CINCINNATI, OH--(Marketwired - Mar 24, 2014) - Organizers with Taste of Cincinnati, the nation's longest-running culinary arts festival, today announced that this year's festival will feature more food options than ever before in its 35-year history. Forty restaurants will be participating this year, five more than just last year. Of those 40, nine will be new to the 2014 edition of Taste. Additionally, several more higher-end restaurants will be participating in Taste Experience, and at least nine food trucks will be featured in "Food Truck Alley." In total, more than 250 food options will be on the menu ranging from fine dining to casual fare, a record level of variety.

Taste of Cincinnati, a production of the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber, and presented by Meijer and Christian Moerlein Brewing Company, will be held Memorial Day weekend, May 24-26. The event is held in Downtown Cincinnati on Fifth Street sprawling six blocks. For the first time in Taste history, the event will open at 11am on all three days this year.

Last year's Taste of Cincinnati set an attendance record with more than 550,000 people visiting the event, 10% higher than organizers had anticipated.

"It's hard to imagine that in our 35^th year, we can still have Taste evolve and offer even more variety, but that's exactly what we will be doing this year," said Pat Sheeran, Vice President of the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber. "From quite literally soup to nuts, that variety is what our visitors have come to expect year after year, and our team always sets out to exceed those expectations."

Taste Experience will return in 2014 in the beautiful P&G Gardens. Under a white tent, complete with high top cocktail tables and a selection of fine wines and craft beers, some of the area's finest restaurants will be featured. New this year, more space will be made to accommodate the interest in higher-end offerings, and more restaurants will participate than did last year, in the inaugural year. Again this year, the Chamber will be donating a portion of the Taste Experience proceeds to Cincinnati State's Midwest Culinary Institute. Last year $13,500 was donated with organizers anticipating they will exceed that in 2014 with a larger Taste Experience planned.