputation. I especially love these smaller, thick, soft, and cheesy arepas, that are topped with more cheese. They are a little sweet, too, so it ends up being this wonderful mix of sweet and savory, one of my favorite meta flavor combos. Gorgeous looking thing, too. Continue reading “Viva La Comida 2013 – Fabulous Food All Around”