I Successfully Ate Plenty Of Delicious Food

StreetWise Partners held its Third Annual Taste of Success event on February 23 at City Winery in Tribeca and the evening was, well, quite a success. Luckily I was able to take a quick tour of the landscape before the crowds started rolling in. Overwhelmed, I decided to start with a drink.

My first was poured by a friendly and helpful vodka vendor from Cold River Vodka who suggested a lemonade vodka mixture that warmed up my spirits (unfortunately, the night of the event was a cold and rainy one). The drink was smooth and refreshing and paired nicely with the food I was about to indulge myself in.

I came across some friends who had already hit the food. One came back raving about a taco he had plucked from the Sushi Samba table and I immediately started making my way that direction. Every table I passed on the way had something even more intriguing and I had to stop and taste a sample. The Chicken Chipotle Mac N Cheese from MacBar was amazing (I’m a girl who loves her Mac n Cheese), Tuna Tartare from Kittichai and Truffled Risotto Balls from Poco. When I finally made my way to the taco, I discovered it was actually a Yellowfin Tuna Taquito. It was outstanding! (I went back for seconds, and I think even thirds before the night ended).

The event benefited Streetwise Partners, a fantastic organization that pairs with low-income individuals with volunteer business professionals to build the workplace skills and employment networks necessary to attain a successful career. The program, founded in 1997, already has chapters set up in NYC and DC and plans to expand to even more regions in the future. The crowd was full of volunteer mentors as well as honored mentees celebrating the successes they have achieved through dedication and hardwork.

After partially satiating my appetite, I hit the bar again. The line for champagne was full of young girls batting their eyelashes at the bartender so I patiently waited and found myself standing next to a quiet Brandy peddler from the Brandy Library. I’m no liquor connoisseur (he certainly was though) and by no means do I knock back hard drinks so I asked for just a sip. He obliged and, as Brandy does, it hit me right away and made my wait for Champagne far less painful.

I made my way next to the upper part of the venue only to find even more food vendors with even BIGGER portions of delicious food. This event was by no means a simple tasting. Each dish I received could have been a whole meal. Upstairs was a pasta bar that served me a heaping plate, among other food vendors I didn’t get a chance to sample because the crowd was growing quickly and it was getting hard to juggle a drink and two plates of food. By the time I squeezed through the crowd and made it back to the Shrimp Rolls from Luke’s (that everyone was raving about), I could barely eat another morsel I was so full.

That didn’t stop me though. On my way back downstairs I was drawn in by the Lebanese Breakfast Pizza from Balade and had myself a piece (and even got to take home my own complimentary bottle of Lebanese spice!). Making my final rounds downstairs, I found I had still not gotten to everything. I picked up a small serving of chips and guacamole to keep me busy while I made my way back for another drink – this time a Smutty Nose ale from beer bar Rattle N Hum. I passed on the some of the final drinks I passed (because I did need to make it home in one piece) and ended my night after taking a peek at all the raffle prizes (I didn’t win).

For the large group of attendees that gathered, there was plenty of food and drink to go around and then some. I don’t know if I can say I successfully tasted and sipped everything that was there that night, but the evening certainly turned out as a Success for Streetwise Partners.

Photos courtesy of Streetwise Partners.

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