When I was growing up in Montgomery County, the annual Taste of Bethesda—during which neighborhood restaurants sell sample-size portions of their food—was a highlight of my fall, right up there with shopping for school supplies and going to the pumpkin patch at Homestead Farms. This Saturday, I’ll be hitting the Woodmont Triangle, packet of taste tickets in hand, to celebrate the street festival’s 18th year.

The list of participating restaurants is longer than ever, but I’m most excited about trading in some tickets for chicken makhani and vegetable korma from Passage to India, blistery wood-fired pies from Mia’s Pizzas, rotisserie chicken from Eastern Shore import Chesapeake Chicken & Rockin’ Ribs, and wonton-wrapped shrimp “bikini” from Thai newcomer Nark Kara.

Taste of Bethesda runs this Saturday, October 6, from 11 AM to 4 PM in Bethesda’s Woodmont Triangle (along Norfolk, Fairmont, St. Elmo, Cordell, and Del Ray avenues). Admission is free; taste tickets come in packs of four for $5 (food samples cost one to three tickets). Click here for more information.