Thousands of Bellingham residents, along with a three-member panel of local celebrity judges, picked award winners for the seventh annual Bite of Bellingham, held Aug. 18 in downtown Bellingham.

About 5,000 people attended the event, according to the Downtown Bellingham Partnership. Attendees sampled a variety of items from local restaurants and cafes, then voted on their favorites in a series of categories.

Bayou on Bay’s smoked tasso stuffed rosemary biscuit—stuffed with cured, smoked-spiced pork and coleslaw—won the overall “best bite.”

The three-judge panel, which consisted of Bellingham Mayor Kelli Linville, Greenhouse owner Chris Foss and cookbook author Mary Ellen Carter, gave its first-place award to a beet caprese from The Table by Bellingham Pasta Co. The panel’s second-place award went to a veggie samosa from the India Grill—third place went to Diego’s Mexican Grill for a fish taco and cherry limeade blend.

Other Bite of Bellingham winners included:

-“Best local bite”: Cheese Meat(s) Beer, for its tartine, a house-smoked pork rillette on a bread farm baguette with pickled peach and red onion piccalilli.

-“Best gluten free bite”: Pure Bliss Desserts, for its Belgium chocolate torte, pure chocolate melted with other ingredients and topped with chocolate ganache.

-“Dreamiest drink”: Diego’s Mexican Grill, for its cherry limeade, made with fresh-squeezed limes, organic cherry juice and blended with ice.

-“Sweetest sweet”: The Mount Bakery Cafe, for its vanilla bean creme brulee.

Event organizers also partnered with Sustainable Connections and Sanitary Service Co. Inc. to make this year’s Bite of Bellingham a “toward zero waste” event, encouraging vendors to use only compostable and recyclable materials while serving customers.