People around the region are wondering what kind of diet to start after this weekend's gastronomical marvel that is the Taste of Buffalo.
There was real amazement at one of the Taste's exhibitors who created peanut butter and jelly cheesecake and the other exhibitor who won the Children's Choice award for its mix of high-end food and meatballs. For the adults, there were 58 different opportunities to sample food - even the mandatory healthy option.
Communications Chair Erin Collins said restaurants are becoming more creative in the mandatory health option.
"Menu items that the restaurants come up with are really creative," she said. "So we've got somebody serving a grouper crudo with jalapeno sauce. We've got lots of really delicious, a kale salad with kalamata olives. It's really unique, interesting stuff and it's really tasty and people are buying it and loving it."
"We wanted to come here and do the Taste of Buffalo," said Black & Blue's Adam Callari. "This is actually our first year here. We wanted to come do it and be part of the community and reach out to everybody. We are a high-end restaurant. We're a fine dining restaurant, but we felt it was important to be linked into the community."
The kid's judge liked Black & Blue's Wagyu Meatball with Carmelized Onion Sauce.
Local Kitchen and Beer Bar stressed its ties to local food sources, like farms in Eden and local breweries. Anna said the key is mixing those local products.
"We're selling our beef on weck eggrolls. It's one of our signature items at our restaurant," she said. "We're also selling our carved turkey and candied bacon sliders. They have cheese, cranberry maple sauce. They're very, very good. And then we actually also have our own take on coleslaw. It's brussel sprout coleslaw, made with a vinegar sauce and cranberries and other veggies in there."
Anna said the restaurant is so local, she knows some of the farmers providing local crops.
Chelsea was there from the Victorianbourg winery in Wilson, on the Niagara Wine Trail.
"Really important. There's a huge crowd. It's great exposure for the winery," Chelsea said. "We're meeting a lot of new people who weren't aware of us. It's really important. We're really happy to be here."
The winery is on the hill above the section of Wilson hit with the high water this year in Lake Ontario. Schweid and Son came from the New York City area. Daniel Briceno said the high-end meat purveyor supplies several local supermarkets.
"We also like the premier markets based on how well we're doing," said Briceno. "We know that Tops is doing this event and we work very closely with Tops. We're in the retail with Tops. You can find our premium beef in Tops grocery stores throughout the country. So it just made sense for us to be here."
The company was giving away some burgers Sunday. The entire event benefited from decent weather, which initially included some weekend rain. It all went away and Sunday was beautiful.
The Taste had other changes this year, including letting a veteran family choose a Local Hero award. There was also increasing representation from Western New York's growing immigrant community, with restaurants serving food from back home.
