For nearly 100 years the Grand Street Settlement has been helping low-income families and individuals on the Lower East Side by providing community services and outreach for people of all ages. Each year the organization puts on Taste of the Lower East Side, a food and drinks festival to benefit the settlement, and this year's iteration is coming up in just a few weeks on Thursday, April 25th. As with past years, the all-you-can-eat tasting extravaganza will be held at the lovely 82Mercer events space and will have samples and bites from nearly 50 LES restaurants, cafes and bars.
Lower East Side institutions like Russ & Daughters, wd-50 and Kuma Inn are joined by a few newcomers like L'Apicio, Pig & Khao and Il Buco Alimentari e Vineria for several hours of sampling and sipping. Speaking of the drinks, a three hour open bar comes with your ticket, with specialty cocktails plus wine and beer for your boozing pleasure. To further benefit the settlement, a Silent Auction includes items like designer shoes, signed guitars and dinner parties with local celebrity chefs.
You have two options to consider regarding ticketing: $195 General Admission tickets give you three hours of access to all the goodies; $300 VIP tickets gets you inside the foodie fest an hour early, guaranteeing you'll get to try the hot-ticket food items before they run out. Regardless, your dollars are benefiting an incredibly deserving organization, and considering the incredible pedigree of the participating restaurants, it's worth it if you can swing it.
