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Forest Park Review, August 4, 2021
S P O N S O R E D
C O N T E N T
Food, family and fun at Taste of Elmwood Park Outdoor festival brings four days of festivities and music to Central Park
For more than 30 years the Taste of Elmwood Park has been a signature event for our sister suburb to the north. After taking a pandemic related pause in 2020, the four-day food-focused celebration is back with a wide variety of dishes to please every palate. The Taste is free to attend and will be held at Central Park at 75th Avenue and Fullerton from AuFood Writer gust 5 to 8 in Elmwood Park. “The Taste is a fun community event where local restaurants, businesses, neighbors and friends come together for a weekend of food, fun, and entertainment,” wrote Angelo “Skip” Saviano, Elmwood Park village president. “Participation by our village’s finest restaurants has been outstanding, and the crowds continue to grow as talk of the taste spreads.” More than 20 unique food vendors will be showcasing signature menu items at the festival and several participants have their brick-and-mortar homes in Elmwood Park. Thanks to a stretch of “restaurant row” eateries situated on North Avenue and a cluster of establishments on “the circle,” Elmwood Park is known to many as a local dining destination — the Taste of Elmwood Park is an ideal place to enjoy affordably
MELISSA ELSMO
priced restaurant favorites. A bevy of reputable Elmwood Park establishments including Donny G’s, Café Cubano, New Star, Gringo and Blondie and Armand’s are set to bring Italian, Cuban, Japanese, Chinese and Mexican fare to hungry festival goers next week. “Send everyone you know to the Taste of Elmwood Park,” said George Diamond, manager of Eggsperience, 16 Conti Pkwy. “I am going to be there for four days. We’ll have gyros, kebabs, Greek fries and Baklava.” In addition to Greek fare, the Taste of Elmwood Park is bringing New Star’s best loved eggrolls and crab rangoon to the masses. The crab rangoon will come two per order and the eggrolls feature a bounty of BBQ pork, shrimp, and vegetables in a pleasing peanut sauce. “They are the best around because we use best quality meat, vegetables and peanut butter,” says Jinny Zhao, owner of New Star. “And our crab rangoon is made from real crab, too.” Gringo and Blondie plans to offer elote style corn and their namesake tacos -- “The Gringo” features slow roasted barbacoa beef, pickled onions, cilantro and cotija cheese. Angelo Lollino, chef-owner of Mas-
Greek Fries topped with feta cheese and oregano will join other Greek delights on the menu offerings from Eggsperience.
GRAB A SLICE: Armand’s Pizza as well as their popular artichoke casserole will be available at the Taste of Elmwood Park.
Gringo and Blondie will be offering their Barbacoa tacos and elote style corn at the Taste of Elmwood Park next weekend.
Donny’s G’s is a mainstay at the Taste—they’ll be serving up arancini rice bowls, baked artichoke hearts and spicy parmesan wings to hungry festival goers. All photos Melissa Elsmo
