Despite my help in promoting Taste of Tribeca, I had concerns going in: I don’t like crowds or lines, I was worried I wouldn’t get enough to eat, and in my experience you never get the very best food when thousands of people are being served. But I came away impressed! I only had to wait in line for two minutes to pick up my tickets and I never waited more than three minutes at any of the stalls. It was crowded—that’s success, baby—but it wasn’t unbearable (although—not to bait Jim Smithers or anything—stroller parking would be a good idea). And the food was really good! I can’t remember everything I ate, but I’ll try anyway: Upstairs‘s tofu with truffled dashi (below; it doesn’t photograph well); the Harrison‘s artichoke heart with ricotta (that’s chef Amanda Freitag above); grilled octopus at Thalassa; crawfish gougères at Duane Park, Marc Forgione‘s sashimi, porcini ravioli at Scalini Fedeli, a delicious fried chickpea thing dish at Salaam Bombay, the apple betty at Bubby’s, and cookies from Tribeca Treats. (My partner and I split most of our tastes.) And thanks to an everything bagel with lox from Zucker’s, I wasn’t starving when I left—although I did stop on the way home for ice cream, but more on that tomorrow….

Anyway, congratulations to the Taste of Tribeca team—entirely made of volunteers—for pulling off such a classy, fun afternoon. Commenting on a post from yesterday, Liat asked which tastes people liked best, and I know I’d love to hear about favorites (as would the participating chefs). So let’s dish!