Today's Food: Dine Around Downtown and Taste Of NY

If you work in the Financial District, Gothamist suggests you check out the Downtown Alliance's Dine Around Downtown event, where you can try samples of food from restaurants like Capsuto Freres, Ciao Bella, Bouley and Danube, and Les Halles Downtown, for $3 to $5. The event will be held at Chase Manhattan Plaza (between Liberty & Pine and Nassau & William Streets), from 11AM-3PM. Here's a PDF of participants. [If it's raining, the event will be on Thursday, May 20.]

It's also Taste of New York tonight, where restaurants offer their finest for an evening of enjoying food and raising money for good causes. Restaurants participating include Lever House, Wallse, BLT Steak, Riingo, The Harrison, Blue Hill and the Danny Meyer empire of Gramercy Taven/Union Square/Blue Smoke/Tabla/Eleven Madison Park (Meyer is a chair); bartenders participating include Dale DeGroff and ones from from Masa and Milk & Honey . There may still be tickets left; the tickets are steep, from $250 and up, but they benefit benefits a number of organizations, including hunger relief non-profit Save Our Strength, God's Love We Deliver (meals to individuals affected by HIV), Food Bank For New York City, and City Harvest.