Food and film combine for a good cause at tasty festival (photo by Ryan Jensen)
Multiple venues
June 23-27
Tickets: free – $95
VIP Festival Pass: $375
www.nycfoodfilmfestival.com
The fourth annual Food Film Festival, combining cinematic and culinary eats and treats both on-screen and in the audience, gets under way June 23, kicking off a five-day feast for cinephiles and gourmands. Some forty feature-length films and shorts will be screened, including Anat Baron’s BEER WARS, Liza de Guia’s BROOKLYN FLEA FOOD, Jeff Zalaznick and Jamie Meyer’s A LOOK INSIDE LaFRIEDA MEATS, Nora Tennessen’s SQUID CHIPS, and other food-related flicks, paired with appropriately relevant dining options. On June 23, the Great New York City Shuck ’N Suck will take place at Water Taxi Beach at the South Street Seaport (raw bar, oyster-themed menu, specialty cocktails, chocolate, $95), followed on June 24 by Brad Farmerie’s Southeast Asian Street Food Market at Astor Center (beef tendon balls, pig’s blood popsicles, popiah, dessert burrito, live squid fry, $95) and the world premiere of David Sigal’s FLORENT: QUEEN OF THE MEAT MARKET in the Altman Building (menu items from Restaurant Florent, hosted by Murray Hill, $75). Those ticket prices are kinda high (proceeds benefit the Food Bank for New York City, so on June 25, Edible Adventures #001: Smokes, Ears & Ice Cream will be serving up sample-sized portions of barbecue, ice cream, and more at Water Taxi Beach in Long Island City for free, although tickets are needed in advance; advance free tickets are also required for the World’s First Food Truck Drive-In (Bistro Truck, Pizza Moto, Schnitzel + Things, Treats Truck, Hot Blondies, Red Hook Lobster, and many others), held in Brooklyn Bridge Plaza on June 26, but it looks like that event is already booked solid. The festival concludes on June 27 with It’s Grits! ($35) and the Brooklyn Burger ’N Beer Garden ($45), both in the Tobacco Warehouse in DUMBO.