At Beach 90th and Mott Ave the Food Warriors took the A all the way to the ocean. At the last stops on our journey, we got a tip from a token booth clerk to check out Rockaway Beach Surf Club for their winter ramen. And then hit the tracks once more to the eastern-most station in the system, Mott Avenue, where we found a diamond in the rough: Ralph’s Diner.

It was two sides to the Rockaways coin. First up was the surf club giving us a glimpse into a hipster tourist diaspora and supplying us with an actual coconut cracked for our drinking pleasure on the spot. Then the ramen warmed us enough for our trip out to Ralph’s, a greasy spoon with real, home-cooked comfort food at the ready. It was double-lunch time again with some breakfast vibe thrown in. We got french toast, grits, eggs n bacon and chicharron, steamed broccoli, pepper steak and avocado with an onion plopped in the middle of it.

Food Warriors Choice: Rockaway Beach Surf Club @302 Beach 87th Street and Ralph’s Diner @21-23 Mott Avenue!

Featuring Dallas Penn & Rafi Kam
Directed by Casimir Nozkowski
Shot by Jesse Brown
Edited by Bryan Galatis
Field Producer: Humu Yansane
Music: Aaron S. Brown http://aaronsbrown.com
Re-Recording Engineer: Tod Chapman

Brought to you by our sponsor MailChimp.
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Ride with us at the NEW SITE: http://www.thefoodwarriors.com

The station sign says Ozone Park, but the truth is we’ve landed in Richmond Hill, Queens. We’re way way out from Manhattan’s commercial districts and expensive real estate now, and that distance helps create this bustling immigrant neighborhood and protect it from encroachment.

The demographics here are a globe-spanning mix of the West and East Indies. Richmond Hill is called “Little Guyana” for the prevailing influence of that South American nation (a British colony until 1966), but the Caribbean islands (particularly Trinidad) and Indian subcontinent are in the mix as well.

The combination is literally delicious, and this area might be the richest for food options that we’ve seen so far. Trini Roti shops, Chinese-Guyanese hybrids, restaurants that sell clothes out front and do your taxes in the back. How are we ever going to leave this place?

Featuring Dallas Penn & Rafi Kam
Directed by Casimir Nozkowski
Shot by Jesse Brown
Edited by Bryan Galatis
Field Producer: Humu Yansane
Music: Aaron S. Brown http://aaronsbrown.com
Re-Recording Engineer: Tod Chapman

Brought to you by our sponsor MailChimp.
Send better emails: mailchimp.com

“I heard there’s a lot of few places over here.”

Broadway Junction is a massive union of train lines. The L and the J/Z on distinct separate elevated platforms, while the A and C remain underground – joined by a giant escalator. There’s a police precinct in the train station and the feel of industrial wasteland in the blocks surrounding.

Welcome to East New York, a neighborhood that Brooklyn’s gentrifiers have yet to feel comfortable making eye contact with. This is the Food Warriors latest stop on our A-Train journey. Where there’s life, there’s food – and we’re out to find the best of it. Chea.

Featuring Dallas Penn & Rafi Kam
Directed by Casimir Nozkowski
Shot by Jesse Brown
Edited by Bryan Galatis
Field Producer: Humu Yansane
Music: Bless 1
Re-Recording Engineer: Tod Chapman

Brought to you by our sponsor MailChimp.
Send better emails: mailchimp.com

Last year we brought forth a new concept called Food Warriors, where we would ride the A train looking for the people of NYC to lead us to the best place to eat in their neighborhood. We wanted to visit some very different areas of the city, pay tribute to the epic spatial and historic scope of the A train line, and try out a lot of new food. This would also be a way for us to have a manageable plan we could stick to for more frequent video output than we’d had in the past. We dropped four videos shot in late 2013 and then things got way too cold for us to shoot anymore so we had to hibernate for a while.

When we came back and started working on a new set of videos some things were different. First of all, we wanted to keep things more geographically coherent. We jumped around a lot in the first four episodes because we didn’t really know how many of these things we’d be doing but now that we were in on the idea, we wanted to more adhere to the “chronology” of the train line. We’d start in Harlem and move to downtown Manhattan, eventually we added a sixth episode taking us out to Bed Stuy in Brooklyn because it gave us a stronger finish and book-ended nicely with the season’s opening videos in Harlem.

The team we have working with us is so strong right now. Dallas and I are who you see on screen and Cas is doing the directing – those things remain from the day we started – but every member of the crew is crucial to the overall product. Jesse and Dan’s camerawork provide the series’ distinct look, Mark and Bryan’s editing keep the storytelling tight, Bless-1’s musical theme variations connect each video while still keeping the soundtrack fresh, Tod’s sound mixing always bringing the presentation to the next level. We improved the overall workflow thanks to a serendipitous encounter on our 59th Street shoot. That’s where we met Humu who suggested the Turkish restaurant for us and (because we all clicked instantly) became our field producer on the following three shoots (145th, 125th and Nostrand Ave).

This would not have been possible without the incredibly generous support of Mailchimp who sponsored the whole season and wowed us from day one by being so cool and easy to work with. Thanks for believing in us and helping us produce this series!

Here’s a playlist of all ten Food Warriors videos (from both seasons) in order of train station stop. Feel free to share this far and wide.

(S2E6) The season finale! This leg of the journey is complete, as the Food Warriors rode the A-train from uptown in Harlem to Bed Stuy out in Brooklyn. The subway connection between these two neighborhoods goes back to 1936 and was vital in shaping the history of NYC. Bedford-Stuyvestant quickly became a “little Harlem”, attracting Harlem residents looking for breathing room, Great Migrators coming up from the southern states and then immigrants from the Caribbean islands.

The changing of demographics continues today as the renewed desirability of living in NYC, and the shortage of affordable real estate causes neighborhoods like Bed Stuy to face the reality of gentrification. What will Bed Stuy look like in 10, 20, 50 years? What does it even look like today?

These are probably great questions for somebody else – we came to eat. We want to know what does Nostrand Avenue taste like – and we found the answer was deliciously unexpected.

Featuring Dallas Penn & Rafi Kam
Directed by Casimir Nozkowski
Shot by Jesse Brown
Edited by Bryan Galatis
Field Producer: Humu Yansane
Music: Bless 1
Re-Recording Engineer: Tod Chapman
Title Sequence: Bryan Galatis

Brought to you by our sponsor MailChimp.
Send better emails: mailchimp.com

What is a Food Warrior?
The Internets Celebrities have become the Food Warriors again for season two of their subterranean journey along NYC’s ‘A’ train line. Dallas and Rafi will again look to find the best places to eat when they exit the subway system, with the help of the people they encounter at that station. Democracy based dining done with the Internets Celebrities inimitable style. Come along for the ride…

More videos at www.internetscelebrities.com

If you like us, like us on Facebook
www.facebook.com/internetscelebrities

If you follow us, follow us on Twitter
www.twitter.com/The_ICs

(S2E5) The Fulton St stop, once also known as Broadway-Nassau, serves the Financial District of lower Manhattan. This area would famously clear out almost entirely after work hours. But in the years after 9/11, with NYC real estate demands going crazy, a lot more of a residential population has moved in. That’s all well and good, but where can the Food Warriors get a good lunch around here?

Featuring Dallas Penn & Rafi Kam
Directed by Casimir Nozkowski
Shot by Jesse Brown
Edited by Marc Baker
Music: Bless 1
Re-Recording Engineer: Tod Chapman
Title Sequence: Bryan Galatis

Brought to you by our sponsor MailChimp.
Send better emails: mailchimp.com

What is a Food Warrior?
The Internets Celebrities have become the Food Warriors again for season two of their subterranean journey along NYC’s ‘A’ train line. Dallas and Rafi will again look to find the best places to eat when they exit the subway system, with the help of the people they encounter at that station. Democracy based dining done with the Internets Celebrities inimitable style. Come along for the ride…

More videos at www.internetscelebrities.com

If you like us, like us on Facebook
www.facebook.com/internetscelebrities

If you follow us, follow us on Twitter
www.twitter.com/The_ICs

(S2E4) The Food Warriors continue to work their way through midtown Manhattan, this time stopping at 34th Street – Penn Station.

Featuring Dallas Penn & Rafi Kam
Directed by Casimir Nozkowski
Shot by Jesse Brown
Edited by Marc Baker
Music: Bless 1
Re-Recording Engineer: Tod Chapman
Title Sequence: Bryan Galatis

Brought to you by our sponsor MailChimp.
Send better emails: mailchimp.com

What is a Food Warrior?
The Internets Celebrities have become the Food Warriors again for season two of their subterranean journey along NYC’s ‘A’ train line. Dallas and Rafi will again look to find the best places to eat when they exit the subway system, with the help of the people they encounter at that station. Democracy based dining done with the Internets Celebrities inimitable style. Come along for the ride…

More videos at www.internetscelebrities.com

If you like us, like us on Facebook
www.facebook.com/internetscelebrities

If you follow us, follow us on Twitter
www.twitter.com/The_ICs

(S2E3) The Food Warriors ride to 59th Street – Columbus Circle. What can midtown possibly offer us to eat?

Featuring Dallas Penn & Rafi Kam
Directed by Casimir Nozkowski
Shot by Jesse Brown
Edited by Marc Baker
Music: Bless 1
Re-Recording Engineer: Tod Chapman
Title Sequence: Bryan Galatis

Brought to you by our sponsor MailChimp.
Send better emails: mailchimp.com

What is a Food Warrior?
The Internets Celebrities have become the Food Warriors again for season two of their subterranean journey along NYC’s ‘A’ train line. Dallas and Rafi will again look to find the best places to eat when they exit the subway system, with the help of the people they encounter at that station. Democracy based dining done with the Internets Celebrities inimitable style. Come along for the ride…

More videos at www.internetscelebrities.com

If you like us, like us on Facebook
www.facebook.com/internetscelebrities

If you follow us, follow us on Twitter
www.twitter.com/The_ICs

(S2E2) The Food Warriors go looking for the people’s choice at Harlem’s iconic 125th Street and find a rematch of Old Harlem vs New Harlem.

Featuring Dallas Penn & Rafi Kam
Directed by Casimir Nozkowski
Shot by Jesse Brown
Edited by Marc Baker
Field Producer: Humu Yansane
Music: Bless 1
Re-Recording Engineer: Tod Chapman
Title Sequence: Bryan Galatis

Brought to you by our sponsor MailChimp.
Send better emails: mailchimp.com

What is a Food Warrior?
The Internets Celebrities have become the Food Warriors again for season two of their subterranean journey along NYC’s ‘A’ train line. Dallas and Rafi will again look to find the best places to eat when they exit the subway system, with the help of the people they encounter at that station. Democracy based dining done with the Internets Celebrities inimitable style. Come along for the ride…

More videos at www.internetscelebrities.com

If you like us, like us on Facebook
www.facebook.com/internetscelebrities

If you follow us, follow us on Twitter
www.twitter.com/The_ICs

(S2E1) The Food Warriors are back! We’re kicking off our second season by riding the A train to 145th St, in Harlem’s historic Sugar Hill. Harlem’s been seeing the impact of gentrification in recent years – will the people’s choice represent New Harlem or Old Harlem?

Featuring Dallas Penn & Rafi Kam
Directed by Casimir Nozkowski
Shot by Jesse Brown
Edited by Marc Baker
Field Producer: Humu Yansane
Music: Bless 1
Re-Recording Engineer: Tod Chapman

Brought to you by our sponsor MailChimp.
Send better emails: mailchimp.com

What is a Food Warrior?
The Internets Celebrities have become the Food Warriors again for season two of their subterranean journey along NYC’s ‘A’ train line. Dallas and Rafi will again look to find the best places to eat when they exit the subway system, with the help of the people they encounter at that station. Democracy based dining done with the Internets Celebrities inimitable style. Come along for the ride…

More videos at www.internetscelebrities.com

If you like us, like us on Facebook
www.facebook.com/internetscelebrities

If you follow us, follow us on Twitter
www.twitter.com/The_ICs