Egg Rolls, Egg Creams & Empanadas Fest returns to Eldridge Street
Few food festivals sum up the melting-pot deliciousness of NYC quite like the Egg Rolls, Egg Creams & Empanadas Festival, a street fest that spotlights the diverse cultures that make up the Lower East Side and Chinatown. And the beloved neighborhood event hosted by The Museum at Eldridge Street is back for its 23rd year, with all of those titular goodies and much more.
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On Sunday, June 16 from noon to 4pm, take to the street just outside of the Museum’s landmark Eldridge Street Synagogue home (on Eldridge between Division and Canal Streets) for a celebratory medley of Chinese, Jewish and Puerto Rican tastes, talents and traditions. Wo Hop will provide the freshly fried egg rolls, Mia’s Cocina the savory empanadas and Brooklyn Seltzer Boys those cooling egg creams, all of which will be available for purchase.
Beyond the great food, festivalgoers can enjoy live cultural performances including lion dancing by the New York Chinese Cultural Center, bomba and plena music performed by all-woman vocal group La Manga and East Harlem-based ensemble Los Pleneros de la 21, klezmer jams from the music collective Litvakus, Yiddish melodies from The Mamales and a spoken word performance from award-winning poet Bob Holman.
And if you want to get in on the fine yourself, take part in a range of folk arts, crafts and workshops, from Puerto Rican vejigante mask-making with artist and educator Felipe Rangel to Chinese paper cutting with artist Ling Tang and Ashkenazi Jewish folk fortune telling with Yiddish actor and scholar Mikhl Yashinsky.
The Egg Rolls, Egg Creams & Empanadas Festival is free and open to the public; for more information, visit The Museum at Eldridge Street’s website.