Kaufman Astoria Studios Photo: istock
March 19, 2018 By Jackie Strawbridge
The Chocolate Factory has announced that its 13th annual Taste of LIC will return to the Kaufman Astoria Studios backlot on June 5.
This will be the second year that the event is held in the Kaufman Astoria backlot, located on 36th Street between 35th and 34th Avenues. It had been held at Gantry Plaza State Park for several years prior.
The location was changed in order to accommodate chefs looking to use grills and other cooking stations that were restricted at Gantry. This allowed chefs to, for example, make tortillas fresh for the event, which Chocolate Factory Executive Director Sheila Lewandowski said she looks forward to again this year.
Lewandowski said it was too early to share a lineup of participating restaurants and brewers or event performers, but added that they are “planning some new ways of presenting food and drinks.”
“We’re in conversations with some of the restaurants and brewers to get ideas from them, what feels good to them,” Lewandowski said. “We don’t just like to do the traditional thing.”
Organizers are shooting for around 1,000 attendees this year, which Lewandowski called “the sweet spot.”
“It’s crowded but you can still move,” she said.
Online ticket sales will start on May 1st, according to Lewandowski.
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3 Comments
You got that right Harry!! The audacity of Kaufman to close down public streets to use for their own private use. Check the plates on their vehicles all from out of state. Do you know anyone from neiborhood employed there? CB1 does nothing for the residents parking, while they close blocks to put their food trucks for 24 hours at a time. I count five parking lots that they own that can be utilized for their movie shoots. Hey Kauffman at the end of the day this is a neighborhood not a film studio!! GREED! We get parking tickets and you get paid.
Oh great, they’re going to actually use that “backlot” for something.
They use 10 blocks for parking trucks every day while the “backlot” is always empty. So glad that the community had to give a public street up to a private enterprise.
it does not say how much the tickets are going to be — this should have been in the article !