Taste of Syracuse: All in good taste!

Asti Caffe's elegant $1 calamari sample.

The great thing about Taste of Syracuse: The annual food-a-rama brings more than 40 restaurants and vendors, most of them local, to Clinton Square in Syracuse.

The downside, if there is one: Unless you’re a “competitive eater,’’ there’s no way you can sample EVERYTHING on the smorgasbord.

I went to the Taste June 3 with a pocket-full of 10 $1 bills and an adventurous appetite and food ‘tude. Samples that wowed my taste buds:

Good eats

• Sakana Ya’s thin, crispy and perfectly browned eggrolls, filled with crisp-tender veggies and a bit of pork, delivered delicious taste and good bang-for-the-buck (at full size or nearly that).

• The $1 sample of pulled pork from Hammi’s BBQ delivered three bites of nicely seasoned and cooked pulled pork that didn’t need the dab of sauce that came with it. The staff at the Hammi’s stand said they plan to open a full-service restaurant in Central New York by fall.

• Asti Caffe’s calamari Christiana had to be the Taste’s most elegantly presented sample: A small mound of deep-fried calamari on a bed of lettuce, topped with a drizzle of sauce that was both slightly sweet and spicy.

• Poutine (poo-TEN), a Canadian indulgence of French fries, gravy and cheese curds, was imported to the Taste by Friar Tuck’s. Their very savory version was built on fries they described as twice-cooked, rendering them deep-brown and crispy.

• Michael Angelo’s riggies with vodka sauce were an excellent find: riggies (rigatoni) bathed in a creamy tomato sauce with a hint of vodka. We’re looking forward to visiting the restaurant in Eastwood for a taste of other things Italia.

•  The crispy-crunchy falafel patties served by Clinton Street’s Byblos Mediterranean Cafe brought a taste of the Middle East – and a nice change of pace – to the Taste.

Decadent sweets

• A cheesecake calzone? Sounds strange, but Zonies  makes it work. Imagine a crispy calzone crust filled with a lightly sweetened cream cheese mixture, topped with a drizzle of icing and you have the picture.

Anything larger than the sample serving (left) might be overkill.

• A two-inch square of white chocolate-raspberry cheesecake was a just-the-right-size introduction to Big Mama’s Cheesecakes, Northern Lights Plaza. In a word: sublime. We’ll no doubt be seeing more of Big Mama.

 

• The Chocolate Bomb Cake sample at Yum Yum’s Gluten-Free Bakery was, well, the bomb! Erin Gridley’s choco-licious treat is a winner, whether you’re gluten intolerant or not (she also specializes in gluten-free pasta dishes).

Chocolate Bomb Cake, Yum-Yum's Gluten Free Bakery.

 

 

Comments

[Margaret @ Eat First]

Hi, Katrina --
Ahh, the waistline: Today and for the foreseeable future we work on taking care of the damages!
I was sorry to miss AppeThaizing at the Taste... was making the rounds with a friend who is a vegetarian. She would have liked the tofu dish they were offering. I think you will like Asti. Go on a nice night, when you can sit outside in our Little Italy.
Cheers, and thanks for visiting.
--Margaret

[Katrina]

Great highlights! I think we covered most of these booths, but sadly (though maybe good for my waistline?) I missed the cheesecake calzone - looks delicious. I'm looking forward to dining at Asti's in the future and excited for AppeThaiZing to open up near us in Liverpool after meeting the staff and tasting their delicious food.