Stephenson County Restaurant Week kicked off with ‘This Is It Eatery’ ribbon cutting

FREEPORT, Ill. (WTVO) — Stephenson County kicked off its fourth restaurant week with the opening of nationally recognized This Is It Eatery’s New Location.

Owner Greg Miller said being featured as one of America’s best restaurants has brought in customers from all over.

“It’ll be different times they’ll call me over [and ask] where are the cattle raised? So I explain it. And a lot of people we got a lot of out-of-town traffic that comes in from New York, Chicago, whatever,” said Miller. They’re just not acquainted with it and so it’s pretty cool to kind of share that stuff.”

He said Restaurant Week only adds to that crowd.

“I give them credit, they come up with these events and, you know, it seems to help out,” said Miller.

The Greater Freeport Partnership came up with the event to support restaurants during the pandemic, four years later, they said restaurants are popping up all over the county.

“We have five new restaurants within the last year. We had a ribbon cutting this morning for one of them who just moved and then we’ll have a ribbon cutting again at La Patrona, a cantina and grill at the end of Restaurant Week to kind of close out the week,” said Greater Freeport Partnership Brand Director Nicole Haas. “We’re really excited to see this resurgence in the interest of restaurants in Stephenson County.”

This year’s restaurant week participants had the chance to win up to $100 in prizes.

“We also introduced a little competition this year using the hashtag Steph Co Eats [#StephCoEats],” said Haas. “People who take pictures at any of the highlighted restaurants and post them on their social media will be entered at the end of restaurant week for $100 partnership cash that can be used at any of the featured restaurants.”

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to MyStateline | WTVO News, Weather and Sports.