A Visit To Mad. Sq. Eats

For those who live or work near New York City's Madison Square Park, the yearly arrival of Mad. Sq. Eats, presented by UrbanSpace and the Madison Square Park Conservancy, is a breath of fresh air. Approximately 30 food vendors set up shop in the adjacent Worth Square every day from May 3 to May 31 (and again in for a few weeks in the fall), and all you need to do to know how popular it is is to drop in around lunchtime. We had the opportunity to stop by last week, and were seriously impressed with the range of offerings.

Click Here for the Visit to Mad. Sq. Eats Slideshow

Joining Cal-Mex mainstay Calexico, which operates a cart there year-round, are such heavy hitters as Bushwick's beloved Roberta's, turning out world-class pizza from its mobile oven, Momofuku Milk Bar with its crack pie and Compost cookies, Red Hook Lobster Pound with its decadent lobster rolls, Arancini Bros. with their massive risotto balls, and People's Pops with their creative and all-natural ice pops.

There are also plenty of lesser-known vendors, including many that are newer on the scene. Sunday Gravy sells big bowls of pasta topped with a hearty tomato sauce with braised meat and sausage, Mayhem & Stout sells sandwiches loaded with braised meat, La Sonrisa sells delicious empanadas, Mexicue sells a hybrid of barbecue and Mexican cuisine, Charlito's Cocina is selling sandwiches made with their housemade cured sausages, and Asiadog is topping hot dogs with some truly outrageous Asian-inspired ingredients.

Many of the vendors also sell beer and wine, making this one of the few city-owned outdoor spaces where drinking is allowed. There are a lot of desserts on offer as well; including cannoli from Stuffed Artisan Cannolis, handmade ice cream from DreamScoops, and cookies from Eleni's and Macaron Parlour.

Click through for a slideshow featuring some of our favorite offerings from Mad. Sq. Eats.