For Immediate Release, May 5, 2010

Contact: Sean Basinski, (646) 602-5679, sbasinski@urbanjustice.org

Carl Bergquist, (213) 353-1334, cbergquist@chirla.org
Erin Glenn, (213) 434-0071, glenn.em@gmail.com

FINALISTS ANNOUNCED FOR LA’S FIRST VENDY AWARDS

Six Vendors will go Grill-to-Grill for Bragging Rights of Top Street Chef
Los Angeles – The Street Vendor Project at the Urban Justice Center (SVP) today announced the six
competitors who will compete in the first-ever Vendy Awards LA on May 15th, a head-to-head cook-off
to determine Los Angeles’ top street food vendor.

―The Vendys will shine a spotlight on LA’s most talented street chefs,‖ said Sean Basinski, director of
the SVP. ―This impressive line-up represents the diversity of LA in every way.‖

The six finalists who will vie for the prized Vendy Cup are:

 Nina Garcia, famous in the Boyle Heights neighborhood for her Mexico-City style fried
quesadillas and huaraches.

 Neil and Phyllis Strawder, who turned their catering business into Bigmista’s Barbeque, a stand
at the Torrance, El Segundo and Atwater Village Farmers’ Markets.

 Chef Sumant Pardal took his more than two decades of restaurant ownership and Indian cooking
to the streets in 2009 with his India Jones Chow Truck.

 Dave Danhi and Michele Grant, exiles from NY whose classic take on a staple— their Grilled
Cheese Truck— has taken the LA food truck scene by storm since their roll-out six months ago.

 A street food veteran for 22 years, Elizabeth Palacias sells bacon-wrapped hot dogs with all the
fixin's at her Hot Dog Kings in LA’s fashion district.

 Juan Torres, has been slinging Jalisco-style food, homeland of tequila, at his Tacos El Galuzo
truck in East LA since the 1990’s.

A video of the finalists, posted on Youtube, is accessible at www.streetvendor.org/vendys/la.

The winner will be determined by a panel of expert judges, including chefs Vinny Dotolo and Jon
Shook from Animal; food bloggers Javier Cabral from Teenage Glutster and Bill Esparza from Street
Gourmet LA; and Evan Kleinman, host of KCRW’s Good Food. They’ll be evaluating the vendors on a
number of factors, including flavor, portability and personality.

The Vendy Awards LA will take place on Saturday, May 15th from 4-7pm at MacArthur Park. The all-
you-eat cook-off will feature an open bar of wine and beer. Tickets are available for $50 (tax-deductible)
online. Proceeds from the event will go to three non-profit organizations working to advance vendor
rights in LA: CHIRLA, the UCLA Downtown Labor Center, and Los Loncheros Association.

The Vendys LA will be the culminating event in an historic two-day conference, Contesting the Streets:
Vending, Open Air Markets, and Public Space, to take place at UCLA on May 14-15th.

Members of the press should email vendyawardsLA@gmail.com to request a press pass.

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