Harlem’s Restaurant Row to offer food trucks and vendors starting May 10
Food trucks like Luke’s Lobster and Mr. Nice Guy will be setting up shop on Frederick Douglass Blvd. when Harlem Eats returns on May 10. The food fest will take place every Saturday until Nov. 1.
Harlem’s bustling Restaurant Row will have a fleet of new four-wheeled competitors beginning next month.
A week after a successful dry run, food trucks and vendors — including some from the community — will be a recurring fixture each Saturday on Frederick Douglass Blvd. when Harlem Eats returns May 10, organizers told The News.
“It’s going to be an eclectic mix of food trucks and gourmet street food vendors,” said Jessica Chornesky, founder of Harlem Eats, which originally launched under the name Harlem Food Truck Rally on April 5.
The first-ever Harlem Food Truck Rally, which drew popular cheeseteak purveyor Shorty’s and sliders from Mr. Nice Guy, descended on a vacant Frederick Douglass Blvd. lot — also known as Restaurant Row — between W. 117th and 118th Sts.
For many Harlemites, the sight of a fleet of food trucks — usually more common south of 125th St. — was a promising development in the rapidly changing neighborhood.
You don’t see food trucks in Harlem,” said Chornesky, a 12-year Harlem resident and former soup vendor. “You don’t have the opportunity unless you go downtown.”
Chornesky hopes the event will also give a boost to up-and-coming local vendors, like Jamaican spot Jerk Shack, and give families looking to eat out an affordable option.
“You can eat a la carte, and you can eat really good food at half of the price of a restaurant,” said Chornesky, who noted that the Saturday fest will run through Nov. 1.