Victoria Advocate: Taste of the Town to bring together 16 restaurants under one roof, support women's home

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Gastronomes of the Crossroads unite.

Sixteen local restaurants will set up tables and serve selections from their menus in one place at one time for Taste of the Town. And the smorgasbord will not only benefit taste buds.

The proceeds from Sunday’s fundraiser will benefit the Perpetual Help Home in Victoria. Since 1995, the faith-based nonprofit has served as a safe place where women can recover after various setbacks including abusive relationships, addictions and prison sentences.

“We help them with life and job skills so they can live stable and independent lives when they leave us,” said Bethany Castro, director of Perpetual Help Home.

Restaurants will include PumpHouse Riverside Restaurant and Bar, Yamato Hibachi and Sushi, 5D Steakhouse and Lounge, Thai Orchid, Vela Farms, Para Vida Wellness, Noot’s Thai Kitchen, Yummy Finds, the Fry Shack, the Lunch Box, Dickey’s Barbecue Pit, Jay’s Cook Shack, Clean Plates, Tropical Smoothie Café, Curbside Cajun Eatery and Karen’s SweetPea Cupcakery.

Guests will pile their large, sturdy Chinet plates with 2-ounce cups filled with provisions from each station on restaurant row before proceeding to one of the many tables to dine. And they can return for more of their favorites when they are done.

This is the first time the nonprofit has hosted Taste of the Town, and at $20 per ticket, this is a fundraiser most people can afford. Castro said they modeled the fundraiser after a large Brazosport Chamber of Commerce event by the same name that is immensely successful and a more intimate, popular version in Goliad.

The money raised will help keep the doors of the pale blue wood-frame house open in downtown Victoria. The home serves as many as 17 women at one time, some of them with children. The average number of women served each year is 60. To date this year, the home has served 55 women and 32 children, including four newborn babies.

“The home has given me a safe place to grow and save up money to get back on my feet,” said resident Jessica Flores, 43, of Victoria. “The group of women cares about each other. We do as much as we can for each other, and the administrators are caring women who really want all of us to succeed.”

The Victoria Advocate encourages Crossroads residents to purchase tickets now for a fun and unusual dining experience that helps support a vitally important resource in the Crossroads.

Victoria Advocate