CLEVELAND — Cleveland’s food scene is gaining national attention after Travel and Leisure Magazine has ranked the city in the country’s top ten “foodie” cities, among New York City, New Orleans and others.
Local food blogger and influencer, Tricia McCune, said this shouldn’t be a surprise.
“Other cities tend to have, you know, one or two things that they’re melding together but here in Cleveland, it’s just every neighborhood is its own pocket of something really unique or old world,” she said.
Most days, you can find McCune scoping out a new Cleveland restaurant or revisiting one of her favorites.
She’s been running her blog, CLE Foodies for over a decade, and has seen the city’s culinary landscape evolve over time.
Although she’s loved the culinary industry her entire life, this hasn’t always been McCune’s career.
After battling cancer, she decided it was time to follow her dreams.
“So when I was first diagnosed with cancer, it really it shook me,” McCune said. “It made me realize I need to stop putting my life on hold, do what I love. I started a food blog and ended up in a culinary launch program that helped me launch the food truck. I just keep doing the blogging as I’ve started new businesses.”
McCune estimates that she’s visited and blogged about more than 2,000 restaurants, but she never leaves a bad review.
“Every place has something about them that shines,” she said. “I’m just trying to uncover that for them. Because if they didn’t shine on something they wouldn’t survive, it wouldn’t be open.”
For McCune, it’s about uplifting the local places who don’t always get the attention she thinks they deserve, and she’ll always pick the most unique dish on their menu.
“When I go to a place, if they’ve got something really strange on the menu I’ve never seen before, I assume it’s on there for a reason, and that it’s going to be really good,” she said. “I’m almost always correct about that.”
