Pakistani immigrant Samiul Haque Noor, 36, took top prize at 2nd annual Vendy Awards for New York City street food vendors, beating out three other finalists with his sizzling spice-filled Halal dishes.
Noor, who usually holds culinary court at his food cart in South Asian community of Jackson Heights in borough of Queens, spices up his simple chicken, lamb and beef concoctions with flavours of his native Pakistan. In the end it came down to secret of his spices.
Noor's fans said, "the cart is like a community centre for the neighbourhood's Pakistani, Indian and Bangladeshi residents. The spices on chicken explode in your mouth and leave you coming back for more. The red sauce will clear your sinuses. Sammy's chicken and rice is fabulously tasty, uniquely spiced and out of this world." A panel of judges, all of them food experts, evaluated contestants who had been nominated by regular food-cart buffs.
Sunday's event, held in courtyard of St. Marks Church-in-Bowery in East Village, was fund-raiser for Street Vendor Project, an initiative run by Urban Justice Centre. The project advocates for estimated 10,000 people selling everything from food to art to jewellery on streets of New York. Among big issues, vendors facing difficulties in getting licences and lack of available street space.
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