Taste ... Soon!

Taste of Charlotte uptown turns 11 with the 2009 version, featuring more than 100 menu items on Tryon Street June 5-7. Some 100,000 folks turned out last year for the event, which includes kids' activities and an open-air market with arts and crafts and jewelry.

Also coming up this year: Tavern at the Taste from Blue Moon Brewing Company, which will offer wines, microbrews and specialty beers, live music and a dining area. Regional and local bands perform through on Center Stage through the weekend.

About 30 restaurants are on board to serve such things as French macaroons (Amelie's), barbecue chicken pizza (Brixx), Chilean sea bass cake (Caffe Siena), Texas hash (Jolina), pulled pork sandwich (Mert's), Guinness barbecue wings (RiRa) and masala dosa (Woodlands).

Admission: Free. You buy food and beverages with festival coins, sold online now at www.tasteofcharlotte.com or at the festival (with cash only). Fifteen coins cost $20. Restaurant samples cost 1 to 3 coins, beverages 2 to 6.

Hours: 11 a.m.-11 p.m. June 5 and 6; to 6 p.m. June 7, rain or shine, on Tryon between Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and 6th Street.