A sneak peek into this year's Taste of Buffalo festival

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) -- The Taste of Buffalo, one of the area's most anticipated summer festivals -- offering food from 40 different eateries -- kicks off next weekend.

On July 12 and 13, Niagara Square to Chippewa Street will be filled with restaurants serving up their best dishes. WIVB News 4 spoke with some participating businesses, who gave a sneak peek into this year's eats.

"Being part of this is straight up Buffalo," said Jack Adly, the owner of Venus Greek & Mediterranean. "If you're not part of this, you're missing out on so much."

Venus Greek & Mediterranean plans to serve up around 400 pounds of french fries alone.

"It's exciting. We prepare so we make sure that everybody has a chance to grab some of our items that day," Adly said. "We don't like to run out. We've been there for almost eight years, so we have an idea of how much we're selling."

The Greek restaurant will also offer bites of its homemade Dubai chocolate and Greek twist on poutine.

"That day we're going to be bringing two new products. It'll be easier for you to try it out and it's smaller portions, so you'll be able to try this out and every other place," Adly said. "I highly recommend stopping by, checking out our poutine fries and the Dubai chocolate so you don't have to make a trip to one of the locations."

For those looking for a cool treat, Sweet Melody's is offering a number of flavors of gelato and sorbet.

"One pan is probably five liters of gelato and we probably go through about 150 pans of it, minimum," said Rachel Incorvia, the owner of Sweet Melody's.

The business has had sweet success at the Taste of Buffalo, even winning various awards.

"We get a lot of people that say, 'Oh, I saw you at the Taste of Buffalo and I had this, can I get this at my wedding?' Or we do corporate events, birthday parties, everything like that," Incorvia said.

Click here for more information on the Taste of Buffalo.