By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
St. Joseph Restaurant Week has drawn residents out to participating restaurants across the city to try some new foods and help the local eateries.
One restaurant participating in this year's event is Pizza Tascio in downtown St. Joseph.
Owner Eli Lombardino says it's his restaurant's second year being part of the event, and he's seen a lot of local participation.
"It's always great to be able to participate in Restaurant Week, get out with the local businesses, we've been teaming up with River Bluff Brewery this year to do kind of a pizza party type thing" Lombardino tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post.
"So, they have little tents out on their tables incentivizing their customers to come over and grab pizza, we have tents on our tables incentivizing our customers to go over there and grab a beer, so it's been really, really great."
Lombardino says the restaurant sees about a 20% increase in new customers during these special designated weeks.
"So, we are definitely getting that new footprint out there, which is great," Lombardino proudly says.
Pizza Tascio, which has locations across the greater Kansas City area, also participates in Kansas City Restaurant Week, which took place in January.
Lombardino says the event is something they greatly enjoy taking part in.
"From a business standpoint they're very cost effective, they're great, they're a good way to get to know other businesses as well as new customers, I think it's a great program," Lombardino says.
Lombardino says the event provides a great foundation for St. Joseph restaurants to get to do some things they don't normally get to do.
"I think all restaurants are better off teaming up and not trying to just directly compete with each other, but instead incentivize everyone to come out and sample the local fair, so Restaurant Week is just a great opportunity for us to do that," Lombardino explains.
During the event a new thing Pizza Tascio is offering is a side of their new homemade ranch dressing, a recipe that Lombardino says has been perfected over months.
St. Joseph Restaurant Week ends on Sunday. A list of participating restaurants can be found on stjrestaurantweek.com.
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.