Winter in the City – Part II

Last Friday, the Trolley Museum in downtown Scranton hosted the second of two fundraisers. The event benefits Scranton Tomorrow and features donated food from numerous local vendors, live music, drinks, and a basket auction. All of this is yours for the small sum of $15 at the door, which is probably why both last month and this, the museum was packed with people beyond its usual capacity.

Not all of the restaurants listed in the newspaper had a food offering. In fact, this time had fewer dishes than last. While, as I mentioned, the museum was quite full, there were fewer people this time and one was gratefully able to move around and actually get to the food, unlike last time were it was shoulder to shoulder. Being fashionably late might leave you fashionably hungry as many of the best dishes went fast. As all the food was donated, crowd pleasers like Blue Wasabi/Kyoto’s avocado and roe topped tuna rolls and krab stuffed California rolls were gone in under 30 minutes.

As before, Kildare’s, along with Kelly’s Pub, both brought their chicken wings. The former were larger and featured a whisky-based coating, while the later were smaller, crispier, and had both traditional BBQ and hot wing sauces. There were two varieties of pierogi, traditional with buttered onions, and a cheddar and bacon version brought by the Casey’s at the Hilton. Both of them were soft with butter whipped potatoes in the middle and gut-bustingly filling. A litany of pastas was also available to sample, ranging from a melted cheese-topped gemelli pasta from Pizza Hut, penne and vodka from La Trattoria, shells covered in a Bolognese sauce, and bow tie and cream sauce that also had broccoli, chicken, green beans, yellow carrots, and cauliflower.

Italian food was everywhere with a basic risotto, a chicken and mushroom marsala which went fast yet was heavier than expected with its buttery sauce, eggplant parmesan which was baked such that the eggplant was yielding but the crust started to flake off as the sauce was baked into the vegetable rather than the whole dish being basted in it. A chicken piccatta was covered in olive oil drenched lemons, a chicken parmesan which was pounded flat and lightly breaded then smothered in a glistening red sauce, were accompanied by an antipasto plate complete with peppers, mushrooms, cured meats, and grilled tomatoes, zucchini and squash. Both thin and hand-tossed crust pizza was passed around; both were topped only with cheese, the later have a very doughy crust.

Even chain restaurants had their place. I already mentioned Pizza Hut, but Applebee’s brought hot spinach and artichoke dip, which was velvety and soft, along with visibly salted tortilla chips and a salsa which looked more like a pico de gallo, not having the soupy quality of many blended salsas. Coldstone was also dishing out the desserts with a thick vanilla, crunchy oreo, and chocolate covered strawberry ice creams along with a variety of ice cream cakes.

Thai Rak Thai brought spring rolls that were doughy in the center and came with two dipping sauces, a sweet and sour along with an umeboshi (Japanese picked plum) based sauce. Savory Maza had stuffed samosas, meat pies (both of which were gone in 15 minutes and not replenished), a very lemony hummus, and pita bread. A myriad of cookies, bars, and brownies from Pilosi Catering was matched by Intelligentsia roast coffee from Northern Lights.

Overall, it was a successful and fun night out. As any Scrantonian knows, when going to these events, even without bringing someone, you are sure to either meet people you know, or make new friends. Fortunately for me, both of those happened Friday night.