It was one of those perfect summer days Sunday, with lots of blue skies, a breeze and lots of hot and cold food along Delaware Avenue and around Niagara Square, as the Taste of Buffalo finished another run.
The Taste pushes healthy choices and the food vendors had them, but the lines seemed equally long outside booths selling food which hardly fit the healthy category. Everywhere, food and drink seemed to flow across the counters to the customers turning in their tickets.
Sweet Melody's won first place in Healthy Options and Peter Incordia said the restaurant's sorbet pushes all the buttons.
"Sorbet's gluten free, dairy free, fat free, has sugar in it," he said. "But that's our healthy option because it's fat free."
Incordia said it was selling along with anything else the workers could put out for sale. Taste Chair Jen Mitri said sponsors realize there are options in people's selections of the food they buy.
"We preach everything in moderation. You can't stay away from everything all the time," said Mitri. "So I try to make sure I incorporate some bad foods but you have to offset it with some healthy foods, too."
Mitri admitted she balanced her own choices of healthy food and some which aren't so healthy.
The best red wine award went to Hazlitt Vineyards for its Cabernet Franc 2012. Sam from Hazlitt said it sold well.
"Believe it or not, it's all gone now," he said. "We just finished off the very last bottle with our display and it's gone."
Sam said buyers then switched to everything else the winery had cooling behind the counter, wine or hard cider.
A Lackawanna institution under a new owner, Curly's Grille & Banquet Center, won Rookie of the Year for its jerk corn. Athena Koumanis said it sold well, too.
"The jerk corn, that is what we won Rookie of the Year with," she said. "It is a grilled corn with jerk mayo and coconut."
Osteria 166 won first for Best Comfort Food, with Jennifer saying they sold.
"Meatballs, the risotto sticks, everything is going very well today," she said. "Everything is selling fast."
Jennifer would not say what was the secret to the winning Nanni's Meatballs.
Another race to keep a supply food going was at Baked Cupcakery, with owner John Bondi saying he and his staff on Grand Island were up all night Saturday night making and re-stocking.
"We have learned that people like cupcakes," he said. "We are almost double what we thought we'd make and we're struggling to keep up with everyone coming through, that's for sure."
There was a lot of that as the Taste rolled to a close Sunday.
