Eat Up, Pay Down: Restaurant Weeks Generate Foodie Savings

Frugal foodies, rejoice: California Restaurant Month is in full swing.

The statewide promotional project launched in 2011 and features lunch and dinner promotions in cities throughout the Golden State, including local culinary destinations like Buellton, San Luis Obispo and Ojai.

In the Santa Ynez Valley, Restaurant Weeks begins this Sunday and goes all the way through February 10^th – a full two-week campaign for the very first time. Some 32 participating restaurants are serving up three-course meals at the discounted, new year-inspired price of $20.19, plus tax and tip, and beverages are extra, too. All six Valley towns are represented – Buellton, Solvang, Santa Ynez, Los Olivos, Los Alamos and Ballard. And while the promotion is aimed squarely at generating foot traffic for restaurants during the traditionally slower winter months, it’s a chance for many of them to raise awareness, too.

Jeff Olssen, chef-owner at Industrial Eats in Buellton, objects to “marketing for marketing’s sake, so we wanted to attach something to it.” To shed spotlight on the devastation wrought by an ongoing civil war in Yemen, Mr. Olssen and his kitchen team are learning and preparing a variety of Yemeni dishes, including a lamb broth lentil soup, a braised beef osso buco with basmati rice and a variety of flatbreads and dipping sauces. “The flavors are very bright, with lots of herbs, lots of freshness, lots of citrus – interesting, tasty goodness,” says the chef, who’s donating all proceeds from his Restaurant Week sales to the non-profit, People of Yemen.

This is the third year Industrial Eats is putting an international awareness spin to their participation in Restaurant Week, with the spotlight on Puerto Rico last year and on Syria in 2017. From both promotions, select items remained on the restaurant’s menu for months after, and Mr. Olssen suspects the same will happen this year. “So this also motivates my staff in an otherwise slow time,” he says. “It’s a win-win all around.”

Chef Pink's Creekstone Ranch Burger at Root 246

In Solvang, the three-course $20.19 menu at Root 246 will feature Crystal “Chef Pink” DeLongpré’s Creekstone Ranch Burger -- an eight-ounce Wagyu patty and cheddar cheese -- and her American Lamb Burger, made with ricotta, house-pickled mustard seed and smoky tomato jam, and served with fries or the chef’s signature Brussels sprouts; Chef Pink is offering a totally different menu on week two of SYV’s Restaurant Weeks. 

In Santa Ynez, SY Kitchen’s Chef Luca Crestanelli will dole out his Bird’s Nest Lasagna, featuring fontina cheese, roasted butternut squash and chanterelle mushrooms. And in Los Olivos, Chef John Cox at The Bear & Star restaurant inside the Fess Parker Wine Country Inn will serve his Wagyu Empanada, made with black beans, Cotija cheese and beef from cattle raised at the Parker family ranch up the road.

Other restaurants taking part in Santa Ynez Valley Restaurant Week include Full of Life Flatbread and Plenty on Bell in Los Alamos; Chef Budi Kazali’s The Gathering Table at The Ballard Inn in Ballard; Hitching Post II and Firestone-Walker Brewing Co. in Buellton; the Los Olivos Wine Merchant & Café in Los Olivos; and Leonard’s Ristorante and Cecco Ristorante in Solvang. Seven wineries, including Alma Rosa in Buellton and Sunstone in Santa Ynez, are presenting food and wine pairings. And several hotels, like ForFriends Inn in Santa Ynez and The Landsby in Solvang, are enticing vacationers with room discounts of up to – you guessed it – 20.19%.

 

Find out more at DineSYV.com.

California Restaurant Month, a project by Visit California, the nonprofit that markets California to the world, also includes participation by Ojai and Oxnard, with the 11-day Ojai Restaurant Week and 10-day Oxnard Tacos, Treats & Tastings, both ending Sunday. In San Luis Obispo, SLO CAL Restaurant Month feeds foodies through January 31^st, with $30- and $40 prix fixe menus at dozens of restaurants across 11 cities, like Cambria, Pismo Beach and Paso Robles, as well as lodging specials. Santa Maria Valley Restaurant Week ends today.

Santa Barbara Restaurant Week happens outside the Visit California network but aims to leverage the statewide restaurant mindset. Taking place February 22^nd through March 3^rd and produced by Jordan’s, the 10-day event will feature dozens of local eateries – like Toma, Bella Vista, The Monarch, the Wine Cask and Joe’s Café – dishing out $25 two-course lunches and $40 three-course dinners. Find out more at sbrestaurantweeks.com..

Similarly, Lompoc Restaurant Week, put on by the Lompoc Valley Chamber of Commerce & Visitors Bureau, is slated for February 18-24, with more info at lompoc.com.

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