Traditional Media Leadership Gets Behind New Food Review Pilot Program

June 15, 2015 - PRLog -- So there’s this Spanish teacher who emailed me one day and told of this idea he had to tour and review restaurants across Wilson County.

I’ll be honest. I immediately discounted it when I saw the word “review.” After all, we’re not in the business to write anything even remotely critical of our wonderful businesses – in this case restaurants – in Wilson County, especially those exceptional businesses that choose to spread the good word through the use of advertising in The Lebanon Democrat.

But Brad Major was persistent. I mean, have you ever met the guy? He’s driven and passionate about everything he does. Must be why he was named teacher of the year at MAP Academy.

So after he fenagled a meeting with me through one of our marketing reps who is a friend of mine, I reluctantly met with him. With his two well-behaved children in tow, this hippy-looking guy who looks like he’d opt for tofu over steak steps into my office. I wondered where this was going.

I was pleasantly surprised when I heard his pitch. I guess he’d gotten wind of my reservations, but the gist was a regular column on our Food & Health page that appears each Wednesday in The Democrat with a video accompaniment for lebanondemocrat.com that highlighted a local restaurant with a sort of “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives” theme.

And thus Let’s Eat, Wilson County was born. The bi-weekly segment has been fantastic so far. Now in it’s eighth installment, Major, DeAna Elwell and special guests visit locally owned and operated eateries and wrap the experience all up in this fantastic package both in print and online.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, that’s OK. I’ll admit it’s still a new concept. But you absolutely must check it out every other Wednesday. I’ve been blown away with the crew’s quality, kindness, attention to detail and love for food, especially the good eats created locally.

So far, Let’s Eat, Wilson County has done a lot for me, personally. As a fellow food lover, it has turned me on to a couple of Wilson County’s eateries I knew about but haven’t tried for whatever reason. It’s also reaffirmed my love for a few others I haven’t visited in a while. I believe it can do the same for you.

So we have this cool new feature now for The Democrat, and I’ll be a monkey’s uncle if I was going to remain on the sidelines. It looked like so much fun, after all.

“So when am I going to get an invite?” I asked Brad recently. He told me anytime and anyplace. So I picked Tater’s in Lebanon due to its proximity to my office and the fact that who doesn’t love taters?

We met earlier this week, and I was again pleasantly surprised to see I wasn’t the only special guest for lunch. Wilson Central High School wrestling coach and culinary instructor John Cramer and his son, John Cramer Jr., were already inside eyeing the menu when I arrived. The younger Cramer is a wrestling state champion and about to start college soon in Missouri.

One thing I will say about Tater’s is there’s a “home run challenge” that involves eating three giant potatoes in 30 minutes or less. No one’s done it yet, and I wasn’t about to try.

Without giving too much away, Tater’s lived up to its reputation, a visit with Brad and making new friends was about the best lunch hour I’ve had in quite a while.

So make sure you visit lebanondemocrat.com and check out all the past installments of Let’s Eat, Wilson County and don’t miss the upcoming episode featuring Tater’s and all the other Wilson County eateries on Brad’s list.

Now that’s good eats.

Jared Felkins is the editor of The Democrat and once ate a 52-ounce steak in college just for a T-shirt. Email him at jfelkins@lebanondemocrat.com or follow him on Twitter @paperboyfelkins.