Click here for Greater Long Island newsletters. Click here to download the iPhone app.
Cans filled with shrimp cocktail, plates of chicken and duck wings and scoops of ice cream were plentiful on the streets of Port Jefferson Thursday afternoon.
Under sun and clouds, groups strolled down port for the Port Jefferson Chamber of Commerce’s Summer Food Crawl Thursday from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Hungry attendees endured the humid air to sample food and drinks from the 15 Port Jeff hot spots that participated in the crawl.
The chamber organized the event and sold tickets for $25 to raise operating funds. Last week, Barbara Ransome, the director of operations for the chamber, said it was the organization’s first fundraising effort in nearly two years.
Thursday, Ransome, who attended the event, said the chamber sold all 225 tickets it printed.
People continuously gathered in front of Prohibition right on Main Street, where Kyle Wrage persistently passed out cups serving up frozen sangria.
“I ran out of my sangria, so I wish I made more,” Kyle Wrage, who’s family owns Prohibition, along with Torte Jeff Pie Co, and BYOG Wine Bar, said, with a half hour of the crawl remaining. “Everyone really liked it and I think they had a great time.”
Vendors off the beaten path received acclaim from tasters as well. The PJ Lobster House served shrimp cocktail in repurposed Deep Eddy Vodka Distillery containers out of a tent in the parking lot between the restaurant and Chandler Square.
“They gave us like five shrimp and cocktail sauce,” Maribel Lara, who attended the crawl alongside Ethan Israelson, said.
“And it was in a cute little can,” Israelson, 46, of Stony Brook, added.
“They had great presentation, a great portion and it makes me wanna eat from there,” Lara, 44, of Stony Brook, said.
Lara and Israelson said they both work in marketing, and viewed the event not only as a chance to sample local restaurants but for restaurants to attract new business.
“I think for restaurants and marketing, people are buying your food, and very rarely do you get a chance to have them sample your food as the enticement to come in,” Lara said. “And this event gives you the opportunity to actually get people to try something. There’s the amuse butch, this idea of one bite that can convert somebody into a lover of food. If you can get that across in one bite then you are gonna have people coming back for a full dinner.”
Scroll down and click the boxes below to see 20 photos from the day.
