Last night’s Choice Eats wasn’t your usual tasting event. Tickets didn’t cost $100 and upscale restaurants like Gramercy Tavern, Café Boulud and Telepan weren’t present. No, this was the Village Voice’s second annual food tasting, bringing together more than 50 restaurants representing 37 different cuisines – everything from Cuban sandwiches to mac and cheese to Indian street snacks – in the cavernous Lexington Avenue Armory. Rows of tables and endless trays of food were set up, with dozens of chefs doling out delicious bites of international fare as fast as hungry ticketholders were grabbing them. Tickets were a mere $35 – a relief in these cash-strapped times – and bought three hours of unlimited snacks and drinks.

What set Choice Eats apart from the dozens of other tasting events held around New York City is that many of the participating restaurants are off the beaten path; they were all handpicked by two of the Village Voice’s food critics to represent this city’s diverse culinary landscape. In one night, you could sample Brazilian, Russian, Tunisian, Cambodian and Cajun food, plus indulge in a wide array of beers, wines and cocktails. Well-known restaurants — such as Fette Sau, Kuma Inn, Mercadito and Momofuku Milk Bar – served snacks side-by-side with lesser-known places like Bajan Café (Barbados-inspired food in Brooklyn) and Philippu Restaurant (Philippine cuisine in Astoria). Choice Eats is the perfect way to sample a variety of restaurants and cuisines you might not ordinarily go out of your way to visit, and we can’t wait to taste what’s on next year’s menu.