You're right, Julie. At the very least, there ought to be a separate category of awards for national chains. That way, there's still the chance they can win some sort of best of taste award for their efforts in hosting a booth.
What Donald said.
Gimme Scotti's.
Nice...
I have only visited one of these place. And I thought I was a foodie...lol
i totally agree. plus i had "chicken bryan" once and it is boring as hell!
Man, I've been saying the same for years... makes absolutely no sense. The "Taste of Cincinnati" should showcase Cincinnati... duh.
Bella Luna's bread pudding is the stuff. Love that place. The others? Yeah, what every one else here said.
I used to look forward to the "Best Of" issues....
Not any more ! Carrabba's ??
It all comes from a freaking can!
Look for the ads from the Chainy McChain restaurants. Plain and simple.
Time to find whoever it is who's running Taste and send him to run Taste of Mason. The event is a showcase for franchises, suited exclusively to the SUV set. In Chicago it's a showcase for real restaurants. No reason why it shouldn't be the same here. Chicago's is also in Grant Park rather than in the streets. No reason why it couldn't be on the river here. It's just an awful event.
this is lame with a capital CINCINNATI
Criminal. Just criminal. Missing the whole point of Taste of CINCINNATI.
Every year when I see lines of people at the LaRosa's booth, grabbing the same piece of pizza that they ate three days previous, I just laugh and dig into my snails from La Petite France.
Turns out that Cincinnati tastes just like Modesto, CA.
What is sad, the event is open to every restaurant in Cincinnati, however they do not participate. Encourage your favorite CINCINNATI restaurants to participate and you won't have this problem with national chains. Get those local restaurants to support the Taste of Cincinnati, as consumers we support their restaurants.
I'm with everyone else - Carrabba's is a multi-million dollar chain. It's time we select new judges for this Taste & actively promote our local restaurants. Carrabba's doesn't need our dollar to survive, but our little eateries depend on us for their survival & the paycheck of their employees.
Hell's Bells! The little Chili Time Restaurant in St. Bernard makes their own bean soup & chili. Mama Sophia does it. And both foods are excellent! I'll just bet no one from Taste has ever approached them about entering their specialties.
Clean up Taste, support local business or shut the confounded event down.
If you don't have participation from local restaurants, it makes it hard for the judges to cast votes for local dishes......
Does anybody know how a restaurant enters? Do the restaurants maybe need to know?
^^^^^^^^^^
This is the same thing I was thinking. Perhaps the barriers to entry are too high.
Actually, after looking at the restaurants participating - there aren't THAT many chains.
That the chains won perhaps says something to the judges' taste. Or perhaps the chains simply had tastier food in this case.
Spent 25 years in the restaurant business in Cincinnati.(been out of it for about 5-6 years now). I participated in Taste a number of those years. I might need some correction but this is what I remember from my experiences. There are 2 main factors that make it tough for single location restaurants to participate in Taste. First of course is money. There is an entry fee to join the event (fair enough in my opinion) but the real issues is 1/2 of your revenue goes to Taste. (You dont even want to know what it costs of you want to be a beer vendor)Charge a fee or take a percent of the revenue but not both. Also, it is incredibly hard for a single unit restaurant to staff BOTH Taste and the restaurant for the 3 day weekend. there are simply not enough employess for both. So everyone ends up working lots 'o hours.
It is great advertising for your restaurant but when things are all said and done it is hard to justify doing it year after year. We found that it was a good idea to do Taste a year or two and then not do it for a few years.
For good or for bad, chains have an easier time surmounting the labor and cost issues because they can 'spread the pain' across mulitple units.
I do wish that they would change up the awards a little and focus on us local guys. But if it is a competition, you should be competing against all vendors. Not really sure how to fix that.
I understand that it is a great opportunity for advertising and also to get folks that haven't had a chance to experience your restaurant an opportunity to taste your food. I would just like to break even on the deal, or at least lose just a little.
just my opinion.
What organization runs Taste? I know there are costs associated with having an event (security, clean up, etc) but if its that pricey to participate, who can blame businesses for choosing not to? Its sad really.
I think maybe Sawyer Point would be a better locale for it too.
I agree. Keep the chains out of this. It also sounds like the people who voted don't have very discriminating taste. Carraba's? Buca di Beppo? That's fricking gross.
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