Meatball Street Brawl!

Our favorite yearly event!

Anyone who knows me personally, knows that I take great pride in my sauce and meatballs. And they probably have also heard me tell the story of my grandmother teaching me to make sauce and meatballs, one of my earliest childhood memories.

Because I grew up eating the homemade version , I’ve always been very particular with sauce and even more-so with meatballs. In fact, I never met a meatball out in the wild that I like until I had the meatball at Osteria 166. So when a few years back I heard that Osteria 166 was hosting a Meatball Street Brawl, a competition amongst meatball purveyors, I definitely needed to check that out.

This yearly event, which began back in 2016, has become mine and Jeff’s favorite yearly event to hit up. Included in the price of admission, are unlimited meatball and drink samples. Additionally, the Meatball Street Brawl is always held in conjunction with a Sunday Bill’s game which is played on large screens at both end of the festival on W Mohawk Street between Delaware and Franklin. We find it to be a well run event, a great deal, and a fun time.

This year, the festival hosted 15 different restaurants slinging their best Traditional meatball with the option to offer a Freestyle or creative meatball as well. In total, we each sampled close to 30 meatballs!

Our overall favorite this year for a Traditional Meatball was Ristorante Lombardo. We enjoyed the balance of a good sauce with an all around solid meatball that was somehow served at a hotter temp than any other meatball in the competition.

Coming in at a very close second for us, was Amici Ristorante, our number one pick from last year. We were pleasantly surprised by the meatball from Savoy, which we ranked third. I say surprised only because when I think of meatballs, I wouldn’t have thought of Savoy. Their tomato-forward sauce and meatball was exactly what you want with a big bowl of pasta in the Traditional category. Finally, we have to give an honorable mention to Osteria 166, who of course, always offers an enjoyable traditional meatball.

These luscious little babies pictured above were hands-down the winner for us in the Freestyle category. The were the creation of Amici Ristorante, making them our overall favorite restaurant in the competition for being impressive in both categories. The Alla Romana meatball was made from veal and mortadella and served in a pistachio cream sauce that we really couldn’t get enough of. Even after sampling almost 30 meatballs, we still needed to go back for a second serving of these. Normally we would go home and try to recreate this but honestly, we have no clue where to start!

Another very honorable mention in the Freestyle category was the Vegetarian “meat”-ball from Steelbound Brewery & Distillery out of Ellicottville, NY. This ball was softer than your average meatball and bursting with Indian-inspired flavor.

Both of these meatballs get five stars from us for creativity!

Best Presentation - Sto Lat Bar

Finally, we’d like to acknowledge a few restaurants in some unofficial categories. The meatball picture above from Sto Lat Bar had the nicest presentation.

There were two other sauces worth noting as well. Bada Bing is more than a bar on Chippewa. Their traditional red sauce is without question, my favorite in Western New York. The flavor and consistency is the closest to the sauce I grew up with and continue to make at home. We recommend trying their Stuffed Eggplant Parm.

Last but certainly not least, we want to give a shout out to This Little Pig for their Blueberry-Jalapeno glaze. Upon tasting, Jeff exclaimed, “I want this on wings!” I told him that he was in luck because this very combination is offered on their regular menu. I’m glad I had the opportunity to try the glaze at this event because I incorrectly had assumed it would be too spicy for me. The girl working their table gave a great description of the glaze, convincing me to try it. We will definitely be getting an order of these wings next time we visit This Little Pig.

Who has your favorite meatball (or sauce)? Tell me about it in the comments!