Island Park, Main Street, Williamsville, NY
Web: A Taste of Williamsville
See More Restaurant Reviews For:
Festivals Ribs Seafood Steak Williamsville
After attending the sprawling but somewhat internationally limited Taste of Buffalo this year, we weren't sure what to expect from the 2008 Taste of Williamsville - a smaller event held on one day, a Tuesday of all things, with only 15 or so participating restaurants. The verdict? There was some good food, and even if most of it was American or semi-American cuisine, few items really standing out, we did sample menu selections from several restaurants that we now want to visit. Here are some of the more noteworthy vendors in attendance; part two covers another collection.
Gate House Grill: A multiple award winner for its Chef Sue's Chicken Rockefeller, which smoothly blended spinach, phyllo dough, and butter into a wrapping for sliced chicken - a mild but nice combination - Gate House also offered Lollipop Lamb Chops, served two to a plate, which tasted fine, as if they'd been marinated in garlic and beer, rather than the red wine noted on the restaurant's menu.
Bing's: We stopped at Bing's to again sample the Crab Cakes, which came drizzled in a sweet, inoffensive red pepper remoulade sauce. Having tried them at the Taste of Buffalo, where we enjoyed them but found better elsewhere, we found them more of a standout - thanks to less competition - here.
Frog Hair: Known locally for its golf-themed entertainment facilities, Frog Hair offered a handful of interesting dishes, most notably a Lobster Bisque that was creamy, buttery, and surprisingly well-appointed in the lobster chunk department. A warm Goat Cheese Casserole, a dip consisting of French goat cheese, jalapeno peppers, basil and tomatoes, served with oversized handmade tortilla chips, was also very tasty. As with Bing's, we were impressed enough by what we tasted here to consider a visit to the restaurant in the very near future.
Creekview: This Main Street restaurant, named for its view of Ellicott Creek, intrigued us with its Chipotle Popcorn Shrimp. Sort of a let-down in the sense that the words "Popcorn Shrimp" typically refer to breaded and fried shrimp, which we'd pictured would be enhanced here with strong dry spices, the actual dish consisted of sauteed shrimp in a pleasant but less than memorable brown sauce. It wasn't bad, but wasn't great, either.
Marinaccio's: We've never visited the Marinaccio's steak and seafood restaurant before, but really enjoyed the Lebanese Shish Kebab with Couscous - a single skewer of sirloin chunks that alternated with red onions and peppers, served on top of a plate of fruit-accented couscous. As good as the Kebab was, and it was quite good, the sweet, cool cous cous served as a wonderful balance to the meat, with pieces of orange, almond, and raisin helping to create a light, mild contrast with the chili- and saffron-touched steak. Definitely, definitely interesting.
Hirsch's Restaurant: One of two items we tried at Hirsch's, and the better of them, was the BBQ Ribs - several wonderfully cooked pork ribs in a mildly tangy, sweet barbecue sauce. With so many recent disappointments at local rib places, we actually walked away from the Hirsch's booth wanting more, which was a really good thing.
We'll have more on the Williamsville event in a second entry on sandwiches and desserts.
