Central Ave. and Broadway, Lancaster NY 14086
Web: Taste of Lancaster
See More Restaurant Reviews For:
American Beef on Weck Festivals Italian Lancaster Pizza Wings
"One thing that most of these places have in common: they're almost all offering American food or something pretty close to it, including pizza, wings, sandwiches, and light Italian."
By comparison with the ten-day Taste of Chicago, the two-day Taste of Buffalo, or even the one-day Taste of Williamsville, the Taste of Lancaster is small - as in, it occupies both sides of two blocks on one street. But as local food festivals go, it has all the elements patrons might expect to find: a nice variety of local restaurants, good live music, table-style seating in the center for those who prefer not to stand while they eat, and even a couple of on-site contests. More interestingly, almost everything is priced at $3 or less per item, and all transactions use cash rather than tickets. We made a brief stop at the Taste today; it occupies Central Avenue between Broadway and Pleasant Avenue, and runs through 9pm tonight.
Several of the highlights at the Taste of Lancaster are individual restaurants familiar to Taste of Buffalo attendees - Eddie Ryans with its award-winning Beer-Cheese Soup, Sweet Melody's with its gelatos, sorbets, and cannolis, Forestview with another variant on its Pina Colada Shrimp Skewers, these smaller and called Honey Crunchin' Thai Shrimp - served with the great homemade pina colada sauce or a red chili dip. Others are long-time local chains with Lancaster locations, such as Anderson's, John and Mary's, and Just Pizza. And there are even a couple of familiar national chains: Applebee's and Bob Evans.
One thing that most of these places have in common: they're almost all offering American food or something pretty close to it. Johnny J's Pizzeria was offering Char BBQ Wings and Pop or Pizza and Pop combos for $3 each, with Brando's Pizza offering Chiavetta's wings for $2. Restaurants such as Simme's Village sold Prime Rib Sandwiches for $3 each, and the Elma Towne Grille was serving Beef on Wecks for the same price. Light Italian options and wraps were on offer from other vendors, alongside Sahlen's hot dogs, french fries, and - ahem - Applebee's riblets. Besides Anderson's and Sweet Melody's, the Harris Hill Golf Center was serving five flavors of Hershey's ice cream in cones; other dessert options were there, but very limited.
We'd had a big lunch, so we didn't eat a lot here. Forestview's $3 Honey Crunchin' Thai Shrimp were deep-fried, battered, and similar to the earlier version we'd had, but the three shrimp were smaller than the prior two, and not quite as memorably served. A piece of Amaretto Bread Pudding was fresh and moist, with a nice amaretto cream sauce, though a little on the eggy side. We liked but didn't love both. Similarly, a $3 bowl of Lobster Bisque Soup from Fire Side Inn was buttery and populated with both crustacean and vegetable chunks, but neither so generously packed nor rich as to really blow us away.
The last item we picked up while hunting around for something interesting: a bottle of Boylan's Creamy Red Birch Beer ($2) from Lancaster's Broadway Deli, which had a big display fridge set up with various flavors from the New Jersey-based classic drink maker. As birch beers go, this one was pretty cool - bright red, made with cane sugar, and mixed with a little cream soda flavor, a touch that might win some fans. We like our birch flavor strong, but this is a nice alternative. Those looking for something more intoxicating will find the event's Beer Garden open until 9pm, an hour later than the rest of the event.
All in all, due to its small size, convenient tables, and American fare-heavy selection of items, the Taste of Lancaster strikes us as an especially good pick for families with kids: you get access to roughly 20 vendors without having to do a lot of walking, worry about buying tickets for either admission or meals, or paying for parking - there's plenty nearby. It's not going to displace the Taste of Buffalo any time soon, but the Taste of Lancaster puts on a nice little event while it lasts.
