24 Restaurants from Across State Become Members of Maryland Department of Agriculture Maryland’s Best Restaurant Promotion

#GetYourFRESHon! and #BuyLocal Seasonal Movement takes off

ANNAPOLIS, MD –Twenty-four restaurants from 12 Maryland counties and Baltimore City have signed up for the Maryland Department of Agriculture’s Maryland’s Best 2016-2017 program. Maryland’s Best is the source to find the best local food and products from Maryland farmers. The current promotion, “Maryland’s Best Restaurants” runs through the end of the year.

With so many restaurants already sourcing locally, the campaign recognizes and promotes them for supporting local farmers.Maryland’s Best encourages restaurants to source, purchase, prepare with and promote local Maryland specialty crops on their menus and online.

Current member restaurants include the following. Go to www. marylandsbest.net/marylands-best-restaurant-members-eat-local/ for details about each:

• Allegany County – Giuseppe’s Italian Restaurant
• Anne Arundel County – Boatyard Bar & Grill, Founder’s Tavern, Preserve, Severn Inn, Miss Shirley’s Cafe
• Baltimore City – Artifact Coffee, The Brewer’s Art, Gertrude’s, Miss Shirley’s Café, Parts & Labor,Woodberry Kitchen
• Baltimore County – Conrad’s Seafood Restaurant, Grill at Harryman House
• Carroll County – Brick Ridge Restaurant, Salerno’s Restaurant & Catering
• Frederick County – Wine Kitchen on the Creek
• Howard County – AIDA Bistro & Wine Bar
• Kent County – K-B Market and Kitchen School
• Montgomery County – Comus Inn at Sugarloaf Mountain
• Prince George’s County – Franklin’s Restaurant Brewery and General Store
• Queen Anne’s County – Annie’s Paramount Steak and Seafood House
• St. Mary’s County – Blue Wind Gourmet
• Washington County – Carmine’s Creative Italian Cuisine

Restaurants can still sign up at http://marylandsbest.net/marylands-best-restaurant-promotion. Benefits include the following:

• Maryland’s Best window decal, stickers and check inserts to publicize support
• Maryland’s Best grocery bag for farmer’s market shopping
• Maryland’s Best Restaurants live link listing on Maryland’s Best and mentioned on all MDsBest social media accounts
• Maryland’s Best logo for use on restaurant web and social media sites
• Maryland’s Best Restaurants listing on a future mobile app (software application) being developed by the department for consumers to find eateries cooking with local produce

The department is also hosting a social media contest asking Maryland restaurateurs to snap “selfies” with their favorite farmer, specialty crop and/or local summer produce menu item and post them on the Maryland’s Best Facebook page and on Instagram and Twitter using @MDsBest and the hash-tags: #BuyLocal, #FarmersMarket, #MDsBest, #GetYourFRESHOn! The Maryland Department of Agriculture’s Maryland’s Bestprogram will monitor the contest to determine the winner to be announced in November.

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Follow Maryland Department of Agriculture on Twitter @MdAgDept