Tasting time: Taste of Levis provides diverse traveling dining experience

It’s a foodie’s paradise at The Blade’s Taste of Levis.

A dozen restaurants, lounges, and pubs in Levis Commons will serve a special menu item and accompanying drink during this first-of-its-kind event, which takes place 3 to 8 p.m. Saturday at Levis Commons. Participants start at Bar Louie, where they will be given a lanyard and a map of the event. From there, it’s one stop after another to get great food and drink throughout the shopping plaza.

What: Taste of Levis

When: 3 to 8 p.m., Saturday

Where: Levis Commons, 3201 Levis Commons Blvd., Perrysburg

Cost: $75 (21+)

Information: blademediakit.com/levis/

Surely his late great Royal Badness Prince would have approved of the Purple Reign, made with vodka, pomegranate, and lemon, presented as the drink item from Claude’s, while the food item is an offering of endive lettuce wraps, made with crab, shrimp, avocado, grapefruit, and whole grain mustard vinaigrette.

Over at Agave & Rye, the menu item is shrimp rangoon bites and Nagoya will offer a lettuce wrap filled with ground pork, red pepper, onion, and candied peanuts alongside a range of sakes in white peach, lychee, apple, and pineapple flavors.

Taste of Heaven will even be offering an array of assorted chocolates.

Ed Harmon, founder and CEO of NAI Harmon Group, which owns event participants Claude’s Prime Seafood and Benchmark Restaurant, said Taste of Levis is designed to show the community what great dining options there are in Levis Commons.

“We in the business community appreciate so much the customers and traffic that we have coming to Levis,” said Harmon. “We are spending a lot of money to keep making improvements and we want to show off the restaurant part of that. This is a way of doing that — to have our customers come in and sample all the restaurants.”

Harmon said that while there have been similar events to Taste of Levis years ago, he is thrilled by the fact that almost every restaurant in the shopping complex is participating this time around.

“It’s a very simple process,” said Harmon. “You pay a fee and you are able to get a food sample and drink at each restaurant during the course of the event. It’s a taste of what each restaurant has to offer patrons. This will be an event remembered by all.”

One of the participating restaurants, Blue Pacific, will be serving its famous towering carrot cake, described as “four layers of moist carrot cake, filled with carrots, pecans, and pineapple, iced and layered with cream cheese icing, then finished with chopped nuts.”

“We’ve been serving our carrot cake for 20 years,” said Blue Pacific owner Kirk Falknor.

Falknor said the carrot cake was then the natural choice to be selected for the event.

“We’re excited to be a part of this and for everyone to try our carrot cake,” he said. “It gets great reviews from everyone.”

Over at the Flying Joe coffee shop, they’ll be serving assorted seasonal quiche bites as well as a choice of two drinks — Jet Fuel, made with vanilla cold brew and espresso cold foam, complete with a jet plane design, and an espresso martini, made with espresso, King & Dane coffee liqueur, vanilla vodka, and chocolate.

The cold brew was rolled out in its first iteration in 2022, in tandem with the release of Top Gun: Maverick and was immediately popular. The name and the design fit perfectly with the aviation theme of the shop, which was founded by two Air Force veterans.

And unlike some items involved in the Taste of Levis event, Flying Joe is not currently offering quiche on its everyday menu.

“Jet Fuel is one of our signature drinks and we’re excited for people to try it,” said Kara Watson, event coordinator at the Flying Joe. “And our espresso martini speaks for itself.”

After diners enjoy their tasting experience, they can head back to Bar Louie for a special “afterglow party” where everyone can cast their vote for “Best Bite,” “Best Drink,” and “Best Tasting Experience.”

“We believe it’s going to be a great day and there’s going to be some wow factors that are put out by our participating restaurants and lounges and bars,” said Harmon.

Tickets are physical and those purchased between now and the event can be picked up at Bar Louie on the day of the event. A full list of participating restaurants and dishes can be found at blademediakit.com/levis/ .