Santa Cruz Restaurant Week Oct. 3-10 offers $25 3-course dinners

The fourth annual Santa Cruz Restaurant Week is Oct. 3-10, 2012, and more than 30 local restaurants – from Davenport to Watsonville – are offering three-course gourmet dinners for only $25. Special menus typically include three options for each course: appetizer, entrée, and dessert, and customers choose one selection from each course (sometimes there are only two dessert choices).

Last year’s Restaurant Week was more popular than ever, with two dozen participating restaurants and an eight-day span (increasing from less restaurants and a seven-day span the year before). This year, with the restaurants Main Street Garden Café and Oswald coming on board in the last week, the number of restaurants for customers to choose from is 32! Restaurant reservations are recommended.

As Santa Cruz Restaurant Week’s event coordinator Lily Stoicheff says, “There are so many restaurant owners and chefs doing truly unique things with an astounding amount of creativity with delicious results. More and more restaurants are partnering with local farms to bring the freshest and tastiest ingredients to the table.” This event is a great way to discover new restaurants or revisit ones you already know and love.

I will post a few menus and at least one review in the next few days.

Restaurants that are participating, in alphabetical order:

• Aquarius
• Casablanca
• Café Mare (new this year)
• Center Street Grill (new this year)
• Chocolate (new this year)
• Cilantro’s (new this year)
• The Crow’s Nest
• Davenport Roadhouse
• El Palomar (new this year)
• Gabriella Café
• Heavenly Café (new this year)
• Hoffman’s Bistro & Patisserie
• Hollins House at Pasatiempo (new this year)
• Johnny’s Harborside
• La Posta
• Laili
• Linwood’s at Chaminade
• Main Street Garden & Café (new this year)
• MexItalian (new this year)
• Michael’s on Main
• Oak Tree Ristorante
• Olitas (new this year)
• Oswald (new this year)
• Red Restaurant & Bar
• Ristorante Italiano (new this year)
• Sanderlings at Seascape Resort
• Soif
• Solaire at Hotel Paradox (new this year)
• Süda (new this year)
• The Point Chophouse & Lounge
• Tyrolean Inn & Restaurant
• 515 Kitchen & Cocktails

For more information, visit the event web site.

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