Varied offerings for 4th Taste of Putnam County Saturday

Friday, September 20, 2013

Nine local restaurants and food providers will be offering samples of their specialties Saturday at the fourth annual Taste of Putnam County.

Hosted by the Greater Greencastle Chamber of Commerce and Dixie Chopper Business Center, the 2013 event is scheduled for 4-8 p.m. Saturday at the Dixie Chopper Business Center at the Putnam County Airport.

Providing tastes of their culinary creations this year are:

-- Almost Home.

-- Asbury Towers.

-- Charlie's.

-- Final Approach Restaurant and Pub.

-- Inn at DePauw (2 West Bistro and Fluttering Duck).

-- Mill Pond Health Campus.

-- Moore's Bar and Grill.

-- Pizza King.

-- Sweet Wishes by Eitel's Florist.

Admission is $5 (ages 12 and under admitted free with an adult). Tickets will be available at the door. Food tickets are an additional $1 per ticket. No food item will be more than three tickets, and most will be one or two.

An entry ticket gets one access to the music, games, chair auction and a chance to win the flat-screen TV.


Almost Home

The award-winning restaurant on the north side of the courthouse square (17 W. Franklin St.), has been offering its upscale comfort food for 23 years under the ownership of Gail Smith and guidance of chef/manager Susan Jones.

The specialty of the house -- among many, they say -- is desserts.

Almost Home will bringing an assortment of desserts, including cupcakes, cookies and "surprises" to the Taste event.

"Almost Home is all about freshness, innovation and inspiration, while using local products when available from our nearby farms," Smith said. "We do our best to serve you the best in a historic setting."


Asbury Towers

With chef and culinary director Justin Homler now on board, Asbury Towers, 102 W. Poplar St., will be offering a variety of taste treats on Saturday.

Fried chicken sliders with roasted red peppers and orange curry aioli are Homler's homemade feature attraction.

The Asbury Towers booth will also be serving proscuitto ham and basil boursin pinwheels. And as a sweet treat, the Asbury experience will also include Russian cream with fresh berries.


Charlie's

Opening in March 2013, Charlie's is located at 424 Bloomington St., just west of Robe-Ann Park.

Manager Mark Benassi says Charlie's offers "fresh quality food fast, not fast food."

Specialties of the house include pulled pork with slaw, breaded tenderloin and barbecue pulled chicken.

At Saturday's event, Charlie's will be providing tastes of chicken wraps, pulled pork with slaw and barbecue pulled chicken.

A dining experience at Charlie's, Benassi assures, results in "a quality product at a value price ... come taste the difference."


Final Approach

The Final Approach flight crew of Sue Beaman, Jamie Bunten and Jeremy Thomas doesn't have far to go for the Taste of Putnam County. The restaurant and pub is located within the Dixie Chopper Business Center at the airport, 102 Ballard Lane, site of Saturday's event.

Final Approach, winner of the 2011 Traveling Plate as the peoples' choice that year, will be serving beef and noodles, pot roast, ribs, funnel fries and bread pudding on Saturday.

Beaman describes a dining experience at The Final Approach -- where steaks are the specialty of the house -- as providing "a great place to sit down with your family and have a great meal."


Inn at DePauw

The two restaurants within the Inn at DePauw, 2 W. Seminary St., are the 2 West Bistro and the Fluttering Duck. Michele Faison is the general manager.

The Inn at DePauw captured last year's Traveling Plate Award in a vote of the 2012 Taste attendees.

Typical cuisine is listed as steaks, seafood, pasta, sandwiches, soup and salad. The specialties of the house, meanwhile, include made-to-order pasta, burgers and grilled salmon.

On the menu for the Inn at DePauw booth Saturday will be pulled pork nachos, funnel cake fries and chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches.

The Fluttering Duck and 2 West Bistro are comfortable spots for a dining experience, offered Karen Weaver, a longtime staff member at the facility that opened in 1987 as The Walden Inn.

"Staff are friendly and knowledgeable, parking is easy and the prices are reasonable," Weaver added.


Mill Pond Health Campus

Mill Pond, located at 1014 Mill Pond (east of Greencastle Middle School), has been serving food to the public the past seven years with Patty Shuggars the facility's chef.

Shuggars will be providing the Taste crowd with such treats as roast beef sliders, stuffed mushrooms, homemade potato soup, crab and cucumber and fresh-backed pumpkin rolls.

"We cook a little bit of everything," spokesman Brooke Trissel says of the Mill Pond cuisine. Specialty of the house, she adds, is a variety of "wonderful homemade soups."

"We serve our residents and community members the best there is to offer," Trissel said of a typical dining experience at Mill Pond.


Moore's Bar and Grill

A downtown Greencastle staple for 65 years at 17 S. Indiana St., new owners Jay and Jackie Hopkins have run Moore's for two years, featuring daily home-cooked-style specials along with sandwiches and salads.

The "Hang-Over Tenderloin" and freshly hand-pattied burgers are among the specialties of the house.

Moore's will be bringing some of its most-request specials to the Taste, including homemade chicken and noodles, "real" mashed potatoes, meatloaf meatballs and their own-recipe seafood nachos, along with fresh peach praline cobbler.

Jackie Hopkins invites the public to check out the many improvements she and her husband Jay have made in the past year at Moore's, "adding more seating to our dining area, exposing the old brick walls and adding new restrooms."


Pizza King

At Pizza King, a mainstay of the Greencastle restaurant community since 1968, pizza, pasta and sandwiches naturally are the typical cuisine.

Owners Howard and Cheryl Thomas and Gary and Jenni Thomas offer "great food, great service and a friendly atmosphere," Cheryl says.

A traditional thin-crust pizza is, of course, the specialty of the house at Pizza King, 400 Bloomington St.

The Thomases will be tempting local taste buds Saturday with lasagna, pizza, stromboli and Texas barbecue.


Sweet Wishes by Eitel's

Fine chocolates, candies and gourmet gift items are the specialties of the house at Sweet Wishes by Eitel's Florist, 17 S. Vine St.

Owner Jenny Sullivan will be serving up a Sweet Wishes buffet of candies, fine chocolate and more on Saturday.

"Our Sweet Wishes buffets and gourmet gifts are presented with perfection and filled with delectable tastes to enhance your special day or event and reflect your personal style," Sullivan says.


While food, of course, is Saturday's main attraction, it is definitely not all the event has to offer. Live music from Barbara Ellen, Him & Her and Carly Rhine is slated throughout the afternoon and evening.

Also due are a bounce house slide, a blow-up jousting game from the Indiana National Guard, and free kids' games (sponsored and operated by Autumn Glen, Mill Pond Health Campus, Old National Bank, PNC Bank, Putnam County Comprehensive Services, Teachers Credit Union, United Way of Putnam County), a beer garden, corn hole and the chance to win a large, flat-screen TV.

Additionally, this year Putnam County Family Support Services will conduct its Chairish the Children Chair Auction at the Taste.

Joining the Chamber as corporate sponsors of the Taste this year are the Banner Graphic, Big Bounce Fun House Rentals, Bittles and Hurt/Hopkins-Rector funeral homes, Duke Energy, Greencastle Offset, Putnam County Hospital, Taylor Made Awards, University Lending and Walmart Distribution.

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