We began at 74th Street and Roosevelt Avenue in Jackson Heights, and ended in William Moore (Spaghetti) Park in Corona. The 2010 crawl, organized by Jeffrey Orlick, brought at least 100 hungry people together to roam Roosevelt Avenue for the best street food on the last Sunday in June, with a great
map and some key phrases for ordering from street carts.
It was hot, really hot, and my camera stopped taking pictures somewhere in the middle. I got it to work again but missed some good shots. Aside from the technical difficulties, I must say walking down my favorite avenue with a bunch of people and eating lots of food is really, really fun. I'm usually by myself when I do my Roos Ave adventuring, so it was a nice change. Our smaller group broke off from the crowds and took our time walking, making many stops for liquids and ices along the way.
First stop: El Guayaquileño. I didn't get anything there, I was holding out for tacos. But I took some pictures of my fellow crawlers' food. The Mexico vs. Argentina game was playing on the flat screen tv, so I watched while they ate.
I didn't eat, and I didn't order, so I don't want to mislabel anything. But that salad topping the fish looks delicious.
Stopped for raspados on 80th Street. The first of many breaks for a little something cold.
Mango (I think?)
Coco and
Piña.
Next stop was Mexico Lindo.
Perhaps a bad choice, since it seemed like everyone else on the tour stopped here too at the exact same time. There was a very long line and lots of confusion. But we got our order in the end. Four of us split three items:
Tacos de lengua (tongue),
tacos de cecina (dried, salted beef) and
sopes de chorizo. It isn't easy to split a taco four ways, but somehow we managed.
Cutting up a taco on a mail box...
on the trunk of a car (thanks, Stella), and even with kitchen shears (courtesy of Judy).
This was the lengua, after a slice had been taken out. The tongue was crisp on the outside, beefy and soft on the inside.
Moving right along, we stopped at another Mexican cart, a few blocks down and across the street. The sign says Gorditas, so that's what we got, along with a tlacoyo.
The gordita de chicharron was not the most flavorful I'd ever tried, but then again, we split it between four people, and there might have been better bites than the one I tasted.
The tlacoyo was good. Corn masa stuffed with a bean mixture, then topped with lettuce, cream, and cheese. The beans were smooth and creamy, with a distinct flavor of epazote, which was a nice surprise.
Another stop for shaved ice, this time at a Chinese/Colombian bakery selling Hawaiian shave ice called Vanilla Cafe. Sort of cheating by going inside a bakery, but have I mentioned that it was hot?
Mango and passionfruit. Just like Maui! Icy and sweet.
Tia Julia's. This is where my camera stopped working for a bit, I almost gave up and went home to charge it for a while. We ordered here:
tacos de barbacoa (goat meat) and
tacos de carnitas (pork). The goat was chewy, as goat usually is, and not too gamey. I honestly don't remember if I even tried the carnitas, I was sort of stuck on my camera. I do remember that I ordered an
agua de jamaica (hibiscus) and that they gave me a whole quart container full of the dark red liquid.
By the time we made it to Warren Street with its variety of Ecuadorian delights, we were already full and tired. Crawls are all about pacing, and we did not pace well.
We did manage to get more liquids in though.
Orange Drink.
Fruit cocktail drink. The juice was refreshing, and filled with chopped fruit. The bananas were my favorite part.
We walked and walked, but after the food and all of the drinks, didn't make any more stops on Roosevelt. Once we hit 104th street, we turned off, and headed to Timmy O's for some frozen custard.
Banana custard, chocolate custard, marshmallow sauce and some whipped cream. The banana really tasted like banana.
The last stop was the Lemon Ice King of Corona. I was still eating my custard, so I sat in Spaghetti Park and waited.
The Crawl was great. I drank more than I ate, and had more sweets than savory. But it's ok. I live here, I eat here, I crawl down Roosevelt Avenue every day. The best part was crawling with others.
Mini Picanteria El Guayaquileño
80th Street and Roosevelt Avenue, Jackson Heights
Raspado Lady
In front of 80-02 Roosevelt Avenue, Jackson Heights
Mexico Lindo Cart
Corner of Gleane Street and Roosevelt Avenue, Elmhurst
Gordita Cart
85th Street and Roosevelt Avenue, Elmhurst
Vanilla Cafe
8701 Roosevelt Avenue, Elmhurst
Tia Julia Taco Truck
Benham Street & Roosevelt Ave, Elmhurst
Picaditas La Cacerita Cuenca Ecuador
Corner of Warren Street and Roosevelt Avenue, Corona
Timmy O's Frozen Custard
49-07 104th Street, Corona
Lemon Ice King of Corona
52-02 108th Street, Corona
William Moore Park
108th Street, 51st Avenue, Corona
Ok, not the most exciting flavors, but I liked the packaging. A cold vanilla substance with a crisp, chocolate-like coating. Yum!
Sort of like a nutty buddy, but with strawberries.
I think that the spheres on top were supposed to be crunchy, but they were soggy, as was the cone. But the white whipped topping, with a layer of strawberry ice cream underneath, that hid a core of strawberry jelly inside of a chocolate-coated cone was, while I won't say delicious or fresh, fun to eat. I love real ice cream, that goes without saying, but I also have a thing for ice cream products. Mr. Softee. Strawberry shortcake bars. Carvel cakes. Remember the Wattamelon Roll from Friendly's? Wait until I find a Magnum bar.
