The
first day of Taste of Buffalo this year, while marred by the occasional rain,
did nothing to stop people from coming out in droves for the event. Entering
its 26th year, they welcomed 16 new restaurants and extended their
reach from beyond WNY to include restaurants from Brockport, Rochester and
Niagara to name a few.
I
spoke with Chairman Tom Muscarella: “We’re excited about having a total of 61
restaurants this year, it is a record. More fine dining places like Torches are
going to be here and there are 3 culinary stages plus music to fit everyone’s
tastes.”
There
are over 220 choices of cuisine this summer, and remember–you can have small
samples of many dishes! Those who were downtown yesterday were able to listen
to several bands including “Off the Cuff” and even a polka band. As always, the
cooking demonstrations and culinary shows were as popular as last summer with a
wide variety of cuisine being presented-Turkish Cultural Center offered
baklava, there was fine dining, barbeque and a fun mixture of games and music.
Torches (Chairman’s Choice Award) had a great menu; their Cubano pork with beans and rice had a great mix of
sweetness and spiciness. They also
had fresh gazpacho, and the mac and cheese rivals anything from the blue box.
Craftsmen Café again had their Monkees, a healthy cookie with all natural
ingredients and great taste to boot. Anything from Village Desserts is a
fantastic way to top off your day. There is something to please every palette,
if you want to get some rich, guilty pleasures or some great healthful,
flavorful food.
A
notable glass of wine is the hot pepper Pinot from Merritt winery. It has a
great kick to it on top of the fruitiness of the wine. It’s good to drink or to
cook with in a brisket or pasta sauce. Chateau Buffalo, housed on Hertel,
shared their interesting and unique cider–refreshing on such a hot day.
More
information can be found at tasteofbuffalo.com, ongoing until 7PM today. Print out a menu, view yesterday’s winners, and check
out the schedule for music and culinary stages, which will include everything
from Bluegrass to Rock and Roll. Check out the Buffalo Rising sponsored presentation from Trattoria Aroma, hosted by BR’s Chao Li, along with Merge and Sea Bar
hosted by Don Gervasi.
Photo of Taste Patrons: Glenn Murray