OLEAN — More than 60 participants took to the town Saturday to try out sliders at six different restaurants: Four Mile Brewing Co., Randy’s Fireside, Union Whiskey, Village Green and new to crawling — Century Manor.
The overall slider winner went to a new entrant, Century Manor, with their Century Slider, a premium black angus beef on a toasted brioche slider roll with cheddar cheese, crispy fried onions, thick cut bacon, shredded lettuce, tomato and their house-made aioli sauce.
The Manor was tops in the first impression, smell and presentation categories.
Coming in second place was Randy’s Fireside and chef Brad Nitsche’s Gorgonzola Alfredo Slider — a grilled burger on a brioche slider roll, topped with gorgonzola alfredo, sriracha mayo and pickled red onions.
Randy’s slider won the flavor category and tied with the Manor on freshness.
Third place went to Union Whiskey’s angus beef patty, cheddar cheese, pulled pork, crispy pork belly and maple bacon aioli.
For the participants entry fee, in addition to the six tastings, each were given a chance to win $500 in Shop Olean gift certificates, the winner being Amanda Simon of Olean.
Besides all the deliciousness that participants enjoyed during the crawl and the awesome autumn weather, the big benefit was to the Western New York Heroes program called ‘Pawsitive for Heroes.
The program pays for service dog training as a result of the funds raised from the event. The dogs and their owners go through various courses together, properly preparing the dogs to serve those who’ve served.
“We were unable to send a crew down to partake in the crawl but know that we were there in spirit,” said Chris Kreiger Sr., Iraq War veteran, president and co-founder of WNYHeroes, Inc. “The program appreciates being chosen for the fourth crawl as the FUNraiser organization.”
“Each of the restaurants and crew — hats off to your delicious sliders — you should all be proud of these mini replicas! Randy’s Fireside will be placing their slider on the menu as a full portion,” said Meme Yanetsko, Chamber COO.
“Also as the winner, Century Manor will receive a trophy with a slider on top designating winner of the slider crawl!”
The balance of the sliders included Village Green’s Grilled Cajun Chicken, with lemon mayo, lettuce and tomato, on a Hawaiian sweet roll.
From House’s Parkwood was the Chopped Cheese Slider with chopped steak mozzarella, cheese, green peppers, white onions and smokey mayo.
Four Mile Brewing Co. entered a pulled pork, bacon, pickled jalapenos and queso blanco on a Hawaiian roll.
Parkwood has their slider item as a full burger on their regular menu.
The Olean Sports and Social Group and the Greater Olean Area Chamber of Commerce teamed up to present this fourth food event.
“Although we were very low in count based on past crawls, the participants enjoyed their crawl,” Yanetsko said.
The committee will regroup next month to gauge the attendance and seek ways of increasing/regaining attendance to be back at a full-blown fundraising event.
