On Monday, April 29, New York’s food elite gathered at 82 Mercer for the 26th annual Taste of the Nation, a glitzy, chef-driven affair benefiting Share our Strength’s “No Kid Hungry” anti-hunger campaign.
Seventy-five chefs and bartenders lined the walls on two sprawling floors, serving chic finger snacks and a few heartier plates to a school-age theme: lunch items (pickled oysters, seared scallops, and springy salads galore), after-school snacks, and summer foods (barbecue, grilled dishes, and tacos dominated this category) and breakfast items (bloody Marys, a plethora of dressed up eggs, and Dominique Ansel’s “Waffogato,” a waffle-shaped ice cream pat drizzled in a sweet coffee mixture, which debuted at the event).
— Hannah Palmer Egan