Don’t miss your chance to indulge in all the flavors of the Uptown Night Market as the festival hosts its season finale this week! On October 12th from 4:00pm to 10:00pm, food trucks, vendors, and live performers will convene beneath the historic Riverside Drive Viaduct at West 133rd Street and 12th Ave for a culinary and cultural festival celebrating local small food businesses. Here, meet 6 of the vendors who will share their foods this Thursday!
Untapped New York Insiders will be treated to a special guided tasting tour of the market where we’ll sample foods from the mouth-watering vendors you can learn more about below! Not an Insider yet? Become a member today and get your first month free with code JOINUS. As an Insider, you have access to member-exclusive in-person and virtual experiences as well as access to our archive of more than 200 on-demand virtual webinars!
Uptown Night Market Tasting Tour
1. Mia’s Cocina
Starting at the age of 6, lifetime Loisaida resident Maria Bido acquired a taste for traditional Puerto Rican dishes from her grandmother. The authentic cuisine included a combination of the flavors of Sofrito and Adobo coupled with an extremely intricate variety of plates. Today, Maria is the owner of Mia’s Cocina, where she carries on the tradition of those meals she fell in love with during her childhood. Started during the COVID-19 pandemic, the company is dedicated not only to creating delicious foods but also to ensuring that the recipes and flavors are kept alive through the new generations. To pass on this culinary knowledge, Maria conducts in-person cooking classes in collaboration with the Loisaida Inc. Community Center and the Essex Market. These classes, usually held twice a month from September through June, are hands-on experiences where clients put on an apron and a pair of gloves and make a meal together. While cooking, Maria speaks about the history and the culture behind the food and tells stories about the recipes. After the meal is made the clients sit and enjoy the fruits of their labor and eat. The recipes are then emailed to the clients after class so they may continue to make them for their friends and family.
Maria caters Puerto Rican food for corporate events, weddings, sweet sixteen’s, baby showers, housewarming parties, or any type of event that requires a delicious meal. She can often be found at NYC food festivals where she enjoys meeting and connecting with people through the food that is being served and enjoyed. Whether it’s at a festival or a cooking class, Maria is always grateful to bring joy to people by having them taste the food and love it or by the food causing them to reminisce about family members’ recipes.