Taste of Downtown Glendale on the menu for Wednesday

This year’s Taste of Downtown Glendale on Wednesday will boast several new restaurants, such as Pierre Garden, along with about 35 regulars, including Porto’s Bakery and Billy’s Deli.

Tickets for the event, which runs from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., benefit Glendale Healthy Kids, a nonprofit focused on giving children access to healthcare and health education. Last year, the fundraiser brought in $39,000. Camille Levee, the nonprofit’s executive director, said she expects to raise the same amount this time around.

This will be Levee’s last Taste of Downtown Glendale after nearly five years with Glendale Healthy Kids. She announced plans to step down in order to head an emergency and transitional shelter for domestic violence victims in Payson, Ariz.

“I will, of course, miss the Taste when I move. Throughout the year, I try to dine at all of the restaurants who participate,” she said, adding that it’s the volunteer committee that does the heavy lifting by working for seven months to make the event happen.

Many of the restaurants in downtown Glendale, from Carousel Restaurant and El Morfi Grill, to India’s Flavor and California Pizza Kitchen, participate.

Although Levee is leaving, she doesn’t expect the fundraiser to end. The next one is already scheduled for May 8, 2013.

“This event will continue because it brings new people from all over into downtown Glendale,” Levee said.

The Taste of Downtown Glendale runs along Brand Boulevard and Maryland Avenue from Harvard to Milford streets.