by So if you are a foodie and you like to eat at restaurants, are you going to a chain like McDonalds or a local spot? Well, many people are taking the chain because they know what they are getting. Well, what if there were something that would show how good the local spots are?
That happened at the Taste of River on June 14th. It was a nice and sunny day in Rocky River and there were a lot of local restaurants there to show off what they have to offer. It is very important for a city to support its local businesses so that the city could thrive. Things like this would really help businesses thrive in a local setting that can compete with big chains.
There were a lot of good restaurants represented at the festival. The first one that came to mind was Gather. They were selling a nice lobster roll where the bread and the meat had a lot of flavor. The next one was Sauced. They served a nice New York style pizza that was thin crust and did not go heavy on the cheese.
Another great place that surprised me was Cassa. I have been there a couple of times with my family and at the festival, they were selling wings. They do not have that on their normal menu. It was cool to try things that they could add if it became requested enough to try. The only downside is that there were some chains there like Chick-fil-a were there. I know those places are popular, but it takes the spotlight away from the chains a little bit. These places need to put the spotlight on the local places and not the chains.
There are a lot of cities that should replicate this festival and do it themselves. The best suburb to do it would be Lakewood. There are so many good local restaurants that want to make it work and an event like this would help out. There were also some non restaurants giving out goodies and it was very kid and family friendly. I really liked it and hope other cities would consider this as a community event.
