Taste of Tarzana : Benefit Serves Up a World of Food

While many around the Valley may have stuck with a traditional Sunday dinner of pot roast and potatoes this weekend, in Tarzana they ate like globe trotters--and fairly cheaply at that.

Cajun pepper shark for $2. Icy margaritas for $3. And rigatoni tre colore for $2.

It was Tarzana’s time to show off its culinary diversity, and thousands gathered Sunday for a bite at the Taste of Tarzana.

Folks picked up a handful of tickets for $1 apiece and ate their way from New York to New Delhi without leaving Tarzana Square.

“The purpose and aim is to benefit local restaurants and vendors, and to bring business to Tarzana and adjoining cities,” said Tarzana Chamber of Commerce spokesman Pat Zicarelli. “We had to turn away vendors because we had so many requests.”

About 25 local restaurants were on hand to show off their edible wares, and profits from the event were to go to local schools and libraries.

Ellen Siegler, the chamber’s executive director, expected this giant picnic--which ran from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.--to be even more popular than a similar gathering last October, which drew 10,000 people. And by 1:30 p.m., 6,700 had already come through the gates.

While chomping on the barbecued ribs and shishkebabs that seemed especially popular, diners were entertained by clowns, square dancers from the Trail Dusters club, and country tunes courtesy of Sharonmarie Fisher’s Women in Country.