Photo Gallery: Taste of Durham

By Leslie Lower

The 17th Annual Taste of Durham was a huge success!  The event was sponsored by the Public Association of Library Supporters (PALS) and once again, completely sold out. All 350 of the lucky ticket holders were treated to culinary delights, wine tastings, live entertainment, and delectable desserts from 18 local vendors. Not only was the food amazing, but what a wonderful way to get to know the face’s behind some of your favorite local Main Street storefronts.

There was something for every palate, rigatoni pasta with pink vodka sauce from Stella D’oro, vegan spanokopeta prepared by G-Zen, stuffed cherry stone clams from Time Out Taverne, Asian sesame noodles from Spice Catering Group, ricotta filled meatballs from Santino’s Restaurant, and cake shooters from Kim’s Cottage Confections.

A few new treats were featured that could also be become regular favorites! Lyman Orchard’s rustic tart and a gluten free eggplant parmigiana from Lino’s Market and Catering were among the many options. Also discovered was a really nice red wine from The Little Rooster Liquors tasting table called Primal Roots Red Blend. Many of the participants also offered coupons so one could enjoy their full repertoire at a discount as a thank you for attending.

If the fantastic array of food and wine wasn’t enough to entice a large crowd, revelers were treated to live entertainment. Rich Johnson and Jon Swift of Deep Ellum played a variety of acoustic folk music, blues, bluegrass and oldies. Bruce Schmottlach also provided musical accompaniment for the evening on the piano.

All of the proceeds from the Taste of Durham go back into the library to purchase museum passes, fund programs, support the new website and much more.  PALS was formed in 1984 to help raise money to support our local library.