Taste Of Downtown Kicks Off Next Week
March 05, 2020
A Hunger For Harrisonburg
Taste Of Downtown Kicks Off Next Week
By KATHLEEN SHAW
Daily News-Record 3/4/20
Taste of Downtown is a weeklong opportunity for gluttony and flavor to take the wheel in a showcase of Harrisonburg’s dining options.
For 12 years, the biannual event has celebrated the culinary craftsmanship of the city and worked to stimulate the market during off-seasons, according to Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance. Jeslyn Stiles, director of marketing for HDR, organized the week for the first time this year and said she hopes the restaurants take the opportunity to partner and experiment.
“It’s a long-standing Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance tradition that has seen the evolution of the downtown culinary district and downtown over the years,” Stiles said. “March isn’t the most exciting time for restaurants necessarily, so we like to have it this time of year. … This year I wanted to encourage creativity.”
Past collaborations include a Bella Luna- inspired burger on Cuban Burger’s menu, a Cuban pizza at Bella Luna and Kline’s Dairy Bar ice cream paired with Jack Brown’s Beer and Burger Joint fried Oreos. This season, Chestnut Ridge Roasters is making its way onto Food.Bar.Food’s menu, and The Friendly Fermenter is partnering with Latin’s Flavor for its Beers, Breads and Spreads night.
“It’s a really exciting time. We hope to see familiar faces coming downtown and encourage people from the surrounding counties to come down and appreciate why we’re really honored to be named Virginia’s first culinary district,” Stiles said.
Taste of Downtown begins Monday and continues through March 15.
Harrisonburg became Virginia’s first Downtown Culinary District in 2014, with approval of City Council. According to Virginia Main Street, it earned the designation for its collection of locally founded food-related businesses, which over the century have made a national impact, including City Exchange, Wetsel Seed Co. and Rocco Feeds. Additionally, Rockingham County is home to a plethora of agricultural businesses and farms that have aided in building a growing farm-to-table movement in Harrisonburg eateries.
Across the state, Harrisonburg’s eateries have been recognized in various publications for their classic and experimental offerings.
Only in Your State recognized Bella Luna Wood- Fired Pizza among Virginia’s Top 10 Italian restaurants, listed Local Chop and Grill House as the No. 1 Virginia steakhouse for carnivores, awarded Billy Jack’s Wing and Draft Shack for best wings in the state and ranked The Sub Station as No. 4 for “ Mexican Food That Will Blow Your Mind” in Virginia.
Virginia Living conducts a survey of best businesses each year, and for 2019 in the Shenandoah Valley, Harrisonburg
restaurants scored first in best Asian restaurant, breakfast, craft brewery, craft cocktails, dessert menu, farmers market, food truck, oysters, Indian food, Italian restaurant, and the list goes on.
Some restaurants are taking the opportunity with Taste of Downtown to officially change the menu. Bella Luna is debuting a new brunch menu on March 15, and Clementine plans to unveil a revamped, permanent menu during the week. Others approach the event with more experimentation.
Mikey Reisenberg previously worked at Joshua Wilton House for several years and said he is taking those experiences to bring an explorative offering for Mashita’s first participation in Taste of Downtown. No stranger to infusing unexpected ingredients, Reisenberg said the menu for next week includes seven new items to try different methods and flavors and get feedback from a broad range of customers.
“We’re really excited to always change up our menu, offer different exciting and adventurous kinds of things, for our participation, mostly in a lot of ways to kind of test the market and see what people are interested in,” he said. “One of the things that we like to do for our participation is to incorporate additional menu items that kind of push the envelope a little bit and either introduce new preparation styles or new ingredients so that we can gotta have a hand in developing a community palate.”
Food. Bar. Food has various specials throughout the week for guests to pick and choose from, but head chef Beau Floyd said March 13’s collaborative menu with Chestnut Ridge Roasters is less about novelty and more sharing a classic tradition with the community.
“Coffee dinners don’t happen a lot. ... You might see some on the West Coast, but they’re really not very common, so it’s a really unique thing for this area, and that’s super exciting, doing that,” Floyd said. “It’s kind of a cool opportunity for us to collaborate a little bit and really promote the whole theme of Taste of Downtown. Like, we can include some other vendors or locations downtown in what we’re doing and sort of enhance the Taste of Downtown experience.”
In addition to coffee- infused dishes, coffee cocktails will also make the menu.
Here’s a breakdown of deals and specials going on next week: - Purchase a full- price pizza, pasta or sandwich entrée at Bella Luna, get a free scoop of gelato from Bella Gelato and Pastries.
- Billy Jack’s Wing and Draft Shack is serving double-breaded chicken thigh sandwiches.
- BoBoKo Indonesian Cafe has a three-course menu for $35 per person.
- Capital Ale House is adding specials using Seven Hills Beef and Farmers Market produce to the menu all week long.
-Food.Bar.Food has a special lunch menu for $10 per person from Tuesday to Saturday, a three- course date night for $40 per couple, and March 13’s three-course coffee- collaborative menu is $40 per person.
- Friendly City Food Co-op is offering a free cup of coffee or hot tea with any purchase from the breakfast bar, open Tuesday to Friday mornings.
- Jack Brown’s Beer and Burger Joint is bringing back its Happy Box, which includes a Classic Jack Burger, fries, fried Oreo and a beer or non-alcoholic drink for $10.
-Dinner for two is 10% off at Jimmy Madison’s Southern Kitchen and Whiskey Bar.
- Joshua Wilton House has a seafood-centric three-course meal for $39 per person with an optional wine pairing for $10 per person.
- Kline’s Dairy Bar’s weekly special topping is Reese’s Cups.
- La Habana Tropical Cafe is bringing exclusive dishes to the menu such as bang bang shrimp, Bar-BCuban, empanadas, coconut shrimp and the Habana Cubano.
-Little Grill Collective is offering a free drink or dessert with select entrees.
- Local Chop and Grill House has a three- course menu for $35 per person. The Chop House Burger is half off with an order of wine or draft beer in the Local Bar and Lounge.
- Mashita has a three-course menu for $30 per person. Order a glass of wine or beer for an extra $5.
- Montpelier Restaurant and Bar has a three-course menu for $18 per person.
- Pale Fire Brewing is offering Friendly Flights of four- ounce pours of 10 beers for $ 10, to be shared between a minimum of two people.
- Rocktown Kitchen has a three-course dinner Tuesday to March 14 for $ 39 per person. One dollar from each customer will be donated to the Wounded Warrior Project.
- Taj of India is offering 15% off for the week.
- The Friendly Fermenter has Beers, Breads and Spreads on March 12 with pairings of beers to complement each spread and bread.
Cuban Burger, El Paisano Bakery, Union Station Restaurant and Bar and Three Notch’d Valley Collab House are also offering various limited-edition items for the week. More information about each participating restaurant is available online at https://downtownharrisonburg.org/taste-ofdowntown/.
Taste Of Downtown Kicks Off Next Week
By KATHLEEN SHAW
Daily News-Record 3/4/20
Taste of Downtown is a weeklong opportunity for gluttony and flavor to take the wheel in a showcase of Harrisonburg’s dining options.
For 12 years, the biannual event has celebrated the culinary craftsmanship of the city and worked to stimulate the market during off-seasons, according to Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance. Jeslyn Stiles, director of marketing for HDR, organized the week for the first time this year and said she hopes the restaurants take the opportunity to partner and experiment.
“It’s a long-standing Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance tradition that has seen the evolution of the downtown culinary district and downtown over the years,” Stiles said. “March isn’t the most exciting time for restaurants necessarily, so we like to have it this time of year. … This year I wanted to encourage creativity.”
Past collaborations include a Bella Luna- inspired burger on Cuban Burger’s menu, a Cuban pizza at Bella Luna and Kline’s Dairy Bar ice cream paired with Jack Brown’s Beer and Burger Joint fried Oreos. This season, Chestnut Ridge Roasters is making its way onto Food.Bar.Food’s menu, and The Friendly Fermenter is partnering with Latin’s Flavor for its Beers, Breads and Spreads night.
“It’s a really exciting time. We hope to see familiar faces coming downtown and encourage people from the surrounding counties to come down and appreciate why we’re really honored to be named Virginia’s first culinary district,” Stiles said.
Taste of Downtown begins Monday and continues through March 15.
Harrisonburg became Virginia’s first Downtown Culinary District in 2014, with approval of City Council. According to Virginia Main Street, it earned the designation for its collection of locally founded food-related businesses, which over the century have made a national impact, including City Exchange, Wetsel Seed Co. and Rocco Feeds. Additionally, Rockingham County is home to a plethora of agricultural businesses and farms that have aided in building a growing farm-to-table movement in Harrisonburg eateries.
Across the state, Harrisonburg’s eateries have been recognized in various publications for their classic and experimental offerings.
Only in Your State recognized Bella Luna Wood- Fired Pizza among Virginia’s Top 10 Italian restaurants, listed Local Chop and Grill House as the No. 1 Virginia steakhouse for carnivores, awarded Billy Jack’s Wing and Draft Shack for best wings in the state and ranked The Sub Station as No. 4 for “ Mexican Food That Will Blow Your Mind” in Virginia.
Virginia Living conducts a survey of best businesses each year, and for 2019 in the Shenandoah Valley, Harrisonburg
restaurants scored first in best Asian restaurant, breakfast, craft brewery, craft cocktails, dessert menu, farmers market, food truck, oysters, Indian food, Italian restaurant, and the list goes on.
Some restaurants are taking the opportunity with Taste of Downtown to officially change the menu. Bella Luna is debuting a new brunch menu on March 15, and Clementine plans to unveil a revamped, permanent menu during the week. Others approach the event with more experimentation.
Mikey Reisenberg previously worked at Joshua Wilton House for several years and said he is taking those experiences to bring an explorative offering for Mashita’s first participation in Taste of Downtown. No stranger to infusing unexpected ingredients, Reisenberg said the menu for next week includes seven new items to try different methods and flavors and get feedback from a broad range of customers.
“We’re really excited to always change up our menu, offer different exciting and adventurous kinds of things, for our participation, mostly in a lot of ways to kind of test the market and see what people are interested in,” he said. “One of the things that we like to do for our participation is to incorporate additional menu items that kind of push the envelope a little bit and either introduce new preparation styles or new ingredients so that we can gotta have a hand in developing a community palate.”
Food. Bar. Food has various specials throughout the week for guests to pick and choose from, but head chef Beau Floyd said March 13’s collaborative menu with Chestnut Ridge Roasters is less about novelty and more sharing a classic tradition with the community.
“Coffee dinners don’t happen a lot. ... You might see some on the West Coast, but they’re really not very common, so it’s a really unique thing for this area, and that’s super exciting, doing that,” Floyd said. “It’s kind of a cool opportunity for us to collaborate a little bit and really promote the whole theme of Taste of Downtown. Like, we can include some other vendors or locations downtown in what we’re doing and sort of enhance the Taste of Downtown experience.”
In addition to coffee- infused dishes, coffee cocktails will also make the menu.
Here’s a breakdown of deals and specials going on next week: - Purchase a full- price pizza, pasta or sandwich entrée at Bella Luna, get a free scoop of gelato from Bella Gelato and Pastries.
- Billy Jack’s Wing and Draft Shack is serving double-breaded chicken thigh sandwiches.
- BoBoKo Indonesian Cafe has a three-course menu for $35 per person.
- Capital Ale House is adding specials using Seven Hills Beef and Farmers Market produce to the menu all week long.
-Food.Bar.Food has a special lunch menu for $10 per person from Tuesday to Saturday, a three- course date night for $40 per couple, and March 13’s three-course coffee- collaborative menu is $40 per person.
- Friendly City Food Co-op is offering a free cup of coffee or hot tea with any purchase from the breakfast bar, open Tuesday to Friday mornings.
- Jack Brown’s Beer and Burger Joint is bringing back its Happy Box, which includes a Classic Jack Burger, fries, fried Oreo and a beer or non-alcoholic drink for $10.
-Dinner for two is 10% off at Jimmy Madison’s Southern Kitchen and Whiskey Bar.
- Joshua Wilton House has a seafood-centric three-course meal for $39 per person with an optional wine pairing for $10 per person.
- Kline’s Dairy Bar’s weekly special topping is Reese’s Cups.
- La Habana Tropical Cafe is bringing exclusive dishes to the menu such as bang bang shrimp, Bar-BCuban, empanadas, coconut shrimp and the Habana Cubano.
-Little Grill Collective is offering a free drink or dessert with select entrees.
- Local Chop and Grill House has a three- course menu for $35 per person. The Chop House Burger is half off with an order of wine or draft beer in the Local Bar and Lounge.
- Mashita has a three-course menu for $30 per person. Order a glass of wine or beer for an extra $5.
- Montpelier Restaurant and Bar has a three-course menu for $18 per person.
- Pale Fire Brewing is offering Friendly Flights of four- ounce pours of 10 beers for $ 10, to be shared between a minimum of two people.
- Rocktown Kitchen has a three-course dinner Tuesday to March 14 for $ 39 per person. One dollar from each customer will be donated to the Wounded Warrior Project.
- Taj of India is offering 15% off for the week.
- The Friendly Fermenter has Beers, Breads and Spreads on March 12 with pairings of beers to complement each spread and bread.
Cuban Burger, El Paisano Bakery, Union Station Restaurant and Bar and Three Notch’d Valley Collab House are also offering various limited-edition items for the week. More information about each participating restaurant is available online at https://downtownharrisonburg.org/taste-ofdowntown/.
