VERO BEACH — Nineteen restaurants, caterers and specialty food purveyors, partnered with local business sponsors to show off their culinary expertise Wednesday evening at the Oceanside Business Association Taste of Vero.
The sold out crowd of happy diners enjoyed a delightful evening filled with abundant food and entertainment, including, live music from Chris Fenn, Low Key and Seaside Strings, as they strolled along Ocean Drive, from Beachland Boulevard at the northern end down to Huminston Park.
Satisfied snippets of “Oh that’s my new favorite” and groans of “ooh I’m so full” prevailed, as 350 ticket holders wandered from station to station sampling goodies from creative local chefs.
Dishes with a Cuban twist were offered at La Bodeguita de Vero, with its peccadillo with yellow rice and plantains, and Cork & Tapas, where David Rodriguez served up aromatic seafood paella from an enormous paella pan.
Seafood dishes were plentiful, including rich lobster bisque served alongside smoked fish dip at Joey’s Seafood Shack, conch fritters with island dipping sauce from Ocean Grill, shrimp bisque and dirty fried oysters at Osceola Bistro, chilled oysters with Peruvian pisco liquor at The Wave restaurant at Costa d’Este, and lobster macaroni and cheese from the Fish Shack.
Cobalt at the Vero Beach Hotel and Spa had one of the more unique dishes with its pressed watermelon salad and on the simpler end of the scale, Einstein Bros. offered turkey sandwiches and cinnamon twists.
Barbeque dishes were also popular, such as the enormous “pork pops” offered by a Gilligan’s Island themed Dockside Grille, Blue Star Wine Bar’s yummy BBQ pork sliders, at its elaborate western themed booth, and guava BBQ ribs from Disney.
“We’re keeping it in the family,” said Osceola Bistro chef Christopher Bireley, referencing as his sponsor the Beach Shop run by his brother Martin Bireley.
Waldo’s went New Orleans style with Cajun chicken and Andouille pasta, while others took an Italian slant with Sophia Loren wings and eggplant Angelica from Baci Trattoria and eggplant parmesan from Pizzoodles.
“We got partnered with the best one here,” said Seacoast Bank’s Nicki Maslin referencing Wild Thyme Catering’s blackened and blue cheese burger sliders. “They were the 2013 Top Chef Winner.”
“With these cute little sliders and teeny little glass of wine, I felt like I was on Gulliver’s Travels,” laughed Martin Lavendar, liking the homemade chorizo sliders offered by Michael’s Table.
On the sweeter side, Gator Kate’s Catering offered up triple chocolate decadent crepes, created specially for Taste of Vero, and Kilwins introduced a brand new gourmet brownie sundae, with salted caramel ice cream and homemade fudge sauce.
“It’s wonderful; just wonderful,” exclaimed Margaret and John Garrett simultaneously, vowing to be back next year.
“It’s all terrific; it’s a great evening,” said City Councilwoman Pilar Turner.
“We’ve had a lot of competition going on with the sponsors; everybody is really theming it up this year,” said Georgia Irish, pulling triple duty as event chairwoman and OBA board president, and also representing Marine Bank, which sponsored the Ocean Grill with a Calypso beach theme.
Other sponsors included I’ll Never Tell, Norris and Company, Dale Sorensen Real Estate, G.T. Rhodes, White Glove, SunTrust Bank, Promotional Innovative Advertising, Coldwell Banker Ed Schlitt, A Pampered Life, Weichert Realty, Vero Beachside Sales and Rentals and Black Swan Salon.
“Next year we have bigger plans,” said Irish. “We’re talking about closing the street off and making it more of a concert, wine tasting and food event.”
