Taste of Syracuse: a little of this and that

Who can resist an annual foodie event that unfolds the first Friday and Saturday of June each year right outside your workplace door?

Taste of Syracuse features dozens of Central New York restaurants and food producers, each offering $1 samples (like a a miniature kielbasa sandwich from Eva's, in Solvay, above)  and  several other moderately priced menu items.

Getting a beer can be a bit of a hassle, and cruising the food stands with thousands of other people on a Friday evening when the weather gods smile on you can be a challenge, but definitely worth the effort.

We waded into the thick of the Taste following a TGIF pint at the world-famous Dinosaur Bar-B-Que 

and found the food pickings to be excellent and the people watching superb.

Syracuse has a reputation as a red-sauce Italian town in terms of its cuisine, but the Taste served as a good reminder of the melting pot of restaurants that the region has to offer. Three of us sampled foods from from Mexico, Latin America, Greece, Poland, Vietnam and Italy, plus delicious all-American comfort food in the form of a melt-in-your mouth pot roast sandwich from JJ's, a stand operated by our friend Joe Todisco.

The $1 sample from Mai Lan restaurant, a small spring roll stuffed with shrimp and vegetables and topped with grated carrots, crushed peanuts and a zippy sauce, reminded us that work is just blocks away from the North State Street restaurant and we should get ourselves there more often.

Mai Lan's slender, crispy fried eggrolls were a treat, too.

We're on a strict diet until next weekend, which brings the annual Greek Cultural Festival at St. Sophia's Church Church in DeWitt.

Time for Greek beer,  baklava, gyros and spanakopita. Not necessarily in that order.

Expect to see some more of this action.

Comments

[Margaret McCormick]

Hi, Danica --

Thanks for reading... visit often!

--Margaret McCormick

[Danica Bryant]

So glad I came across your blog! I'm another CNY "Dining Diva!" I work for the Syracuse Convention & Visitors Bureau (www.visitsyracuse.org) and we're working on getting a blog started. Once it's up and running, I'd love to have you write a post about our fabulous food!