An empty Tecumsah Playground, where the food fest has taken place in years past (Google Maps, modified)
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If you were hoping to celebrate Taste of the West’s 15th anniversary in 2025, you’ll have to wait until at least next year. The food festival, founded by Donny Evans more than a decade ago, has faced hiccups since changing its name from “Taste of the Upper West Side” and ending its partnership with the Columbus Avenue Business Improvement District (BID).
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Now, with the New York Post as its title sponsor, the festival has quietly moved the already rescheduled October dates to May 2026. Organizers have also added a separate sit-down event at The Milling Room this October. On Reddit, people have complained about refund issues, with some comparing the new October event to a Ponzi scheme meant to cover outstanding refunds. ILTUWS spoke with Evans to see where things stand.
“What happened was, they were working on a schoolyard wall, and we couldn’t get access,” said Evans about the first postponement, adding, “They weren’t very accommodating.” Evans had originally hoped to keep the schoolyard setting—previously, the festival was held at Tecumseh Playground on 77th and Columbus, and this year, they were planning on having it at the Louis Brandeis Campus on West 84th Street (between Columbus and Amsterdam avenues). “But they were doing cement work, and the principal told me it wouldn’t be finished until the end of July, so we had to reconsider.”
Evans said he couldn’t get a guarantee from the school that the wall would be ready by October, so he pushed the event back to 2026. “I didn’t want to take a chance … the school construction fund said, ‘We can’t give you a permit until this work is completed.’”
“How could they sell tickets without clearing the zoning issue first!” wrote an ILTUWS tipster about the situation.
Evans told us, “I knew they were working on the wall. I had a good contact [say] that it would be done by May, and then June.” When asked why he moved the event away from the 77th Street playground, his answer was simple: “I wanted something different.”
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Evans says that 90% of the ticket refunds requested have been processed. “There are a handful that have not been refunded for specific reasons. All ticket purchasers were notified that a cut-off date of June 10 was set.” Evans, a former Upper West Side resident of 20 years who helped launch the American/seafood spot Compass on West 70th, added, “Many ticket purchasers asked for refunds several months after June 10.”
However, Taste of the West will not offer refunds for the second date change in October but will allow ticket holders to transfer their purchase to a new sit-down event Evans is hosting at The Milling Room, located at 446 Columbus Avenue (between West 81st and 82nd streets).
“BE AMAZED AS 10 INCREDIBLE CHEFS PREPARE A 5-COURSE TASTING MENU” is part of the event’s marketing, which currently highlights several Upper West Side culinary names, including Christophe Bellanca from Essential by Christophe, as well as Pam Weekes and Connie McDonald, founders of Levain Bakery. There’s also work in progress for a Valentine’s Day sit down event.
On Reddit, the original poster of a thread titled “Taste of West Side Scam / Refund?” wrote, “I requested a refund when they first changed the date. They said they’d refund me, but I’m still waiting after god knows how many emails. I also called them and charged back… so frustrating.” The poster compared selling tickets to the 2026 event to a Ponzi scheme, saying they were “already selling tickets for 2026 to hopefully pay for 2025 refunds.”
‘Taste of west side’ scam / refund?
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Evans told us the remaining tickets “will be refunded within the next several weeks. It’s only a handful at this point—about 250, I think. It could be less.”
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“At this point, we are in good shape. Restaurant owners and chefs are very excited about bringing the event back,” wrote Evans in a text to ILTUWS following our call. But when ILTUWS reached out to restaurateurs about the event, most had no idea.
“We weren’t aware that the date had changed for a third time until receiving this email,” wrote Janie Deegan, owner of Janie’s Life-Changing Baked Goods. “Our previous commitment was only for the original date, which was later canceled,” she added. Her business is still listed on the event’s website lineup.
Jason Eisen, general manager of Tavern on the Green, the iconic Central Park eatery, told us, “Yes, we are still on board for May of 2026,” but when asked if he knew about the date change prior to our inquiry, he replied, “We got the word from you. Thank you for letting us know.”
It was a similar situation with Swagat, the UWS Indian restaurant. Chef Abishek Sharma told us, “We are still interested in participating,” but regarding the news of the date switch, said, “I heard it from you only.”
“That’s a long time away, but yes, I think it is an important function for the UWS as a community, and we plan to support it,” said born-and-raised Upper West Sider Jeremy Wladis, who is still on board with three of his eateries—Fred’s, Good Enough to Eat, and Harvest Kitchen—for the festival in 2026. El Fish Marisqueria also confirmed they’ll be in the event.
Jacob’s Pickles’ director of marketing told us they still plan to participate, along with Tiki Chick, Maison Pickle and Velvet Cowboy, which is slated to take over the Jacob’s Pickles location when it moves to Columbus Avenue.
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Prohibition co-owner Michael Trenk wrote to us about his attendance: “As of now, the answer is no, but I cannot 100% definitively give you that answer as I did not know the event was moved from October to next May.” His team also owns Baylander Steel Beach, which was slated to participate in the event.
Craig Marx of Da Capo, the café on Columbus Avenue, could not commit to 2026.
Udi Vaknin, part owner of Bustan and Florentin Bistro and Bar, told us he didn’t recall ever signing up for the event but said he would look into it. The following day, he told us, “I don’t think Bustan was participating.”
“I didn’t want to confuse them,” said Evans on a follow-up call about not informing restaurants that the dates for Taste of the West, which is currently selling tickets, had changed. “The dates were moving around. We didn’t have a set location.” He said there will be 75 restaurants over the two days.
As for the location, which is still listed as “to be determined”—“It’s very tentative,” said Evans—but he’s hoping to bring it back to where it had been: Tecumseh Playground on 77th and Columbus. He’s also looking at a couple of other spots.
We asked if he thought the event was perhaps cursed since changing the name and title sponsor. “No, not at all. We’ve always gotten good feedback. I hear this all the time from restaurant owners and chefs. They’re pretty proud of the event. People come in [to the restaurants] afterward, saying, ‘I went to the event,’ and they say they meant to come to their restaurant but for whatever reason didn’t make it. It brings people together. That’s really what it’s about.”
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Sounds like a good reason to patronize these restaurants where they exist and serve their best, rather than some gimmick of eating in a schoolyard with some fabricated dishes … maybe?
Mike Hooper,
I know there was management change say 10 years ago, but Tavern on the Green has a had a reputation for really sub par food for decades.
As the founding executive director of the Columbus Avenue BID for 20 years, my board of directors and I founded Taste of the Upper West Side and ran the event for 10 years. I left the BID in 2020, and the board and current director chose to basically sell the event to our event organizer for a piece of the profit. Don Evans worked for them, getting restaurants to sign up to participate in the event. A couple of years ago, the BID decided to end their relationship with the organizer and thus with Don Evans. I would advise people and restaurateurs to be very cautious about participating in this event moving forward.
Sounds like the “Fyre Festival” moved to the Upper West Side.
Really, the NY Post is the sponsor.
I realize I’m being unfair to that now departed for Vegas trashy bar in the Meat Packing District: I didn’t know that Hogs and Heifers is operating on the UWS.
I used to really enjoy this event. We attended 4 or 5 times early on. It’s now turned into a mess as things often do. We used to attend the LA Food & Wine Festival as well and that too has been destroyed by mismanagement. Shame.