Excellent food not hard to find in Tri-Cities

What was leftover in the notebook after last week’s Rolling Down the River business expo at Pheasant Run for area chambers of commerce? Enough to maybe get your mouth watering a little.

First, this had nothing to do with a booth or vendor at the expo, but I was told that the recently-closed Main Street Tastee Freeze location (formerly Pop’s Place) on the east side of St. Charles will reopen as another fast-food location, possibly a Scooby’s Hot Dogs.

But, back to the expo. I’ve seen the ads in the Daily Herald for the fish and chips at Claddagh Irish Pub in Geneva, but haven’t had a chance to enjoy them. So, it was nice to eat some samples at the Claddagh booth. That dish is now on my “to-do list” — to get over there for the Monday two-for-one special.

New pizza joint: General manager Nicholas Utech, a Batavia resident, was handing out samples of his HotFast Pizza, which opened recently on Prairie Street in St. Charles. HotFast Pizza is located near Randall Road in the unit that was a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop years ago.#147;We want to offer a large, one-topping pizza at $5, so people have an affordable option,#148; Utech said of.The cheese-and-sausage sample I tried was quite tasty, so if you are the type who doesn#146;t need a loaded pizza, this is worth a try.Tasty pulled pork: Another booth worth visiting featured Tap House Grill and its pulled pork sandwich. It was so good, I had to ask about the other popular sandwiches at this St. Charles restaurant at 3341 W. Main Street near Peck Road.The Arizona Shaved Beef, Chipotle and Cheddar Hoagie was recommended, along with the stuffed burger. Mouth watering yet?Tasty dip: Not to be overlooked, I give high marks to the tortilla chips and three-cheese queso dip that was served at the Qdoba Mexican restaurant booth. I#146;m not a big fan of really spicy stuff, but this particular dish from Qdoba, located on the east side of St. Charles, was fine.A chef#146;s anniversary: While chatting with sales manager Erin Wickens at the Hotel Baker booth, I learned that Rox City Grill chef David Hassan recently celebrated his one-year anniversary at the hotel#146;s restaurant.The restaurant has been popular with residents and hotel patrons alike.Eateries faring well: Probably most importantly, most of the restaurant owners or employees I spoke to at the expo felt their eateries were doing better than last year at this time.With the economy struggling to get its footing, one can only hope that the rip-offs taking place at gas stations across the country won#146;t stifle the disposable income that we like to use to eat out on occasion.Restaurant owners know all about that danger.It would be nice to see current restaurants have a good year, and then some vacant locations start to come back with new offerings that attract diners in the Tri-Cities area and beyond.dheun@sbcglobal.net