NASCAR Foundation’s Taste of the 24 returns during this year's Rolex 24 at Daytona

As drivers and fans alike prepare for the 62nd annual Rolex 24 at Daytona to roll into town, local restaurants across Volusia-Flagler are also gearing up for the highly anticipated Taste of the 24, the NASCAR Foundation’s annual fundraising event presented by Foundation Risk Partners.

Taste of the 24 provides race fans with a one-of-a-kind dining experience, featuring unique cuisine samples from various Daytona-area restaurants, as well as live entertainment against the backdrop of “non-stop racing” during the one of the country’s most prestigious racing events.

“The Taste of the 24 is the perfect way to celebrate a new year of racing in Daytona Beach,” Nichole Krieger, vice president and executive director of The NASCAR Foundation, said. “The community support we receive from our local restaurants, businesses, residents and visitors for Taste of the 24 allows The NASCAR Foundation to raise valuable funds to support children within our community and across the country. We can’t thank Daytona International Speedway enough for allowing us to host this special event.”

The NASCAR Foundation

According to Krieger, the NASCAR Foundation has strived to improve the lives of children for nearly two decades, and through this event, continues those efforts. The NASCAR foundation has donated more than $46 million and helped the lives of over 1.7 million children since its creation in 2006, and continues to partner with various charitable organizations and medical experts to fund health-care programs for children in need.

According to a release, proceeds from this month's event will “benefit the NASCAR Foundation’s Speediatrics Children’s Fund, dedicated to providing medical care and health and wellness resources to children in Florida and across the country.”

The popular event, which reaches capacity at 1,800 attendees, takes place at the Daytona International Speedway’s Midway Suites and allows racing fans the opportunity to try various sample-sized signature dishes and desserts prepared by an array of local restaurants.

“It’s a great event embraced by this community … so we race for 24 hours and for four to five hours fans can come to the Midway Suites on the second floor of the Daytona International Speedway and dine with us,” Krieger said in a phone interview. “We have music and entertainment. There’s a silent auction and just a lot of fun stuff that the fans can do while the race is going on … . We’ll have about 1,800 people that will come and we’re close to a sell-out.”

Unique to this year’s event, Stella Artois is the official beverage of Taste of the 24, and will offer fans the ability to sample its lager from within its official suite, where event attendees will also have the chance to vote on the “Best of Taste of 24 presented by Stella Artois.”

This year’s list of participating restaurants includes 4 Rivers Smokehouse; Big Tuna’s Beach Bar & Grill; BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse; Ciao Bella Bistro & Martini Bar; Cupcake Metropolis; Defined Sugar; Foxtail Coffee Co.; Fysh Bar & Grill; Kale Café; Limoncello Italian Cuisine & Martini Bar; Little Italy Ristorante; Outriggers Tiki Bar & Grille; P.F. Chang’s; Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery; Sessions Restaurant at The Hard Rock; Stonewood Grill & Tavern; The Shores Resort & Spa; and Treats & Sweets Cakery.

Taste of the 24 offers great food for a great cause

The NASCAR Foundation’s Taste of the 24 event offers local restaurants an exciting opportunity to showcase their business’ unique flavors and menu favorites, while simultaneously building connections within Daytona’s community of racing fans.

For Little Italy’s Ristorante of Daytona Beach, a returning participant, the “always positive” annual event is one the restaurant, like many, looks forward to this year.

“It’s a great time to be involved in what has made Daytona what it is,” Little Italy’s manager McKinley Robertson said. “Being able to bring all of these local tastes from our restaurant and all the other participating restaurants to this event — a huge event that brings in people from all over the world — being able to showcase what Daytona can offer on a cuisine level to the greater community is great for us and the city as a whole.”

Little Italy's Ristorante will offer a small side of penne pasta, small meatballs and focaccia bread at the event.

Big Tuna’s Beach Bar & Grill, a first-time participant known for its seafood, sandwiches, tacos and more, has prepared a varied menu of “crowd-pleaser” bites for this year’s event.

“We have our New England clam chowder and then we’re doing our firecracker shrimp and our Jamaican bacon plantains — so good and a really big hit at events we’ve done. Then we’re doing our smoked fish dip and a tuna poke bowl,” co-owner KJ Stavris said.

“We love showcasing our food, and we love people’s response when they eat it. This is somewhere where we get to see their response when they try it, which is really great … it’s really cool to get interaction with customers and meet new people. With Taste of the 24 we have a pretty big suite, and we’re going to make it as 'Big Tuna’s' as possible in there … we have a fun little vibe (at the restaurant) so we’re gonna bring that to the Speedway.”

Returning participant Ciao Bella Bistro & Martini Bar of New Smyrna Beach, a frequented Italian restaurant known for its pizza, pasta and more, looks forward to providing a classic menu of customer favorites at the event, including fried ravioli, meatballs and baked ziti.

“It’s for a good cause,” owner Gary Langevin said. “And I think it’s also good for us to be out here with the community and get the food out there as well ... and just help and be part of the community.”

Kale Café, a “veteran participant” known for its vegan cuisine, smoothies, “jamdown juices” and other healthy menu selections, returns to the event this year with a range of classic vegan favorites.

“(We’ll) probably have something like rice and peas, a barbecue seitan, curry channa, which is like curry garbanzo beans, and our signature kale salad. Definitely something along those lines,” owner Omar Brown said.

“The NASCAR foundation does a lot, you know? They help out a lot of children … and we’ve been doing the event for a while, we’re kind of like veterans … . We love what we do and want more people to experience vegan food. And the ripple effects are — you can’t really count them. It helps the environment; it helps animals. So, that’s what we’re all about.”

How much does Taste of the 24 cost?

The charitable event, whose VIP tickets have already sold out, reached the 1,400 mark in ticket sales by end of the last week and is expected to sell out, Krieger said. Those still interested in purchasing a ticket can do so by calling 386-310-5710 or visiting NASCARfoundation.org/Taste24.

General admission tickets are $120 per person and include Taste of the 24 admission, a two-day pass to the Rolex 24 At Daytona that includes access to the infield, Hard Rock Bet Fanzone, and general admission front stretch seating for two days as well as a raffle ticket for a chance to win a Rolex watch.

Tickets for children 12 and younger are $24 per person and include admission to Taste of the 24, as well as free access to Rolex 24 at Daytona with a parent ticket purchase.

The Taste of the 24 event begins at 6 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 27.

Helena Perray is the restaurant and dining writer for The Daytona Beach News-Journal. A New Jersey native and passionate storyteller, she can be contacted at hperray@gannett.com. Follow her on Instagram and Facebook. Support local journalism by subscribing

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Taste of the 24 celebrates local restaurants during Rolex 24 at Daytona