Hitting a “taste of” event is much like going to a craft bazaar, you have to careful not to blow your wad on the first few tables inside the door – and I was up to the challenge when I attended the fourth annual Taste of Long Island City last night at the Gantry State Park Grounds. The Taste of LIC, while a foodie’s funtime, was a benefit for the Chocolate Factory Theater, and also included a silent auction.

The first nibble I tried was a great start – shredded barbeque pork from Lucky Mojo’s. It melted in my mouth, but it’s where I first encountered what would be the night’s trend – the vendors running out of forks and plates! Everyone was friendly though and neighboring vendors were more than happy to share plates and utensils.

While taking a break from my nibbling of the first half of the room, I chatted up the event’s organizer, Sheila Lewandowski, (also executive director of the The Chocolate Factory) about the event’s history. This is the first year the Taste of LIC has been held at a state park location (and the first time such a thing has happened in Queens). The setting was really lovely – it was a magical, hazy evening and many tasters retired to the pier benches to talk, munch on their edibles, and enjoy the New York skyline.

Every year the Taste of LIC has been held, the attendance has doubled, and she estimated there were a 1000 attendees this year! While many “taste of” events focus on an area’s high-end restaurants, Sheila feels it’s important to showcase all types of food/drink establishments that make a neighborhood vibrant, from small places that take pride in their “food art,” to take-out, cafes, and wine/spirit sellers, all of which were represented at Taste of LIC.

See my Flickr picture set.

Some food highlights:

• Sage American Kitchen’s tomato, basil & goat cheese soup, not to mention the miniature versions of their pink snowball cakes, cheesecake brownies, and fake-Hostess cupcakes. I told them that selling of such not-so-naughty servings of their yummy treats would be a goldmine!
• Blend’s latin fusion was a tickle for my tastebuds – “tapatizers” from “sopes,” cornbread with cheese and a black bean sauce to lime-rubbed chicken.
• Lounge47 delivered a juicy, floppy luscious vegetable lasagna, which was perfectly refreshing with a Blue Moon ale.
• Taste of LIC is a big fat food tease because they gave me a sample of Testaccio’s culinary expertise but are making me wait until September until their official opening! Chef Ivan Beacco gave me a sample of something so simple and wonderful you marvel that you hadn’t thought of it yourself: mission fig topped with marscapone cheese and pine nuts. Testaccio’s menu will include “Roman dishes and Northern Italian cuisine.”
• Vesta Vino’s chilled zucchini soup with prosciutto and white bean bruschetta. Though technically not in Long Island City (Vesta is in Astoria), they let them sneak in to share executive chef Michelle Vido’s creations! (I won’t tell if you won’t tell…)
• Manducatis Rustica Italian restaurant wins dual prizes for strangest name and most perfect tiramisu this side of San Francisco. I had to wrestle another girl for one of the last servings! Chef/owner Gianna Cerbone-Teoli told me that she learned the recipe when she was ten years old living in Italy, and she has not changed the traditional recipe in all these years (thank goodness!)
• The longest line I saw was for Bella Via Restaurant’s coal-oven thin crust pizza!
• Court Square Wine & Spirits offered up something new and different – Veev – “the world’s first Açaí spirit.” Açaí is the new trendy health berry that is popping up in juices and smoothies everywhere. While the Veev representative admitted that VeeV can’t be touted as a “health drink” because the distillation process removes some of the berry’s “punch,” I had some straight up with ice & lime and found it to be a most refreshing spirit!

Of course, food is only one part of any dining equation – I look forward to checking out the ambiance of the vendors I sampled.

NOTE: Edited version published on queens.about.com