To all of you who work in or near the World Financial Center and are packing your lunch for tomorrow, or thinking about what to order from the usual catering menu, STOP!  Look no further, because tomorrow, the restaurants at the World Financial Center are gathering in the Winter Garden to offer you $1-$5 samples of their signature items, as well as some seasonal selections.

I managed to pick up a menu for the event on the way home, and many of the offerings seem very typical, such as P.J. Clarke’s mini cheeseburgers and pulled pork sliders (2 for $5), Au Mandarin’s pork and shrimp dumplings ($3 and $4 respectively), and Godiva’s chocolate-dipped strawberries, macaroons, and oreos.

However, there were some stand-out seasonal items such as Columbus Bakery’s Corn Chowder with Pomegranate ($4), The Grill Room’s Wild Mushroom Risotto with Parmesan Sauce ($5) and Butternut Squash Soup with Caramelized Apples and Pumpkin Seeds ($4), Southwest NY’s Pumpkin Seed Crusted Salmon with Mango-Jicama Salsa ($5) and Financier Patisserie’s Apple Pumpkin Cake with Vanilla Cream ($3) and Pumpkin Cheesecake ($3).

Here is a list of participating restaurants:

Au Bon Pain
Au Mandarin
Blockheads Burrito
Ciao Bella Gelato
Columbus Bakery
Devon & Blakely
Donald Sacks
Ed’s Lobster Bar
Elixir
Financier Patisserie
Godiva Chocolatier
The Grill Room
Harry’s Italian
P.J. Clarke’s on the Hudson
Quality Burger
Southwest NY
Starbucks Coffee
World Financial Center Greenmarket
Yushi