Roosevelt Ave Midnight Crawl

The Midnight crawl will be August 21st!

Roosevelt Avenue is a completely different animal when the sun goes down. Nearing midnight, out come arepas, chuzos and transvestites. We’re going to explore everything Roosevelt Avenue has to offer without stepping a foot off the pavement.

Last month was the 2nd annual Roosevelt Avenue Street Food Crawl, we had around 100 people scouring the neighborhood from Jackson Heights and Elmhurst to Corona. This crawl takes a slightly different route, starting at the plaza at 83rd Street and Roosevelt and going west stopping at arepa ladies, taco trucks, chuzo stands, halal carts, gay bars and more before finally settling at an Irish pub in Woodside.

I will provide a language guide and a point of interest game board to guide people on their way.

The Roosevelt Ave Midnight Crawl
starts Saturday, Aug 21st, 10pm at the Manuel De Dios Unanue Triangle (83rd & Roosevelt)

The Roosevelt Avenue Midnight Crawl

This is my dream: A huge group of eaters doing the walk down Roosevelt at midnight. In the heat, in the frenzy under the 7.

When? The Midnight Crawl will start at 10pm on Saturday, Aug 21st. We will pass midnight and end sometime early Sunday morning at an Irish bar in Woodside.
Where does it start? The Manuel De Dios Unanue Triangle (83rd & Roosevelt). Take the 7 train to get to the express station at 82nd Street.

Starting at 10pm, we will warm up for the crawl at the ultra-cool Colombian ex-pat bar, Terraza 7 Train Cafe on Gleane Street, Meson Asturias (83rd St) where they should be having a Flamenco show, and the taco cart Mexico Linda at Gleane and Roosevelt. I will start walking at 11pm, but you can start whenever you want.

Where does it end? An Irish bar in Woodside (TBA). I’m going to try to get Starting Gate.
How much will we eat? a ton.
Is it all tacos? Noooo way! that’s boring! There’s arepas, chuzos, and halal carts along the way. Even at the taco carts, you can try quesadillas, tortas, gorditas and more.
How many people do I expect? Around 50. Maybe more.
What else? I will have a very special map and guides for ordering to help you along. When you meet us at the starting blocks, groups will form and go as you get hungry. We should have a long line of night crawlers along Roosevelt Avenue.

You know how we do it – no cost other than food. Rag tag group of Queensites and out-of-towners exploring the neighborhood, learning the cultures and eating the best food in the city. Let’s have fun.

roosevelt ave steet crawl (11)

roosevelt ave steet crawl (3)

roosevelt ave steet crawl (34)

roosevelt ave steet crawl (22)

Ecuadorian Cart

—————————————
The 2010 Street Food Crawl was nuts! Around 100 people attacking the avenue, eating and drinking everything in sight. It ended at Spaghetti Park, after the 2 jewels of frozen Queens, Timmy O’s and Ice King of Corona.

2010 Roosevelt Ave Street Crawl Recap
Handouts for the Roosevelt Ave Street Food Crawl – Map and Guide
Roosevelt Avenue Find – Cocada de Coco
Roosevelt Ave Crawl Highlight – Warren Street, Street Cart Corridor
Refrescos on Roosevelt Ave Guide – Respados, Jugos & much more
Roosevelt Ave’s Taco Cart Vegetarian Options

————————-
The 2009 taco crawl was great! We had over 30 people and even the most seasoned veterans of Roosevelt Ave learned a lot. Smiles all around and lots of interest piqued.

Queens Times Ledger Article and Pictures
“Crawling for Tacos” Audio slideshow by Kerri MacDonald

By popular request, below is the hand drawn map from the 2009 Roosevelt Ave Street Food Crawl. Click the map to see a larger version.

Menu Help:
What is a Cemita?
74th Street Station Taco Cart Menu Translations
75th Ave NE Taco Cart Menu Translation
Tacos el Consentido Translations
99th Street Quesadillas Guide
El Guayaquileno Mini Picanteria Truck Guide
Pique Y Pase El Pepin Ecuadorian Truck

Night Trucks:
Los Cuatro Vientos Taco Truck

Responses

  1. That actually looks to be a somewhat of a proper ceviche. Hmmmmm contemplating

  2. I want in!!! This sounds dreamy!

  3. Count me in dude. I’ll be wearing mah fat pants!

  4. Ravi says yes – I want in (maybe +1 too). Thx for organizing this, jeffsayyes.

  5. I’d love to meet up for the taco cart crawl. Got room for a middle-aged taco lover with the stomach of a 21-year-old?

  6. Ira – Hell yes.

    This crawl is totally open to the public. Bring friends to split some food with or come yourself. We are going to have some fun.

  7. I wouldn’t miss this for the world, says this also middle-aged taco lover with the stomach of a 21‐year‐old. (I keep it in a Mason jar on my desk.) My belly, however, is entirely age‐appropriate.

  8. Thanks for organizing!!

  9. Jeffrey,
    Thank you for putting together this event. Had a great time, hung out with interesting people, and discovered some wonderful food. My favorites: the quesadillas at 90th St. and the tamales from the, um, tamale woman.
    For anyone interested, photos of the day can be found at the following addresses:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/iraform/
    http://gallery.me.com/iraform/100411

  10. [...] was one of the reasons he organized the Roosevelt Avenue Taco Crawl, a 30-block adventure that began near his apartment in Jackson Heights and ended with an [...]

  11. It looks great! I have lived in Queens most of my life and have explored Roosevelt Ave only in tiny pieces — I guess intimidated by the language barrier and not knowing what to order.
    I am an adventurous eater and would love to explore with some seasoned veterans.
    Let me know when another taco crawl is planned. Looking fwd.
    Regards,
    Tim

  12. I want in for sure!! I’m visiting NY for the summer and one of the biggest things on my to-do list was to eat my way through the city. I was fortunate enough to learn that this part of Queens around Jackson Heights has some of the best Latin food around :)

    Mind if I venture off into some of the brick-and-mortar establishments, too? I’m sure I’ll probably be full from food vendors anyway, but just want to get the a-ok to wander around!

  13. Hey Ash, yeah you can wander around wherever you want! I have some great recommendations if you have anything in mind. This tour is kind of self-guided. I don’t want to overload the vendors with 50+ people at each stand at a time. But we will mostly be in some sort of dynamic groups.

    There won’t be an email, just come on the date above. It is in concrete.

    And that’s a great goal for the summer. You gotta do pizza and greek and sushi and halal. you gotta go to Katz’s too. and you gotta come down to roosevelt ave. Anyone who says NY has no good Mexican food will eat their words when they come to Corona.

  14. Pending serious illness or death, I plan on being there, with my bottle of water, a stack of singles, and Rolaids in hand! :D

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