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The Foodie Report
Ruminations on food, cooking in and eating out in our area.


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Nicci King is an unabashed foodie and the Lifestyle/Food editor in The Enquirer's features department. She loves to discover new food faves, and she's on a daily quest to answer one burning question: What's for dinner? E-mail her at nking@enquirer.com.


Enquirer Weekend editor Julie Gaw tends to order the same dish every time she eats at a restaurant, but periodically ventures out to discover something new and fabulous. After living in China, Hong Kong, the Philippines and Thailand for more than 8 years, she craves tasty Asian food. E-mail her at jgaw@enquirer.com.


Food/dining writer Polly Campbell loves every quirk and secret of Cincinnati's food personality, and is on a constant lookout for something good to eat. Keep an eye out for her restaurant picks, or see how she's progressing toward becoming famous for her apple pie. E-mail her at pcampbell@enquirer.com.


Communities reporter Rachel Richardson is on a mission to prove vegetarians eat more than lettuce. She shares both her graduate work on American food culture and food-related news.. E-mail her at rrichardson@enquirer.com.

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Thursday, March 27, 2008

Taste of Cincinnati

Taste of Cincinnati is looking for local restaurants to set up shop at this year's festival. I have a few suggestions for them:

Jean-Francois Flechet and his Belgian waffles.
Valerie Williams and her vegetarian turkey rolls.
The Bonbonerie's fabulous cookies, cakes and other pastries!
Anything from Melt in Northside!
Maybe some Habanero?
I know that the Taste is better for places that have grab-and-go food, so my list is brief...

What other local places would be a good fit for Taste of Cincinnati? (details for entry will be posted in the comments section)


17 Comments:

at 12:28 PM Blogger Stepfanie said...

Taste of Cincinnati USA is looking to add some more flavor to the nation’s oldest, continuously running culinary arts event in 2008. This year, to encourage new restaurants to become a part of this Cincinnati tradition, organizers have announced they will expand the number of food booths available.

Applications to feature your restaurant alongside Cincinnati favorites like LaRosa’s, Izzy’s, Montgomery Inn and Graeter’s, as well as local landmarks such as Pompilio’s and Mecklenburg Gardens, are available through the Chamber and will be accepted through April 21. Space is limited. For an application contact Chris Hooven, event manager with the Downtown Council, at 513.579.3124 or chooven@cincinnatichamber.com; or Connie Benjamin with the Greater Cincinnati Restaurant Association at 513.421.4272 or connie@gcra.org.

The 29th annual Taste of Cincinnati USA, will once again occupy five blocks of Fifth Street downtown – from Race Street to Broadway – during the three-day Memorial Day weekend, May 24-26. For more information on the event visit tasteofcincinnati.com.

 
at 1:24 PM Blogger Amber said...

Does Myra's participate? I went there yesterday for the first time in Clifton and was blown away by the quality of food. My mom and I tried 4 soups, had the sweet potatoe salad, and a faux avocado dip made from asparagus. It was all fabulous and our bill was $13! Talk about a good 2 for $20 place! Hmm..gotta go email Cinweekly! :)

 
at 1:59 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

So many restaurants have dropped out of this event over the past couple of years. The organisers raised prices to the point where there is not a good return on investment for the restaurateurs. Plus they have really opened this up to the big chains. In fact the 'best of taste' award was given to a chain last year, and I think the year before as well. Hardly anything 'Cincinnati' about chain grub, and I am not talking about local chains like LaRosas either.

 
at 2:42 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

Anonymous, I don't think it's bad to open this to national chains. Consider this: are those restaurants in our Cincinnati region? Yep. Therefore, they should have a chance to come. There's nothing that says the event is exclusive only to local places...I think the mix of local and national is great!

 
at 3:38 PM Blogger Stepfanie said...

Cin Twin, I LOVE Myra's, too. Did you know Coffee Emporium serves their soups? Not sure if they participate.
We went there for a going-away party, ate a ridiculous amount and spent less than $20 each. (including drinks)
We were the hungriest table ever: http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/foodie/2007/10/hungriest-table-ever.asp

 
at 4:38 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

Anon 2:42 must work for the Chamber. The fact that you allow national chains in, and charge them a premium, is a money making sham, and nothing else. Did you promise them a Best of Taste award? Enquirering minds want to know....although some of us already do!

 
at 5:00 PM Blogger vudutu said...

Wait a minute I have my Anons confused, which one is which?

It has pretty much become a victim of it's own success and a mess, wading through beer cups and discarded food, people are such Cincinnasti pigs, the only reason in the past to go for me was to hopefully find a new local BBQ place or hidden gem.

 
at 6:02 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

Perhaps I'm off topic by now, but my response to the originally posed question:

Reality Tuesday's Cafe: Any of their pastries, especially pecan squares.
Nada: Tamales.
Kroeger & Sons Meats: Grilling their sausages, serving with good mustard.
Javier's: Serving burritos.
Mt. Carmel: Beer stand.
Cilantro: Vermicelli noodle bowls.

 
at 6:52 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

Don't hold your breath for Nada Chad. they are packed to the gills; why would they want to spend the money, time and manpower to participate? Kroger & Sons doesn't have the manpower to operate their shop and spend the money to participate.

Cin twin, I doubt that Myra's could get their you-know-what together to participate.

Mt. Carmel likely won't ante up-if you think the fees for a restaurant are high, you should see what the Downtown Clowncil charges for a beer stand.

 
at 11:24 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

THAT is an outrage that they would not try to make room for some local beer guys, if in fact any of them want to participate.

 
at 10:12 AM Anonymous Anonymous said...

4:38 Anon...testy, testy. When you're ready to give up your name and who you represent to accompany your comments, I'll be happy to do the same. You may be surprised.

 
at 10:21 AM Blogger Unknown said...

I've done Taste of Cincinnati from the restaurant end and it was a nightmare.
The restaurants don't make any money and have to sacrifice half of their staff on weekend days and nights.
Its just not worth risking bad experiences in the actual restaurants so you can sling watered down versions your food to people who probably wont patronize your restaurant anyway

 
at 12:38 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

Farts are funny!

 
at 4:08 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'd volunteer to sling brews for Mt. Carmel or grill sausages for Kroeger, though I'm not sure that'd be a good idea for either since I'd probably consume more than I'd sell.

 
at 11:02 AM Blogger Kel Klump said...

Having these restaurants participate is a pretty big chunk of time and effort, which I think keeps locations such as Myras and Cilantro from participating. I frequent both of these places and know their staff is small and do a great job at keeping their business running. While I like to walk Taste once or twice (I live downtown) during the weekend, I dont expect their awards to mean much and look for the restaurants that arent always big enough to participate to dine on a regular basis. Its a great idea to try something new, but I think it is more of a social activity than an actual event for food.

 
at 11:38 AM Anonymous Anonymous said...

As long as non-local joints are eligible to win the big awards, the awards themselves will remain a joke. It is after all supposed to be the taste of **CINCINNATI** not of national chains. I'm OK with anyone who wants to run a booth to run one, but please do not allow non-locals to be eligible for awards.

Even better - if the big chains want to participate, let them pay a higher entry fee, so that the fees for the local folks is reduced .

 
at 10:31 AM Anonymous Anonymous said...

What a complete and total joke. The restaurant association and the chamber have destroyed this once great event. Shame on you Shari and Pat.

 
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