ASHLAND — Hello friends, and welcome to day 1,834 of shelter at home. Not really, but it feels like its been an awfully long time.
Today we are going to talk about one of my favorite topics: food. And, judging by the comments I have seen floating around in Facebook Land, many of you are big fans of food yourselves.
More specifically, today we are going to talk about food downtown, and how you can support our restauranteurs during these exciting times.
In spite of all the rules and regulations and stay at home edicts coming down from Columbus and Washington, restaurants are still allowed to stay open. They are offering either curbside pick up or delivery to keep everyone safe, but they are still cooking away.
I have seen many of you lamenting that it feels like you have been cooking dinner forever. Why not order out and save your sanity? You help a small business at the same time.
For those of you who are essential workers (and a hearty thanks and be safe to you all), our local restaurants can handle large orders for the whole shift, so you can keep up your strength while you are taking care of all of us.
Linder’s is still open downtown and is still making their amazingly awesome wings, as well as the rest of their yummy food.
Joan’s Tavern, on Union, does fantastic sandwiches to feed one or 100.
Main Moon and Peking are still open and are still making great Chinese for you.
O’Bryan’s gets a shout out here for being open, with delivery or carryout, because while their current location is not downtown, Ohio Fire, their new concept opening this summer, will be, so they get bonus Main Street love here.
And, breaking news — Uniontown Brewing Company will open back up starting Tuesday. If you are hungry for great food, downtown Ashland is here for you.
Speaking of downtown, I would be remiss if I did not mention Ashley’s Candy & Nut Shoppe, that chocolate institution on Main Street that is my go-to for all the holidays that require chocolate — and there sure are tons of them.
Easter is right around the corner, and in our house at least, the Bunny brings oodles of chocolate from the Candy & Nut Shoppe.
Luckily for us, he will still be able to do so this year. Call the shop at 419-281-2766, place your order, select a pick up time, and Ashley and her team can run the order to your car. That is some serious bunny speed, and a great way to support a downtown institution.
Don’t forget that we have an essential and amazing downtown grocery store at Save-A-Lot, and our friends (and members) at Fig & Oak are doing deliveries of the food mixes they have in their store.
There are so many businesses open and providing food and food stuffs for us, we really are fortunate.
Now, this is a column about downtown, and while we have blurred the lines a little bit during this virus time, we can’t list every Ashland restaurant that is currently open… but our friends (and members) at Explore Ashland can, and did. Go to their page at exploreashlandohio.com and you will see their listing of every restaurant in Ashland County and what their food policy is right now. Amy Daubenspeck & Emily McKinley of the Ashland Chamber of Commerce and Explore Ashland — bless them — update the list every day, so it is as current as humanly possible.
If you aren’t feeling like eating out, but still want to support our restaurants, how about a gift card?
You could even buy a few extra and give them to the people who are at work right now making our lives and world run smoothly.
This economic crisis is affecting all of us, and I am sure there are many of you out there who would like to buy a million gift cards, but can’t. Friends, that is OK.
I ask that you let your fingers do the walking. Leave a positive review, share, or like on social media for local businesses. Social media is a powerful tool to keep our downtown businesses going strong during these crazy times, and it is simple and costs you nothing but a few seconds.
That is an amazing investment, when you think about how that short amount of work can help keep our downtown businesses open through the end of this quarantine time, ready to open their doors for us when they can.
I hope you are all well and safe, either at home or practicing social distancing out and about. Stay well because we are going to need to see you downtown, when we open up Main Street later and safer this year.
