Restaurant week in New York and San Francisco are generally well-recieved, even anticipated, but in Los Angeles we only have one, S.Pelligrino's Dine Out every August. But some marketing geniuses have finally realized that these discount dining weeks actually generate buzz for the city and the restaurant scene. Here we have news about a new one in LA, and a couple regional ones for your road warriors.
LOS ANGELES: LA Inc., the LACVB, and American Express are behind dineLA, which takes place Jan. 27-Feb. 1 and Feb. 3-Feb. 8. You know the drill: Three course prix fixe lunches and dinners, either $15 or $22 and $25 and $34 depending on the restaurant. So far, the list isn't complete but the Patina group restaurants, the Border Grill and Ciudad, Grace and BLD, the Katsuyas, Angeli Caffe, One Sunset, the Sushi Roku family, and randomness like La Creperie Cafe and Tony P's Dockside Grill are all there. Don't hold your breath for places the hard-to-get-into, oft expensive spots like Comme Ca, Bastide, Craft or Mozza, or longstanding places like Josie, Michael's or Spago.
SAN DIEGO: If you happen to be down that way, San Diego's Restaurant Week is also Jan. 27-Feb. 1, with another in June. More than 125 restaurants participate, including some of our personal faves, El Bizcocho (sans chef Gavin Kaysen), Jack's La Jolla, Market, Nine-Ten and Oceanaire where you can tell our buddy and Top Chef alum Brian Malarkey we said hello.
PALM SPRINGS: This one's a ways off, but notable because its the first restaurant week for the city. Officiall flackage says "more than 40 of Palm Springs’ most talked about restaurants" will participate, and we honestly don't know what those could be. June 15-20.
