Good Taste brings a taste of the Bay Area food world. This week, you’ll want to make note of five different local Restaurant Weeks bringing discounts on high-quality prix-fixe meals and other food items at places around the Bay Area in March and April. Many are also hosting raffles or other gift card giveaways, making a sale week even more tempting.
Alameda Restaurant Week (March 1-10)
15 restaurants (including Burma Superstar, Macondo Colombian Fusion, and Spiesekammer) are offering special prix fixe menus for Alameda Restaurant Week, and there is a growing list of other spots that have food discounts during this time period. There’s a rewarding social media element as well: use the hashtag #ARW2024 or enter the online raffle with photos you take at participating restaurants during the week for a chance to win restaurant gift cards. I say use this as an excuse to discover the wondery that is Donut Petit, a shop that has donut kabobs, ham and cheese Kouign Amanns, pistachio old-fashioneds and other delights.
Oakland Restaurant Week (March 14-24)
Visit Oakland has planned 10 days of discounts for this year’s Oakland Restaurant Week. More restaurants and menus are expected to be added soon, but there are already 113 participants on the site as of this writing! I’d say definitely keep your eyes on what will be offered by Nelson German’s alaMar Dominican Kitchen, the new Haitian restaurant T’chaka, Geoff Davis’ soul food sensation Burdell, the Tanzanian caterer Swahili Spot, and the young and gluten-free-friendly Colombian restaurant Parche.
Berkeley Restaurant Week (March 21-31)
An annual event hosted by Visit Berkeley, one beautiful purpose of Berkeley Restaurant Week is to raise money for Berkeley Food Network, which works to end hunger and poor nutrition. Menus for participating restaurants, including mainstays such as Angeline’s Louisiana Kitchen, Babette Cafe, Comal, Fish & Bird, Heroic Italian, La Marcha, and Zachary’s Chicago Pizza, will be posted on March 15.
SF Restaurant Week (April 5-14)
The Golden Gate Restaurant Association’s SF Restaurant Week will arrive this year with even more affordable options, starting with two-item brunches and lunches for $10-40 and three-item prix fixe dinners ranging from $30-90. Full participants will be announced in March. The list is typically varied and robust. The above promotional video was made two years ago, but the message is still strong: San Francisco’s neighborhood restaurants need our support.
Peninsula Restaurant Week (April 19-27)
15 restaurants on the Peninsula will offer dishes at special prices during Peninsula Restaurant Week, which is actually nine days long. It’s presented by Embarcadero Media, which publishes The San Francisco Peninsula, Peninsula Foodist, and The Six Fifty, and you can read a list of their recommendations for the promotion. Peninsula Foodist and The Six Fifty will have restaurant gift card giveaways on their respective Instagram feeds.
Tamara is the publisher of California Eating and the founder of the new online Music Book Club.
