Sampling a little bit of everything at the Taste of Newport

Every year the city of Newport Beach hosts "Taste of Newport", a 3-day street festival with food offerings from many popular restaurants located in Newport Beach and bordering cities.  There's food, there's booze, and usually some form of entertainment (Foreigner anyone?).  You load up a card filled with "food credits" aka cash, and then enjoy amuse bouche size dishes from a variety of vendors.  This allows you to try many different dishes without getting overly stuffed.

This was my first time experiencing the Taste of Newport, and with my lovely parents as my guides, we eagerly began scouring the food stalls to decide which places would be worthy of our food credits.  But first, as all dining adventures should go, we started with a glass of champagne.

Bubbly before feasting!

Bubbly in hand, it was time to start exploring.  My game plan for the evening was to try dishes from places I haven't dined at before, and to try something new.  My dad made a beeline for the Kityama booth (Kitayama happens to be one of my favorite sushi restaurants) and got some chicken teryiaki and a spicy tuna roll.  My mom decided to go the Spanish route and enjoyed some paella from Tapas Flavors of Spain.  I sampled both of their selections and they were excellent.

Still feeling undecided, I wandered over to the Palm Terrace and my gaze fell upon the truffle mac n' cheese.  Truffle mac n' cheese?  Clearly I was going to have to try this.

Kinda makes you want to dive right in huh?

This was truly decadent - you could really taste the crushed truffles mixed with the pasta.  My dad had the lamb chops from the Palm Terrace and they were excellent as well.  Way to go Palm Terrace.

Wanting something with some protein, I found myself intrigued by the Kobe beef sliders at Back Bay Bistro made with carmelized onions and bleu cheese.  These bad boys were so good I devoured TWO of them, and so quickly that I didn't even pause to take a picture.  I'm definitely going to have to make a trip to the Back Bay Bistro in the near future.

After some more champagne, it was time for dessert.  My parents opted for ice cream cones from Ruby's but I was looking for something else.  Enter Tuxedo Strawberries from the Ritz Restaurant.

White + Dark Chocolate = Bliss

These suckers are so cute that you almost can't eat them.  Almost. ;)

We also grabbed some macaroons and chocolate from Christopher Michael Chocolates to enjoy later.

Overall, it was a delightful evening.  I got to try food from places I normally wouldn't dine at (or couldn't afford) and left feeling perfectly content.  Taste of Newport - I'll see you again next year.