The first ever A Taste of Dishntunes.com was held at the beautifully remodeled Johnson’s Reception Hall on May 19. The event featured samples from Dishntunes.com member establishments including a dozen Northeast Iowa and Southwest Wisconsin restaurants, bars, wineries and coffee shops. With a downloaded dishntunes.com E-Coupon attendees bought 10 tasting tickets for $10.

The crowd sampled and enjoyed great music from the very entertaining Bill Stock of Greeley, IA. The hall was decorated with beautiful floral arrangements by Harvest Thyme of Elkader.
The official Taste of Dishntunes.com award was given to Stolen Moments of Monona, IA, which collected the most tasting tickets by serving the most samples. Beth Diers’ home-based business served up 22 dozen delectable Delite Bites and plenty of cheesecake to the crowd. Diers’ comments, “The event was classy, well organized, prepared for by dish-n-tunes and by the vendors participating.  I believe this event is now a must have event for years to come for our area!  Johnson’s renovations are spectacular, and it was delightful to have live music during the event.  I am elated for the exposure this event brought to our business, Stolen Moments.  That alone was gratifying,  to be named the Taste of Dish-n-Tunes.com is humbling.  I’m honored to have been in the company of such wonderful restaurants in the NE Iowa, SW Wisconsin region.  It was a great time!”
“This is some of the best food I’ve ever had,” said Dan, a visitor from the Quad Cities. Other attendees left satisfied and inquiring when dishntunes.com would repeat the event.  A Taste of Dishntunes.com attendees enjoyed generous portions of prime rib, pizza, appetizers, meatballs, reubens, Philly steak and chicken sandwiches, brick oven fired pizza, smoked chicken alfredo, marinated turkey breast, bratwursts, appetizers, bloody marys, various microbrews, wine, coffee and more.
“I’m thrilled with the response,” said Joleen Jansen, owner of Dishntunes.com. “Our goal was to provide plenty of exposure for our participating member establishments to their many potential customers. I would say ‘mission accomplished.’”  The hall was constantly full with sampling guests during the three hour event.  “I hope this experience will convert the event-goers into customers of the participating establishments.”
“I’d like to thank each of our participating member establishments for gambling the first time with Dishntunes.com on this venture, as well as the people who spread the word and came to check it out,” said Jansen. “People were asking for us to do this again next year.”
The Dishntunes.com participating members included Bill’s Boat Landing of Clayton, IA; Buckhorn Bar & Grill of Prairie du Chien, WI; Eagles Landing Winery of Marquette, IA; Graffitti’s of Edgewood, IA; Johnson’s Restaurant and Willow Creek Wine and Garden of Elkader, IA; The Irish Shanti of Gunder, IA; The Luana Tavern of Luana, IA; McGregor Beer & Bratz Garden, McGregor Coffee Roasters and Old Man River Restaurant & Brewery of McGregor, IA; and Stolen Moments of Monona, IA. Flower arrangements for the event were provided by Harvest Thyme of Elkader.