The Taste of Tribeca 2012 press preview lunch was today, and I’m so stuffed that I doggie-bagged the last (of three) desserts and, on the way home, begged Torly Kid to relieve me of them. You can tell yourself not to eat more than half of anything, but then you forget.

It’s the 18th-annual Taste of Tribeca, with almost 75 restaurants participating and 4,000 tickets expected to be sold. Tickets for the May 19 event are already on sale online, or you can buy one at Taste of Tribeca’s booth at the Tribeca Family Festival along Greenwich Street this Saturday. They’re $40 now, $45 after May 1, and $50 the day of. Although I suppose you last-minute types can feel OK with paying more because it all goes to a good cause (P.S. 150 and P.S. 234). The tickets are good for six “tastes,” and trust me when I say that you don’t need more.

Co-chair Faith Paris handled the emcee duties impeccably.

The event was hosted by Sarabeth’s Tribeca, if you couldn’t tell already. Sarabeth’s kicked off the cavalcade of food with a crab-cake slider and a cookie. If there was a theme to this year’s press preview, it was that desserts came at us from all angles.

We occasional meat eaters used up our quotas early on—and kept going—but at least it was all delicious. The table I was at agreed that standouts were Kutsher’s Tribeca‘s pastrami sandwich and Tre Sorelle‘s stuffed spaghetti pie (like mac and cheese made with spaghetti).

Just as at the event, part of the fun is seeing chefs whose restaurants you frequent. Pictured above (from top): Luis Nieto of the Palm Tribeca and Paul Di Bari of Pane Panelle. I should’ve also taken a photo of the pastry chef at Blaue Gans—whose name I don’t know [UPDATE: It’s Janette Tamer]—because she was charming and…

…her strawberry and elderflower coup coupe (we all learned a new word) was possibly the tastiest dish of the day. I told myself I was allowed to eat all of it if I skipped Bubby’s apple brown betty, but it too was so delicious (it has oats in it, which is perhaps nontraditional but makes it more substantial).

It’s like they were trying to kill us. Buy your tickets! The event is a blast. Here’s the rest of the menu (click to enlarge) if you’re interested. And now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go start a Kickstarter campaign for a new pair of pants because I don’t think I fit into these anymore.