Taste of Main

Old Bellevue hosted its first Taste of Main event today. All proceeds from this food, music and all day of fun charity event benefit the Children's Response Center. Adult tickets were $25, which included 2 drinks, appetizer and entree, and 2 desserts. Children's tickets were $10, which included 1 drink, an entree, and 2 desserts. After a little play time at the downtown park, we headed over to Main street for a little "Taste". First, just so that I don't keep on repeating myself, I have to say EVERYONE was super nice at this event. I really mean EVERYONE, not a single soul excluded, whether they were selling tickets at the booth, marking tickets, or entertaining kids, whether they were volunteers, or staff from the participating restaurants and shops.

We stopped at Ginza at first to try their sampler of 2 pieces of California rolls, 2 pieces of karaage, 1 piece of salmon teriyaki and some cucumber sunomono. The kids ate just about everything. We then headed to Bis on Main. They set up a buffet table with the mini grilled cheese sandwich, beef skewers and fish tacos. This had to be the most generous offering of the day. People were allowed to take whatever they wanted. More food continued to come out of the kitchen throughout the day. J loved the mini grilled cheese sandwich so much, he had 2! (It's normally very difficult to get J to eat. He's so skinny, his chest looks like a washboard. No kidding!) The beef skewers with mushroom, onions, and red bell peppers soaked up all the nice flavors of the balsamic marinate. The beef could be a little more tender though. The halibut tacos with pico de gallo were soft, warm, and refreshing with the lime juice and cilantro. Hubby also enjoyed a glass of Reisling. We then headed over to Emerald City Smoothies and got an Island Breeze Smoothie and a Marionberry Fuel Smoothie. The kids drank up the smoothies while decorating their own glasses at Ottica, getting an ID badge, wearing a balloon hat from the balloon artist, getting their faces painted, and finally decorated the sidewalk. When everyone was exhausted, we sat down in Monsoon, and sampled the Carleton Farm Pork Ribs with Hoisin BBQ Sauce, and Nem-Nuong & Pineapple Lettuce Wraps (only they didn't have the lettuce). Unlike the other restaurants, where everything was pre-made, things were cooked to order at Monsoon. But we didn't mind the wait. The ribs were finger licking good with ginger, hoisin and five spice. The grilled pork sausage (Nem Nuong) was very flavorful. On top of all these, we also got chocolates from Amore Chocolates and Fran's. Though the cookies they offered outside of the Massage Center were a little disappointing, as they came straight out of a box from Safeway, we still went home with very satisfying stomachs.

A full day of fun for a good cause, this is definitely a nice way to spend a weekend.