Taste of Nassau gives restaurants a boost

For four days during the first week of school, students had a chance to fill their stomachs without emptying their wallets.

Taste of Nassau, which lasted from Sept. 17-20, provided students with special discounts at 10 local restaurants in an effort to encourage students to partake in community life beyond FitzRandolph Gate. The event was organized by USG vice president Josh Weinstein '09 and USG campus and community affairs (CCA) chair Cindy Hong '09.

"It's a good way to start off Princeton Plus," Weinstein said, referring to the student discounts arranged by him and other members of the USG and compiled on the princetonplus.com website he unveiled last April. "We try to bridge that gap between Princeton and the community," he added.

Several restaurants involved in Taste of Nassau reported a substantial improvement of student business over the four-day period, such as Sotto, a higher-end Italian restaurant that offered an overall 20 percent discount.

"We had a great turnout, getting about 20 [students] per night, if not more," said John Procaccini, one of Sotto's several owners.

Sotto already provides a 10 percent general student discount and gives students over 21 years old discounts on drinks on Senior Wednesdays, Procaccini said.

Masala Grill manager Suchitra Patel, wife of owner Himanshu Patel, said that 10-15 groups of students took advantage of their $18 prix-fixe menu, which included several savory courses, mango lassis and dessert.

Shivani Radhakrishnan '11 took advantage of Masala Grill's prix-fixe as part of a group of about 10 people. They seemed to enjoy the meal, she said.

"It was a good opportunity to go out; I probably wouldn't get a chance to do that so much normally," Radhakrishnan added.

Other students, such as Vicki Chen '09, were surprised that prix-fixe menus had restricted selections. Chen dined at the Yankee Doodle Tap Room in the Nassau Inn, which offered a $25 prix-fixe meal during the discount week.

"It was very expensive, but there were many courses." Chen said.

Aku Ammah-Tagoe '11 said she and her friends heard about Taste of Nassau too late to take advantage of the discounts.

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"I think — from what I learned about it — [Taste of Nassau] was really well structured, but just not publicized enough," Ammah-Tagoe said.

Sarah Allison '10 was unable to attend Taste of Nassau as well, only learning about it through word of mouth.

Allison said she liked the initiative's objective of easing access to "the higher-end restaurants that I would not usually be able to visit" but added that "more advertising would be helpful."

Lisa Ruddy, owner of Princeton's Original Soup Man, also reported a strong turnout for the event.

"[University] students are a large part of our customer base; about 10 to 15 percent are students," Ruddy said.

Soup Man reaches out to students with their Tiger special, offering a free drink with every soup, sandwich or salad, Ruddy added.

Future plans to further advertise student discounts include placing decals in store windows to identify them as participants in Princeton Plus, Hong said.

"I thought that [Taste of Nassau] would be a good way for participating restaurants to increase their visibility amongst students," she said.

Hong said in an email that she encourages the next CCA board to continue Taste of Nassau and expand Princeton Plus.

"I hope that Princeton Plus becomes the goto source for students to find out more about local vendors," Hong said.

Weinstein said the website is the primary means of promoting the campaign to local merchants and students.

"It's great; the more publicity it gets, the more businesses want to be involved; the more businesses want to be involved, the more students want to use [Princeton Plus], and it just keeps on growing."