New York Street Food

(credit: NYSF)

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Melt Bakery wins Best Dessert (credit: NYSF)

Nobody knew what to expect in the Best Dessert category. Five of the six finalists were frozen desserts, and while the day started off cool and breezy, it did get warm as the day progressed. Looks like weather would not be a deciding factor.

The Vendy’s decision to start a new category for Best Market Vendor was a good idea, but it also bled into the Best Dessert category, as two of the Best Dessert finalists were market vendors.

Morticia from Melt Bakery (credit: NYSF)

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Wooly's Ice wins Best Dessert

The Best Dessert category at the 2011 Vendy Awards was another very strong one, which could have been won by any of the finalists and I wouldn’t have blinked an eye.

In the end, Wooly’s Ice, a fairly new stand in Chinatown inspired by Hawaiian and Taiwanese shaved ice stands, got the nod from the crowd.  It didn’t hurt that it was a warm and very humid day, but Wooly’s certainly deserved the honor.  I have no idea what the guy in the green suit was about, but he added a touch of surrealism to their stand!

People loved their delicious shaved ice with brownies, strawberries and leche sauce, which was made from a combination of condensed milk, evaporated milk and a touch of sea salt.  They also fielded a strong entry in the Maker’s Mark bourbon challenge, with a sauce using Maker’s Mark over their signature shaved ice.

Wooly's Ice with Maker's Mark sauce

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After enjoying a wonderful lunch from Two Pitas In A Pod on Saturday, we wandered over to Washington St, which is the main street of Hoboken.  Parked between 3rd & 4th St was La Bella Torte, an Italian dessert truck.  We had a Dessert Alert after hearing about them, but this was the first time we had a chance to try them ourselves.

The menu changes from day to day, and on Saturday they had large and small cannolis with a choice of regular or chocolate chip filling, gelato, banana nutella cake, devil’s temptation cake, and the cake that won them acclaim on the Next Great Baker show on TLC, rosemary olive oil cake.

On the front of the truck is a quote from The Godfather, “Leave the gun, take the cannolis”, so a large cannoli ($4) was first on my list.  Joe suggested that I try the rosemary olive oil cake ($6) as well.

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We recently heard of a new dessert truck that opened about a month ago in Hoboken & Jersey City called La Bella Torte.

The truck was founded by Joe Glaser, a former plumber who went back to culinary school and is now a Cannoli Master. (I don’t know if that’s an official title, but that’s what he calls himself. La Bella Torte is said to have great cannolis.)

If you go to La Bella Torte and Joe looks familiar, it’s because he was a contestant on TLC’s Next Great Baker with Buddy Velastro.

They are usually found on Grove Street in downtown Jersey City, and are part of the Groove On Grove every Wednesday evening during the summer at the Grove Street PATH station that also includes Two Pitas In A Pod, The Taco Truck, Lucinda’s Creperie, music, other vendors and more.

They also frequent Washington Street in Hoboken, or are by Sinatra Park if there is an event going on. You can find their exact locations on facebook here, their twitter is here, and their website is here.  I can’t find a working twitter account, but will update this post if I find one.

Remember to look for the truck with “Leave the gun, take the cannolis” on the front.