Welcome to Home Skillet, where Restaurant Week trumps Shark Week, but only by a little. Here are your big ideas for the week in dining:
NOW-Saturday, May 1: Get those forks out, Wilmington. Today kicks off yet another City Restaurant Week, a seven-day celebration of city restaurants and very affordable meals.
By now, you know the drill: fixed-price menus of two-course lunches for $15 and three-course dinners for $35 will be available at participating restaurants all through the week. This year’s restaurants are: Café Mezzanotte, Chelsea Tavern, Deep Blue, Domaine Hudson, The Green Room, Harry’s Seafood Grill, Mikimotos, Orillas Tapas Bar and Restaurant, Public House and Washington Street Ale House.
A few restaurants will also feature a Chef’s Table wrinkle this year, where a $60 reservation can land you the best seat in the house, a meeting with the chef and the owner, and lots of personalized treatment. Reservations can be made at www.cityrestaurantweek.com.
The week will culminate with the Dine Around on Saturday, May 1. The evening allows attendees to have a three-course meal with each course at a different restaurant. The appetizer, entrée and dessert will give the diners a chance to enjoy three restaurants in one evening. The cost is $60 and includes wine with the appetizer and entrée and gratuity. Online reservations are required at the event Website.
Thursday, April 29: As if you didn’t have good reason enough to dine out this week, along comes Dine Out for Life, the yearly, restaurant-based fundraiser for AIDS Delaware.
On Thursday, 17 New Castle County restaurants will donate a third of the night’s food sales to AIDS Delaware. All you gotta do is go out and eat.
This year’s restaurants are: Bellefonte Café, Buckley’s Tavern & Restaurant, Chelsea Tavern, Elements Restaurant & Piano Bar, E’s On Main Street Café & Catering, Jack’s Bistro, Lamberti’s Cucina, Lucky’s Coffee Shop & Restaurant, The Melting Pot, Paradise Palms, Pizza by Elizabeths, Soffritto Italian Grill, Stewart’s Brewing Company, Stoney’s British Pub, Timothy’s Riverfront Grill and Union City Grille.
Diners will also have a chance to win raffle prizes that include an Apple Vacation to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic or one of three one-hour, in-home massages by Gary Cramer of Soothing Touch Massage.
For more information, click here www.aidsdelaware.org or call or 652-6776.
Friday, April 30: On a recent motorcycle trip through South Asia, restaurateur Matt Haley saw firsthand the distressing conditions many Nepalese children live in every day. While there, Haley held a cooking class at the Reliance School in Nepal and made with a group of kids lentil soup. He also found inspiration.
Many of the school’s students benefit from Himalayan Children’s Charities, a nonprofit organization that provides care and education to destitute, orphaned and abandoned children in Nepal.
On Friday, Haley’s Fish On in Lewes will hold the Himalayan Children’s Charities Benefit, a limited dining event featuring Nepalese cuisine to help raise funds for HCC.
Live auction items include a two-night stay at Hotel Blue in Lewes, SoDel Concepts gift certificates, $100 gift certificate to Aquamarine, $50 to Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, front row tickets to see a New York Yankees vs. Baltimore Orioles game at Camden Yards, and more.
Tickets run $50 per person. For more, call Fred Mazzeo at Fish On 645-9790, or Matt Haley at 228-3786.
