Restaurants gather at Mozart’s for Taste of Clintonville in 2018. Credits: Courtesy of Shelley Mann
Experience Clintonville will be hosting the sixth annual Taste of Clintonville event Thursday night, showcasing the neighborhood’s variety of businesses.
The three-hour long, all-you-can-eat event will feature cuisines from 22 of Clintonville’s lesser-known restaurants, or “hidden treasures.” Beginning at 6 p.m., more than 300 people will gather in the ballroom of Mozart’s restaurant for a night filled with food and entertainment.
Anand Saha, the owner of Mozart’s and founder of Experience Clintonville, said his devotion to his part of town drove him to create the event.
“Most areas in Columbus have their own events, and I found that my neighborhood, which I am seriously loyal to, needed its own place, hence the Taste of Clintonville was founded many years ago,” Saha said.
Some of the restaurants that guests can expect to return from last year’s event are Aladdin’s Eatery, Nancy’s Home Cooking and Bleu & Fig, along with some new restaurants such as A Common Table and Ritzy’s.
The local pop, blues and soul band Honey and Blue will perform through the night.
Saha said the goal is to give the small mom-and-pop operations in Clintonville a visibility they might not usually have.
“We are brothers in arms here, we are not competing with each other, we are just wanting each other to be successful,” Saha said.
The event has a reputation of uniting not only those who live in Clintonville, but outsiders as well, Shelley Mann, the event coordinator for Taste of Clintonville and owner of Unami Consulting, said.
Mann, who has been the event coordinator since the first Taste of Clintonville, is responsible for working with the Experience Clintonville Board to plan the event while also accumulating the lineup of restaurants. She also manages the marketing and promotion necessary to notify the public about their events.
“It’s about capturing the essence of the entire neighborhood in one event,” she said. “Experience Clintonville works all year to promote the neighborhood and all of the reasons you should come visit, whether it’s for a date night, family night or night out with friends.”
Tickets for the night are $30 for adults, $10 for children ages 3 to 12 and free of charge for children under 3 years old.
Mann encourages those on campus to hop on the No. 2 COTA bus on Thursday night and come to the event so that they can learn more about the community not too far from them.
