Taste of Lower Lonsdale

We used to live in the Lower Lonsdale area of North Vancouver. It has only been 2 years, but the place has changed a lot. I remember rumours of a new community centre in the maze of new condos and apartments that were arising at the time. Now it's here.
After the great feast of the Taste of Vancouver a few weeks ago, when I learned that the restaurants in the Lower Lonsdale area were having a tasting of their own, I had high expectations. Unlike the Vancouver event where you bought books of tickets, 20 for $10 which didn't last long, in this venue you paid a mere $2.00 for a passport. This gave you the opportunity of sampling tidbits from 11 Lower Lonsdale establishments. I started with an exquisite ravioli in mushroom sauce (yes, A ravioli) from Gusto di Quattro, a fine Italian place we used to frequent when we lived around here. From Raglan's Bistro, which I had never visited, a spicy piece of Jerked chicken. There were no beverages available that I could see (unless you count Starbucks, which I don't) so I was delighted with the cracker covered with an anchovie-olive paste from Le Bistro Chez Michel- extrememly refreshing. From Fiesta Filipino, the Philipine store/restaurant behind our old condo where I used to buy eggplant and limes, a micro-spring roll and some tasty pork bits. The local Greek spot, Anatoli Souvlaki had pieces of bread with humus, which were very filling. More fillling yet were the pumpkin muffins from the Artisan Bake Shoppe, along with a very interesting piece of bread full of nuts and grains and what not. It was so good I stopped at the Shoppe on the way home and bought a loaf.
The area was nice when we lived there, and has improved dramatically. It was a delight to see a mixture of little kids and old people of various cultures all having a great time.
It's hard to believe the food sponsors could afford to dispense even these tiny portions of their menus to the legions lined up to enjoy them, all for a $2.00 passport, but if enough people then patronize their restaurants based on what they enjoyed here today, it could work. It was like the food tastings you get in grocery stores. Will these tastings proliferate throughout the metropolitan area, I wonder?