Fall 2015 Restaurant Week begins TODAY!

If you don’t have reservations by now, you are really filling us with vicarious anxiety. Look at the menus and make some decisions and get reserving!

October 19, 2015; 9:00 AM • by Susan Howson

Maybe you’ve got Restaurant Week on lock and you just want menus. No problem, here they are.

If you’re all “What? A Week of Restaurants?” then read on, my good man or woman! Read on!

What it is

A way for restaurants to give back to the community (via actual cash donations to FeedMore) while at the same time gaining exposure.

How it works

Twice a year, for one seven-day stretch (in the restaurant biz, they call that a “week,” which explains how Restaurant Week got its name!), participating restaurants agree to offer a fixed-price menu (otherwise known as “prix-fixe,” which is pronounced confusingly a lot like the word “prefix,” and is either really snobby to say or totally correct and fine to say–nobody can decide which). Each menu will most likely contain an appetizer, an entree, and a dessert. Or, maybe an entree, a side, and a dessert.

Diners can avail themselves of this menu for $29.15. The cent amount represents the year (I’ll save you a click, this year is “2015”). Restaurants will donate $4.15 to FeedMore for each prix-fixe meal served. 

What’s on the menu

Sometimes restaurants will use Restaurant Week as a chance to showcase new stuff, and sometimes they’ll just include their old favorites. It’s almost always a battle–some Richmonders will wait months for Restaurant Week before venturing out of their house to dine, and chefs know they will be scrutinizing menus before making their reservations.

Oh yeah, reservations

You should make them, like, now. Right this minute. Here’s the full list of participating restaurants again, we suggest you pause reading and call. Restaurant Week is notoriously a madhouse, and walking in is not advised for places that take reservations.

Other places will not take reservations! It’s best to call ahead and find out the deal. 

When is it all happening

Restaurant Week begins Monday, October 19th and goes through Sunday, October 25th. Consult your desired restaurant to make sure they’re open on the day you want to go–many spots are closed on Sundays and/or Mondays, and you don’t want to be up hunger creek without a paddle.

Speaking of hunger

FeedMore, Richmond’s biggest player in the fight against hunger, raised upwards of $66,000 in 2014 from Restaurant Week. The Central Virginia Food Bank, Meals on Wheels, and Community Kitchen are all under the FeedMore umbrella, so your dining dollars will pay for actual food that helps actual people who do not have the resources you do to buy food for your table. 

Since much of Restaurant Week is about loosening your belt and diving into mouthwatering cuisine, it’s a good opportunity to ponder–whilst you chew–that there are people seriously geographically close to you who simply do no have enough to eat. That’s enough to help you respect your own good fortune while maybe savoring each bite a little more. If you can’t participate in Restaurant Week, consider making a donation of money or food online.

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Find all of the menus for the 2015 Richmond Restaurant Week right here!

October 19, 2015 9:00 AM · in Bon Air, East End Daily, and more 0