The list for the 16th annual DFW Restaurant Week has been released. And starting today, restaurants will take reservations for the week of special-priced fine dining, which runs August 12-18.
During the week, diners can enjoy special three-course meals at a set price of $35, or new this year, $45, which allows some restaurants with higher food costs to participate, mainly seafood and steakhouses. Restaurant Week is also an opportunity to donate to a few important local charities, including the North Texas Food Bank or Lena Pope Home. Last year the event raised $760,000.
More than 125 restaurant are participating in Restaurant Week this year, including some of the best restaurants in North Texas, like Tei-An, Nonna, Stephan Pyle's, Fearing's, Meso Maya, The Mansion on Turtle Creek, Lonesome Dove Western Bistro, Hattie's, Hibiscus, The Grape, Belly and Trumpet, Abacus and many more.
As mentioned above, dinners are either $35 or $45, with about 70 percent of restaurants offering the lower price point. There's also a Cadillac Lunch Experience for $25 that includes Al Biernat's, Nick and Sam's Grill, Nosh, Sambuca and Trevi's.
And, if you spend $25 at Central Market, you can request a certificate for an extra course at some restaurants.
All these details, price-points, menus and Cadillac Lunches are wrapped up in this tidy spreadsheet here.
With the preview and extension, Restaurant Week actually runs from August 9 through September 1.
Whether you're down with the Restaurant Week hoopla or not, remember the North Texas Food Bank has had a tough year and has yet to meet its annual fundraising goal. So, if you eat out at any of these restaurants that week, if nothing else part of it is going to a very important local cause. Think about this:
• 20 percent of the of each meal goes to either the NTFB or Lena Pope Home. That's $5 for each lunch, $7 for each $35 meal and $9 for every $45 meal.
• The NTFB can provide three meals for every $1 donation. So, every $35 meal equates to at least 21 meals at the NTFB.
• Restaurant Week is the single biggest annual fund raiser for the NTFB.