Baltimore County's winter promotion ended on Friday, January 28, and the city's Restaurant Week officially concluded last night; however, many restaurants have announced extensions. Sunday, January 30; and Howard County's winter promotion finishes up tonight, January 31

Continue to post your restaurant week dining comments here, and I'll post a big wrap-up tomorrow.

Here's a list of area restaurants that run week-in, week-out weekly dining specials.

Posted by Richard Gorelick at 12:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (47)
Categories: Restaurant Week
        

I spent some time looking over the posted menus on the website of Baltimore Restaurant Week, which begins this Friday.

Boring!!

Well, boring is not such a bad thing. Most restaurants are running selected specials, the tried and the true, from their regular menus, which is just what many diners are looking for.

And a deal is a deal. When it's a deal. Stay tuned to these pages for recaps and postings of the best and the worst Restaurant Week experiences.

Meanwhile, I managed to find 10 Restaurant Week menu items that made my heart leap, at least a little. Some of them look new to me, a few I've seen before.

In no particular order

Watertable -- I still haven't been to the restaurant in the Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel. Shame on me. I was impressed with the Restaurant Week menu, though. What got my attention was this entree: Pincanha -- Brazilian grilled steak with black beans and rice. It's be swell if it's the right cut.

Slainte -- Pub menus are particularly disappointing. But take a look at the appetizer list at this Fells Point pub -- poutine fries, green leek soup, and, especially tempting, mushroom gnudi (gnocchi), fried golden with brown butter and sage.

Mr. Rain's Fun House -- And not because the restaurant atop the American Visionary Art Museum is hosting the Dining@Large happy hour. Take a look at the menu for yourself. What caught my eye -- the braised rabbit in pearl onion, garlic and marjoram sauce, a dish created to celebrate the upcoming Chinese New Year.

Pazo -- For their second course, participating diners here choose 4 from among 18 listed tapas. What made me hungriest -- the scallops a la planxa with celery root puree.

Continue reading "Top 10 Tuesday -- non-boring Baltimore Restaurant Week menu items " »

Posted by Richard Gorelick at 1:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: Restaurant Week, Top Ten Tuesdays
        

Baltimore County's winter restaurant promotion starts today. I've been looking over the fixed-price deals the participating restaurants are offering. The innovation here is all-inclusiveness. Restaurants were allowed to establish their fixed price, for lunch or for dinner, at one any one of six levels -- $10.11, $15.11, $20.11, $25.11, $30.11 or $35.11.

You can find them all collected on the Baltimore County Restaurant Week website, but you have to click on the links to discover the deal.

As Madonna said in Depaerately Seeking Susan, "...Fortunately for everyone, I'm here..." 

So here's how it all breaks down, with the rule-breakers first.

Carson's Creekside Restaurant and Lounge in Middle River gets super extra credit for offering customers six different menu options. Their customers can choose among menus fixed at $10.11, $15.11, $20.11, $25.11, $30.11 or $35.11. Those options are available all day at Carson's Creekside, beginning at 11 a.m.

Suburban House is running a two-for-$35.11 deal

And depending on what you order as a main entree, the fixed price for your dinner at Friendly Farm is either $25.11 (Porterhouse steak), $20.11 (crab cake or fried shrimp) or $15.11 (fried chicken). There are separate deals for children ages 3-10 ($7.11) and 1 to 2 ($2.11; awwww!)

And dunce caps for CJ's Crabhouse & Grill, Greystone Grill and Captain Harvey's for not having posted their deals as of noon on Opening Day.

$10.11

Ashland Bar & Grill (L)

McAvoy's (L)

Pizza John's (L/D)

Razorback's Raw Bar & Grill (L)

$15.11

The Candle Light Inn (L)

Dimitri's Int'l Grille (L)

Hard Yacht Cafe (L)

Liberatore's Bistro/Owings Mills (L)

Liberatore's Ristorante/Timonium (L)

Liberatore's Ristorante/Perry Hall (L)

Marli's Dockside Grill & Crabhouse (L)

Ristorante Lil' Tony's (D)

Tark's Grill (L)

Continue reading "Baltimore County Restaurant Week, arranged by fixed price" »

Posted by Richard Gorelick at 11:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Restaurant Week
        

First up, Baltimore County Restaurant Week -- it starts on Friday, January 14.

Then, Howard County's Winter Restaurant Weeks begin on Monday, January 17.

And Baltimore Restaurant Week begins on Friday, January 21.

Take a look here. We've put together all kinds of useful information to help you navigate through these winter restaurant promotions.

I'm going to work on gathering up some archival Restaurant Week threads for us to look at, too. I'll post them right here.

Posted by Richard Gorelick at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Restaurant Week