OAKLAND, Calif., Jan. 4, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Bay Area diners are marking their calendars for Oakland Restaurant Week, presented by Visit Oakland in partnership with See.Eat.Love. From Friday, January 11 through Sunday, January 20, 2019, over 100 Oakland Restaurants will celebrate one of the largest and most diverse restaurant week in the region.
Now in its 9th year, the popular program runs over ten days and two weekends for foodies to take full advantage of dining deals. Participating restaurants will offer prix fixe lunch and/or dinner menus at $10, $20, $30, $40 and $50 price points. The promotional prices reflect up to 25% off regular a la carte items.
Oakland Restaurant Week 2019 introduces all-new interactive dining experiences to the program, so that diners can learn about the stories behind their food and participate in behind-the-scenes events:
- SATURDAY, JANUARY 12: Guests who visit Brotzeit Lokal for dinner on January 12th will enjoy eating for a cause. When customers order the prix-fixe restaurant week menu on January 12th, a portion of the sales will be donated to the Alameda County Community Food Bank. Guests will also enjoy live music throughout the evening.
- MONDAY, JANUARY 14, 6PM-9PM: Benefit Dinner for Alameda County Community Food Bank: Bardo is proud to support the Alameda County Community Food Bank with a special Oakland Restaurant Week benefit dinner. Guests will enjoy an inventive 3-course dinner from chefs Brian Starkey and Anthony Salguero (Michel Bistro, Plumed Horse) with house red and white wines in an intimate mezzanine dining room.
- $125 per person, seating is limited. Purchase tickets here.
- TUESDAY, JANUARY 15, 7PM: Old Oakland Progressive Dinner: This is an exciting opportunity to explore Old Oakland through food and drink. Lauren Herpich, from Local Food Adventures, will be guiding a group of 12 people through a culinary odyssey. Guests will learn about the history of the neighborhood and enjoy a multi-course meal across three different venues.
- $95 per person; additional $30 for wine/cocktails. Purchase tickets here.
- 7 pm: First Course/Appetizers at Tamarindo: Attendees will start the progressive dinner over a first course of a selection of specialty tacos celebrating Taco Tuesday. Chef Gloria Dominguez will join and discuss the ingredients used in her cuisine, highlighting the tamarind tree. Guests who choose to add some additional "spirit" to their experience will enjoy a Margarita de Tamarindo.
- 7:45 pm: Second Course/Main at Benchmark Oakland: The next stop is to Benchmark Oakland for a private table feast of wood-fired pizza, pastas and an entree presented by Chef Peter Swanson. Chef Peter will take guests through the dishes and discuss the genesis of Old Oakland's newest resident. The alcohol upgrade package includes a glass of red wine that is perfectly paired with Benchmark's Italian dinner selections.
- 8:30 pm: Dessert at Cookiebar Creamery: To complete the experience, the group will enjoy a fun and casual private ice cream tasting. Owner Rob Pheng will share a special dessert not available to the public that utilizes the unique ice cream flavors and tastes of this hip and cool neighborhood parlor.
- Local Food Adventures Oakland Food Tours: The East Bay walking food tour company, will offer tours in Oakland's Grand Lake and Rockridge neighborhoods during both weekends of ORW.
- Offering a 20% discount on all tours during ORW19 using the code ORW19. Book tour here.
- Grand Lake Cultural Cuisine Food Tour: available Saturday, January 12 & January 19
- Rockridge Neighborhood Heritage Food Tour: available Sunday, January 13 & January 20
The Alameda County Community Food Bank returns as the Oakland Restaurant Week's non-profit partner. Proceeds from select participating restaurants will be donated to the organization to help distribute fresh food within the region and battle child hunger within schools and our community. Visit Oakland will also be encouraging visitors on oaklandrestaurantweek.org to make a donation to the food bank.
"Oakland Restaurant Week continues to excite Bay Area diners, and this year especially, with the new neighborhood-focused Progressive Dinner," says Mark Everton, CEO of Visit Oakland. "With the all-new interactive dining experiences this year, we're catering to Bay Area foodies' want to learn about the stories and chef behind the recipe, and also about the history of the neighborhoods that our restaurants call home."
Michelin Guide recently released its annual Bib Gourmand recommendations, and they included the following Oakland Restaurant Week participants; A16, Dyafa, Farmhouse Kitchen and Millennium.
Complete lists of participating restaurants, menus, special events and reservations are available on http://www.oaklandrestaurantweek.org. Participating restaurants can be searched by neighborhood, cuisine and meal type. Through a partnership with OpenTable, reservations (strongly recommended) can be made directly from the Oakland Restaurant Week page.
Oakland restaurants are part of a thriving hospitality industry in Oakland. Overall, 2017 visitor spending in Oakland generated a record of $882M in business sales, an increase of 6.7% over 2016. Oakland visitors spent over $165M on food and beverage alone in 2017, an increase of 5.4% over 2016. Oakland visitor spending supported 7,310 jobs in the city and generated $288.6M in personal income for Oakland workers, with 2,218 of those jobs in food & beverage and generated $62M in personal income for that industry.
Oakland Restaurant Week is a part of California Restaurant Month, created by Visit California. The statewide event is a promotional initiative encouraging post-holiday travel to California during the month of January. Join Oakland Restaurant Week on social media by following #ORW19.
ABOUT VISIT OAKLAND
Visit Oakland is a non-profit organization marketing Oakland, California as a travel destination. Visit Oakland offers a wide variety of complimentary services and materials for travelers interested in visiting Oakland. For more information, check out http://www.visitoakland.com. Want to share the Oakland love with the world? Follow @visitoakland on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
CONTACT
Allie Neal, PR Manager, Visit Oakland
O: (510) 208-0529 C: (925) 286-5284 E: allie(at)visitoakland.com
SOURCE Visit Oakland
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