Too fried from the August-in-June heat to figure out what you want to do this weekend? Hit the NYC Food Film Festival, where all you have to do is show up, lounge around, watch short films about food, then eat the stuff on screen. I went to one of the events last night, Brad Farmerie’s Southeast Asian Street Food Market at Astor Center, where chefs from Double Crown (Farmerie and his staff), Betel, and Kampuchea served up things like beef tendon balls, dessert burritos (filled with cantaloupe ice cream), and squid chips, inspired by the food in various short films that were screening at the same time. Apparently pig’s blood popsicles were also in attendance but I got there too late (dammit). There were also loads of snacks that didn’t make cameos in the films, like a fantastic Thai beef salad and a mini banh mi.
I couldn’t help wondering if a couple of the less-impressive short films were cooked up specifically for this festival — so that local NYC chefs could then recreate what’s on screen—but whatever. I was too busy eating and craning my neck to see the screen to get much quality time with all the films themselves (I did like one I did see, called “Night Market Taipei”). Taller guys standing in front of me were laughing throughout a bunch of the films, so I have a feeling I missed out. But I kept busy scurrying around, drinking Tiger Beer and Riesling, and making sure I tried all the luscious snacks —before, er, dinner at Kenmare.
Tonight and tomorrow’s events are sold out, but the ones on Sunday aren’t: On Sunday at noon at the Tobacco Warehouse in Brooklyn, there’s “It’s Grits,” a short 1978 film about grits by director Stan Woodward, followed by a grits cookoff by 30 NYC chefs—and more grits than you’d possibly ever want to eat. Sunday night at 6pm, same place, it’s the Brooklyn Burger and Beer Party, with a screening of a film called “Beer Wars” with an all-you-can-eat burger and beer scenario…