I got some last minute tickets to go to Taste of Hillcrest courtesy of McFarlane Promotions a couple of weeks ago. It was my first time going to a “Taste of…” anything and I’m happy that Hillcrest was one of our first “Tastes”! With over 50 restaurants available to visit it seemed pretty daunting at first. But Jake and I decided to just go with it and visit as many as we could before we were A) full and B) our parking meter ran out.

The Taste of Hillcrest is a great way to sample from a variety of restaurants and to see what kinds of food they serve. I hadn’t been to any of the restaurants that we tried that day and there are already a few that I want to go back and try out the rest of their menu.

Since it’s a lot to take in, I’ll try to keep it short and sweet.

This is a pasta with crab in a tomato cream sauce from Busalacchi’s A Modo Mio. Usually made with angel hair, they tossed it with penne for the Taste of Hillcrest for easier serving. It was, in a nutshell, delicious.

Jake and I then headed a few blocks away to the Tractor Room, where they were cooking outside.

Skewers of polenta and pheasant & cognac, rabbit sausages with chives and a squeeze of mustard. I stuffed the whole bite into my mouth and was rewarded with a really mouth-watering bite. The mustard really gave it to the kick it needed to make this superb – I definitely want to come back here and try their other menu items!

Next up, we headed over to Raku Japanese Fusion Cuisine. They had bowls of veggies out and we thought that’s all that had so grabbed that. It was Spicy Garlic Edamame (good flavor, but really hard to chew?) and sesame asparagus (tasty). Then we were given some freshly made Teriyaki Chicken Wings and we were in love. Super crispy with a light drizzle of sauce – this was our favorite item of the whole day. We tried to go back the next day to get these again, but was way too early. We’re still planning on going back!

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