Taste Of Summer Brings Dinner Alfresco

The Central Park Conservancy threw its annual moveable feast, Taste of Summer, for 850 folks on Wednesday eve, taking over the stunning Bethesda Terrace. On offer? Delectable nibbles from a slew of restaurants, plus a special Taste Cafe held by the blue-lit fountain, featuring bites by Marcus Samuelsson. The eve’s hosts, Kristy & Jonathan Korngold, Carol Sutton Lewis and William M. Lewis, Jr., Laurie and Jay Mandelbaum, Gillian and Sylvester Miniter, Jenny and John Paulson, and Melissa Vail and Norman Selby, seriously outdid themselves with the smorgasbord of morsels to try this time around, and raised $925,000 from the shindig that will go towards sprucing up the park! Now, for the food: Fans of the seminal summer nosh that is the lobster roll had to elbow through crowds to get Left Bank’s creamy take on the classic (served on fresh brioche puffs being baked on-site), while other seafood standouts included Les Halles’ guac-grounded tuna tartare, crab cakes from The Central Park Boathouse, and a couple different takes on scallops made cameos in the mix as well. Perhaps equally as popular as those lobster rolls? SD26’s uovo in raviolo, filled with soft egg yolk and doused in truffle butter. For the sweet-toothed types,sugar highs came courtesy of Serendipty3’s classic frozen hot chocolate (perfect for the night’s toasty temps), Baked by Melissa’s one-bite cupcakes, a slew of cocoa treats from Bridgewater Chocolate (with an adorable pint sized employee doling out treats; what’s cuter than a kid helping you get your chocolate fix?), and more. After the feeding frenzy calmed down by 9 p.m., the crowds swelled on the dance floor to the tunes of DJ Kiss, where we witnessed some very impressive shimmies by the older chicettes in attendance. Forever young, right?