Thursday night, meatballs reigned supreme at the fourth annual NYC Wine & Food Festival kickoff event, Meatball Madness. Food Network’s Italian beauty Giada De Laurentiis played host to dozens of the city’s best chefs who rolled out their version of the perfect bite.

Nearly 1,000 meatball maniacs flooded into SoHo’s 82 Mercer to sample saucy spheres and sliders made from blends of beef, pork, veal, rabbit, goat, seitan and lobster. Styles ranged from traditional Italian polpette with tomato gravy (Donatella Arpaia’s braised veal version was delizioso) to exotic Thai-inspired goat meatballs with boiled peanuts, tatsoi and panang curry from Kin Shop’s Harold Dieterle. Giada got sweet and smoky with mozzarella, fig and honey, Maialino’s Nick Anderer dished out rabbit smothered in creamy pecorino ‘whiz’ over rapini, and Osteria Morini chef Michael White’s melt-in-your-mouth prosciutto and mortadella version was another standout.

Judges Alex Guarnaschelli, Dana Cowin and Lee Anne Wong crowned The Little Owl’s Joey Campanaro the night’s big winner for his grandma’s gravy meatball slider with pickled fennel. The crowd also casted their votes and The Meatball Shop’s Daniel Holzman and Michael Chernow snagged the coveted People’s Choice Award for their steak ‘n’ bacon cheddar balls with mushroom gravy on a buttermilk biscuit.

Classic Campari cocktails, a selection of vino and sparkling San Pellegrino refreshed partygoers, while A Voce provided sweet relief with scrumptious chocolate cannoli over roasted cherries. Meatball Madness certainly started off the Festival in style and everyone seemed to have a ball—while devouring dozens!