Cinnamon Snail Debuts Cookbook, Rolls Out Food Truck Tonight at Powerhouse Arena

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Just over two months ago, Adam Sobel of The Cinnamon Snail – one of New York City’s most popular food trucks and the reigning Vendy Cup champion – made the shocking announcement that they would be calling it quits from the streets of New York. Cinnamon Snail had won four Vendy Awards for their big, bold, vegan flavors, garnering long lines at lunch time no matter what neighborhood in the city they parked.

So why did they pull the plug on this hugely popular food truck? Adam discussed the decision with Grub Street, and recently he appeared on WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show alongside Street Vendor Project director Sean Basinski. In short, Adam expressed his frustration with the current permit system for mobile food vendors in New York City.>> Continue reading

Natacha Mankowski Brings Out What Goes On Inside the Brooklyn Navy Yard

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Each season, we offer a special opportunity for photographers to explore the Brooklyn Navy Yard with us. Our next Seasonal Photography Tour is taking place this Sunday, April 19 at 11am, departing from the Brooklyn Navy Yard Center at BLDG 92, and visiting sites including the Naval Hospital Campus, one of the Yard’s working dry docks, and other working waterfront sites.

Our judge for this season’s photo contest is one of BLDG 92’s 2015 Visiting Artists. Natacha Mankowski is an architect and painter who has had a long fascination with the Yard and what goes on behind its gates. She used it as the inspiration for an ambitious urban planning proposal, and as part of this year’s project, she is examining creative ways to turn the Yard inside out – to showcase its inner workings and history to the public, through her art. We’ll let Natacha explain it herself:>> Continue reading

Digital Technology Augments Craftsmanship at Scott Jordan Furniture

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Sitting at his desk using a mouse and looking at a screen with a chair on it, Scott Jordan builds a chair, virtually.

One of the hallmarks of the companies that we feature on our Making It In NYC tour series at the Brooklyn Navy Yard is that they wed traditional crafts with advanced technology to create unique, innovative, and competitive products. Scott Jordan Furniture is a perfect example of this union.

Founded in 1980, the company has had its home at the Brooklyn Navy Yard since 1988, back when there were fewer neighbors and fewer amenities than you find around the Yard today. Since the company’s inception, the eponymous Scott Jordan and his team have made solid wood beds, tables, chairs and other home furnishings by hand with original designs.>> Continue reading

Inside Industry: Space Suit Maker Final Frontier Design at the Brooklyn Navy Yard

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Inside the Brooklyn Navy Yard, on the fifth floor of the cavernous Building 280, sits a small studio with very large ambitions. Inside you will find bolts of high-tech fabrics, spools of nylon chord, helmets and gloves of all varieties, and a small team of designers.

This is the home of Final Frontier Design, a company that designs and builds space suits for the burgeoning commercial space travel industry. While the industry is in its very earliest stages, Final Frontier is working with a number of companies and with NASA to create a better, safer, and more cost-effective suit to take citizens into space.>> Continue reading

“Find Something Just For You”: TaraFawn Marek Offers Advice for Photographing Brooklyn Navy Yard

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Photo by TaraFawn Marek @thetfawn

Having just crowed winners of our 2014 Brooklyn Navy Yard Photography Contest, we’re ready to dive into the 2015 season – the first tour is thus Sunday, January 25 at 11am, departing from the Brooklyn Navy Yard Center at BLDG 92.

• Get tickets for the Brooklyn Navy Yard Seasonal Photography Tour, Sunday, January 25, 11am •

As many of you know, each season we accept photo submissions from our tourgoers, and then we have a judge select their three favorites to be finalists in the year-end contest. In 2013, all four of our judges were professional photographers and visual artists who have studio space at the Yard. In 2014, we invited participants in the BLDG 92 Visiting Artist Program. Now that our Seasonal Photography Tours are in their third year, we thought that we would invite some of the past tour participants to judge.>> Continue reading

Last Chance to Visit Vendy Plaza at East Harlem’s La Marqueta Sunday, Nov 23

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This coming Sunday, November 23, is the last weekend to attend Vendy Plaza, at least for now. For the past four Sundays, our friends at the Street Vendor Project and the Vendy Awards have turned East Harlem’s historic La Marqueta public market into a gathering place for outdoor food vendors, music, and culture.

La Marqueta was originally called the Park Avenue Retail Market when Mayor Fiorello La Guardia opened it in 1936 as a place for street vendors to operate in East Harlem, part of his campaign to get vendors off the streets and into indoor markets. While more than a dozen of these public markets were built in the 1930’s and 40’s, today only four are still operating and are owned by the City of New York: La Marqueta, the Lower East Side’s Essex Street Market (which will likely be relocated as part of the Essex Crossing development), the Arthur Avenue Market in the Bronx, and the Moore Street Market in Williamsburg (which you can visit on our Immigrant Foodways Tour on select Saturdays).>> Continue reading

Viva La Comida! Celebrates Queens Street Food, Saturday, Sep. 20, 1-8pm

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The 10th Annual New York City Vendy Awards just ended, but the celebration of street food continues. This weekend, our good friend Jeff Orlick has organized another great street food event – and you don’t need tickets for this one! The annual Viva La Comida! is always one of my favorite events because it celebrates the international cuisines of Queens and gives the dedicated – but often undersung – vendors a chance to shine.

>> Continue reading

Workday Lunch Rush Tours Get You Ready for the 2014 Vendys

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With just a five days until the big event, we here at Turnstile Tours are celebrating the Vendy Awards and spotlighting our favorite Vendy nominees, past and present, with our Lunch Rush Tours. This year marks the event’s 10th anniversary, so these tours are a chance to get acquainted with some of the honored street food vendors of years past, as well as the 2014 class of nominees.

Each tour will feature three mini-meals, and give participants the opportunity to not only discover the great street food on their block, but also learn about the industry and the great work of the organization behind the Vendys, the Street Vendor Project. This week’s tours will be led by Cindy VandenBosch and Andrew Gustafson, both of whom are experienced street food guides and have been involved with Vendy Awards planning and street vendor advocacy efforts.>> Continue reading

Get Your Sandwich On with Lunch Rush Tours!

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Black and white photo depicting a man in a suit and black hat standing in front of a food truck that reads, "Diso's Italian Sandwich Society" and "Imported from Italy"

Sandwiches are quintessential lunchtime eats and next week we and our friends at Midtown Lunch will be celebrating this classic midday meal as part of our month-long series of lunch rush food cart tours in Midtown and the Financial District. Break out of your lunch routine and join us for a one-hour three-course strolling lunch and we’ll have you back at your desk for your afternoon meetings!

Named after the Fourth Earl of Sandwich, who wanted to eat his meat between two pieces of bread so as not to interrupt his card-playing, sandwiches are one of the best ways to eat on the go and a favorite on the street. The tours will be led by Brian Hoffman, veteran food blogger and engaging tour guide, who truly knows and loves street food, the vendor community, and the industry as a whole.>> Continue reading

Kicking off Lunch Rush Tours with Street Meat!

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Eat Street Meat is our mantra this week as we and our friends at Midtown Lunch co-host a special month-long series of lunch rush food cart tours in Midtown and the Financial District. Break out of your lunch routine and join us for a three-course strolling lunch and we’ll have you back at your desk for your afternoon meetings!

This week’s series of one-hour lunch rush street food tours explores street meat, the most popular dish on the streets today from three very different vendors who are putting their own spin on chicken and lamb over rice. You’ll be led by Brian Hoffman, veteran food blogger and engaging tour guide, who truly knows and loves street food, the vendor community, and the industry as a whole.>> Continue reading