It was cold, but very tasty in the Grove yesterday
It felt more like Oktoberfest than the usual Great Taste of the Grove, but still it was an amazing day yesterday in Peacock Park. The Andrews sisters, not the singing group, the girls above, bundled up and came out for some tasty food.
While it wasn't the usual massive crowd, it was a nice manageable group who enjoyed the cold weather and the hot food.
I'm not sure if the rum booth or hot cocoa and coffee booth sold more, but there were constant lines at both locations. Here, Maria Moggorossy serves up some nice hot cocoa to Angel Gonzalez.
Paul Diaz and Dave Weiss enjoyed the cold, all bundled up, and Atchana from Atchana's East/West Kitchen served up some delicious hot Thai specialties. This was Atchana's second year at the Great Taste.
The judges had a hard time trying to figure out which was best, but they had a good time trying all the food. At left Katherine Phillips is explaing to them what they are sampling, at right, the assistants and friends are tallying up scores with Katherine, that's Sylvia Quinn, Jesus Wong, Phil Gallegos and Katrina Gallegos.
All sorts of great food was available and the wine booth was one of the most popular stops, too.
I spent most of my time at the rum booth doling out delicious Barcadi products and punches and at the end, it was so nice to have a delicous hot she crab soup from the Monty's booth. It was perfect after having my hands in ice all day.
Tony Noboa and Willie Vega, from the Chamber, enjoyed the day, as well as Richard Issa, helping out here at the rum booth.
Winners of the two day event were:
Best Food Saturday: Chart House / Sunday: Panorama
Best Presentation Saturday: Atchana's / Sunday: Monty's (3rd year in a row).
Happy eating. See you next year at The Great Taste of the Grove.
posted by Tom Falco at 9:30 AM
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15 Comments:
Boy, I guess it filled up as the day went on. I was there between 12p and 1p and there were maybe 40 people max. Either way there was some good grub, albeit cold, to be had. I recommend "Another Taste of the Grove" in March or April!
Tom aren't you gonna get to the bottom of this one? How is this right, Monty's and Atchana's???
It's to obvious how the show was run, I think it's silly how Montys wins again... Last year 2009 judges were Katherin Phillips, Linda Gassenheimer, and Paul LeBlanc. This year 2010 Katherine Phillips, Linda Gassenheimer and Paul LeBlanc along with Co-Chair of the Event Gary Ciuca was judging again and im sorry but this is WRONG!!!
Unfortunately Saturday was a wash out.. but yesterday was awesome. there was alot of people, the food from all restaurants was superb.. sorry for anyone who read these comments from the blog.. there are alot of fair weather fans out there.. people stayed until 7 p.m. enjoying Liset Alea who did a fantastic job with her band. Congratulations and maybe there will be a mini taste during the year..cancelling the event because of the cold weather on last minute notice would have been a disaster and cost more... it is what it is.. it did bring out people to the grove- all parts of the grove..
How about letting the people who come decide the winners? Have cards that people can fill out as they exit and choose winners that way?
I like the idea of letting anonymous tasters rate the food or bringing true outsiders -- the pasta from Al Fresco on Commodore was wonderful, and for taste, the chicken curry over rice from Atchana's was superb -- plus the Atchana servers were so efficient and friendly. The Ivy had a lot of choices, and I love their food, but the more popular restaurants had several plates on display or open pot to view the food. Wish I'd known their (Ivy) had their chicken marsala earlier -- I love their recipe! And I could only eat so much! A nice touch at the event was bringing in heaters later. Wish there had been a coffee vendor. It was nice for the Costco booth to provide real coffee -- don't think too many people knew about that.
why wasn't my post added?
Because if you are going to put down people and restaurants by name, we need your name and email address. That's how it goes here.
Hmm, Mr. Food Critic with all the name calling and insults has nothing to say now. Thought so.
People love this event, it would be great if they could do a "Second Taste" to atone for the weather in the more dependable months of March or April.
Yes, it was definitely a shame about the weather. That's the caveat with having an outdoor event - you are at the mercy of the skies. There were so many added features this year, too! The Kids' Zone, the larger tents, the extended hours on the entertainment. My belt, however, tells me I had too much of a good time! ha ha ha
I head they ran out of wine. Must have been fab. So lets have a replay in March or April and I vaulteer to be a Judge taster. Grape I have dibbies on this!
Please have another Taste event this year. We assumed that, based on the news we saw on Saturday, that Sunday had been cancelled.
And from what everyone is saying, Sunday turned out awesome!
Thanks to all the Groveites!
L&J
How about designating a Sunday 4-6pm or another down time as a roving Taste -- you could go from restaurant to restaurant and ask for the snack plate to go. Participating restaurants would get a lot of press and put a particular colored sign out front to alert participation. There would be a map to help.
Great event on Sunday, despite the weather! It would be nice to let the attendees vote on the the winners, though. One ballot as people enter. Many art shows do this. Maybe have 2 separate - Judge's Choice and People's Choice.
Can't wait for the next Great Taste!
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