Winter in the City

On Friday, the Trolley Museum in downtown Scranton hosted a fundraiser for Scranton Tomorrow. $15 gave you access to a tasting of numerous dishes from restaurants all over the local area, wine, beer, and live music. There was no way I was going to pass up the sampling wonderland it promised, boasting over forty participating restaurants. Arriving fashionably fifteen minutes late, the museum was already packed, hungry socialites ready to indulge.

The jazzy live band was situated next to the wine bar, featuring a variety of Franzia. In true Scranton style, there was a disproportionately large amount of Italian restaurants present. Even Pizza Hut was there, touting their new family-style pasta dishes. Other chafing-dish adorned tables had pastas and rice dishes of all kinds. While none of the pasta was freshly made, the main points of differentiation were the sauce. Lightly colored vodka sauce sat next to the known and loved marinara and Bolognese. Cream sauces usually had peas, broccoli, peppers, and grilled chicken to accompany the pasta. There was a lack of tortellini, spaghetti, and ravioli, which I found surprising. Risotto dishes were flavored with button mushrooms and broccoli. The breaded eggplant parmesan was thinly sliced, covered in marinara and mozzarella cheese and melted in your mouth without being oily. The sausage and peppers (green only) were well spiced, hot, and only slightly greasy. An antipasto platter, pizza, which was clearly made off site and warmed before service, and garlic bread, also not fresh, rounded out the Italian menu.

The Hilton’s Catering service brought an interesting array including juicy BBQ chicken, a thinly sliced plantain dish, which was battered and fried, served with a purple onion and chive sauce, along with a lemongrass chicken dumpling. Kyoto/Blu Wasabi passed shitake, salmon, and cucumber rolls, while Applebee’s poured steaming hot spinach artichoke dip over tortilla chips. A variety of wings from Kildare’s and other bars ranged from a surprisingly spicy buffalo, to a sweet sesame. Eden, the vegan café, brought an acorn squash soup, which while very healthy, felt a little empty without the usual heavy cream. They also had a “tuna salad” sandwich and a “turkey club,” all made with tofu. The “tuna” had sea greens in it, giving it the fishy flavor one would expect, but the tofu could not recreate the salty, porky goodness of bacon required of a turkey club.

Other delectables included a chicken satay, which had a slight curry flavor, and was served with a thick peanut sauce. There were also stick-to-your-gut perogies with sautéed onions, dripping in oil, potato latkes with a ranch sauce, and a seafood chowder which had a broth base rather than the traditional red tomato or white cream. I was told that there was a shrimp dish, along with whitefish and caramelized onions, but both of these were snatched up so fast, I didn’t get a chance to try them. Northern Lights Café brought the coffee, while a myriad of cookies, small pastries, and a cake served as dessert.

While at first, the crowd was so heavy that getting to the food was almost frustrating, and servers had a difficult time maneuvering trays to replace empty ones, it was a fundraiser, so a turnout like that is a great success. I was told that other nights, similar to this one, are in the works, so we can look forward to more nights, with more bites, at a great price.