On Saturday, May 16, Taste of Tribeca took over Duane Street for its 15th year to date. Taste of Tribeca is a culinary festival whose profits support the local Tribeca elementary schools: P.S. 150 and P.S. 234. It was run entirely by volunteers, many of whom were Stuyvesant students. Each year, the festival raises tens of thousands of dollars for the schools which go to selective art, music, and other enrichment programs that the Department of Education doesn’t pay for.
This year, the 65 local restaurants who participated offered guests a culinary walking tour, raffles for Broadway show tickets and NY Sports Club Memberships, as well as wine tastings and entertainment by a live Beatles cover band called No Mersey. Tickets were 40 dollars in advance (45 the day of) and included six tastings from the various restaurants.

Participating restaurants included Stuyvesant favorites such as the Amish Market, Amanzi Tea, Cornerstone Grill and Zucker’s Bagels & Smoked Fish, as well as fancier restaurants such as Bar Artisinal, Bouley, Chanterelle, and Secession.

Due to its main purpose as a fundraiser for Tribeca elementary schools, the atmosphere of the event was extremely laid-back and family-friendly. Students from the elementary schools could be seen volunteering and helping out the various vendors, selling sodas and tasting food from the various restaurants.

Like a sophisticated buffet with a good cause for eating—other than eating your weight in food—the festival offered all sorts of exotic food, sure to please any palate. The Yakisoba noodles with salmon onigiri from Rosanjin were flavorful and smooth. The homemade lasagna fatta in casa from Max turned a basic dish into an epic one. Perhaps most impressive, however, were the free range organic chicken quenelles with wild ramps from Chanterelle. The quenelles were the texture of the smoothest ricotta, as if cheese was made of chicken. Spicy tuna handrolls from Tokyo Bay had people lining up, and for good reason: this cone of seaweed filled with rice and tuna provided a rush of various flavors, from salty to sweet to spicy, all in one bite. “It was very delicious,” said Senior Lauren Shaman, an Arista volunteer for the event. “I had this molten chocolate cake and it was really really really good.”

Planning for the event started in October 2008. On the day of the actual event, there were 350 volunteers, 48 of which were Stuyvesant students “We love Stuyvesant,” said Wendy Chapman, one of the four co-chairs of the event. “Everyone says that Taste of Tribeca is a community event.”

Chapman has three kids at P.S. 150, so she is particularly dedicated to raising funds for the schools. “We were nervous because of the economy, but all the restaurants gave and gave and gave,” Chapman said. “People know that this is a high quality event and they want to be a part of it.”