Taste of the Town Draws, Delights Thousands Once More
By Terry Massey
The last week of October is everyone's favorite day of the year as far as sampling tasty treats from all over the neighborhood.
Halloween? You must be tricking. I'm talking about Tuesday's 26th annual Taste of the Town at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center.
That's where more than 60 restaurants and vendors from all over the Grand Strand turned out to serve up their best dishes, and lots of locals showed up to shove them down. It's a celebration of food, friends and fun for which the community turns out in big numbers.
Taste of the Town, the fundraiser for St. Andrew Catholic School, has become a marketing and social institution in Myrtle Beach.
Restaurants get a chance to entice locals into their establishments at the start of the offseason, and patrons get the opportunity to try before they buy while eating and meeting with old acquaintances who make the Taste of the Town an annual party pilgrimage.
This year was no different, with a mixture of familiar establishments and new kitchens on the block showing up the feed the masses. While the crowd was slightly down this year compared to others, it made the usually cramped hall more comfortable.
The first-place award winners were familiar names to the event - The Sea Captain's House's tuna tartar (judged entree) and white chocolate pumpkin cheesecake (judged dessert) and Rioz Braziilian Steakhouse's Churrasco plate (people's choice entree).
"This was one of the hardest events I've ever has to judge," said judge Eric Wagner, owner of Ice Sensations Catering. "There were so many good dishes and a lot of unique entries. I'm so full I don't think I will be able to eat again for days."
New was the theme of the evening, and I tried to save my tickets and my taste buds for first-timers. There were several to choose from this year as I played a little game of "Let's Make a Meal," in which I try to see how many different types of meats I can try.
This year was a new personal record, with 10 different restaurants and animals. Dishes like Rioz' plate of Brazilian sausage, chicken wrapped in bacon and picanha, and Greg Norman's Australian Grille's alligator and crawfish gumbo, made it easy.
As usual, there was plenty of seafood to choose from. Mr. Fish, which recently reopened by popular demand, served up delicious she crab soup, shrimp and grits and seafood gumbo. SeaBlue also had shrimp and grits and City Bar weighed in with shrimp toast.
International cuisine was a big hit with patrons, with newcomers SeaBlue's porcini-encrusted rack of lamb, Little Italy's brick-oven pizza, Blue Elephant's Asian dumplings and Phillip's World Cuisine Buffet's curry shrimp and braised pork over rice dishing out diversity.
Three new Japanese restaurants added spice to the Taste - Ichiro's spicy tuna tempura and scallops, King Kong Sushi's crab cucumber roll and Jimmyz Hibachi on 62nd (a new spinoff on his former venture) offered Korean beef, chicken and shrimp over rice.
For those with a love for land critters, there were many options. Ruth's Chris drew the longest lines of the night, luring folks with its lamb chops and Kobe beef sliders; Roy & Sid's served up its white bean chicken chili; and Longbeard's was game with its elk sliders.
There wasn't a whole lot of room left for dessert, but how could you resist The Melting Pot's fondue chocolate-dipped strawberries?
It was more than enough to fill up a family of three, and we didn't even get to try award-winning dishes like Indo Thai's grouper curry (second-place entree), Omaha Steakhouse's Tartlet St. Jacques (third-place entree), Margaritaville's passion berry fruit mousse (second-place dessert) or Big Daddy's Roadhouse Grill's cinnamon chocolate crepes (third-place dessert).
Decor winners were California Dreaming (first-place large booth), Longbeard's (second-place large), Canipe's Candies & Chocolates (third-place large), Fiesta Mexicana (first-place small booth), The Melting Pot (second-place small) and Mr. Fish (third-place small). Pizza Hut and Ben & Jerry's won the hardware for the kid's choice awards.
All in all, it was another successful night of food and fun at the Taste of the Town. Let's hope you saved room for Halloween.
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