Leave the gun, take the cannoli! Cleo Coyle takes you to New York’s Vendy Awards

Cupcake Crew's "Cousin Vinny" Cupcake:
vanilla chocolate chip cake, topped with cannoli
frosting and rolled in bits of fried cannoli shell.
Mama mia, she was good!

Cleo Coyle, author of
The Coffeehouse Mysteries

I'll start with dessert. That's what my husband and I did when we attended the 7th Annual Vendy Awards on New York's Governors Island, and it is my pleasure to take you there with this post. 

Yes, this was also a research trip! The Vendy's and several of its food trucks inspired several elements in our recent bestselling culinary mystery A Brew to a Kill, in which our amateur sleuth investigates an attempted murder in the competitive world of the food truck business. 

To learn more,
click here.

So what are the Vendy's? A cook-off that honors the best street chefs of New York. Members of the public pay one price and eat all we like for five hours at 22 different food vendor tucks and carts. (These are the finalists who were nominated by their customers.) 

At the end of the day, we attendees loosen our belts a notch and then vote, along with the judges, and the Vendy Cups are awarded in several categories, including the Dessert Cup...