The 2014 Eat Your City Restaurant Week starts on Monday, August 11 and runs through to Sunday, August 17. Many people are already making their plans on which menus to attack first. Here are some tips to help you maximize your Eat Your City experience.
1) Look for restaurants offering almost their regular menus
Some participating restaurants like to offer restaurant week guests a true idea of what their regular menu will offer. This is a great way to try a restaurant for the first time to see if you’d enjoy coming back in the future. For instance:
- Terra Cotta Gourmet Pizzeria is offering any one of their Pizza Elegante as a course.
- A first course option at Mi Casita includes Papusa.
- The Peanut Sauce is insanely awesome go-to dish at Thai Palace. Good thing it’s included as a course option.
2) Look for restaurants offering new dishes
As mentioned in the first tip, some restaurants are offering new items that have never been on their regular menus before. So even if you’re wanting to visit a regular of yours, you can make it something fresh and new by ordering one of the new items on their Winter Bites menu. Some examples are:
- Jack’s in Kingsville is celebrating the pig with an entire menu of new items, including Apricot Brandied Pork.
- Rino’s Kitchen is showcasing House Spiced Jerk Chicken on their menu.
- Unless you’re a member, everything at The Windsor Club will be new to you! The private club is opening their doors to the public and participating in Eat Your City. Make reservations!
These are just a few of many examples. Check out the participating restaurant menus for more.
3) Find true bargains at lunch
It’s a well-known “secret” that many of the best deals are offered for lunch. This year, several restaurants are offering $10 three course meals, including:
- The Carvery and their porchetta sandwich.
- Pho Maxim is offering an incredible $10 three course option.
- Green Bean is participating at both of their locations.
4) Make reservations
We can’t say this enough: make a reservation. Our Winter Bites Restaurant Week in January had restaurants turning people away because they were at capacity. Be certain you can get into your first choice restaurant by calling in advance and making a reservation.
5) Eat, then play
The House of Pong is offering EYC diners 25% off their table tennis rental if they show their EYC dinner receipt. After stopping by the House of Pong on our Friday Night Lights bike ride, we can tell you first hand that it’s a blast!
6) Share your EYC love
Yes, be one of those people. Selfies with your sandwich? Kissing a kabob? We’re all for it. In fact, we encourage it! You can share with us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram all using the same hashtag: #EatYourCity (yes, Facebook uses hashtags).
Along with Facebook-ing and Tweeting your Eat Your City selections, use Facebook to “check-in” to your restaurant of choice and tag WindsorEats as being with you.
7) Share… literally!
It’s always fun heading out with a group of friends and Eat Your City makes it that much tastier. We’ve heard stories of everybody at a table ordering a different item so that everyone can try each and every dish on a particular restaurants EYC menu. Now that’s smart!
8) Talk with your servers
Don’t be shy. As mentioned above, some restaurants are rolling out new dishes just for Eat Your City, so the servers might have an inside scoop.
9) Weekday Dining
If you’re wanting to avoid the busiest time, we recommend dining out for Eat Your City Restaurant Week on a weekday. It’ll help avoid the likeliness of a restaurant being booked.
10) Go hungry and have fun
3 courses is a lot of food so be sure to pack an appetite when you head out. The point of the week is to get people exploring the dining scene in Windsor-Essex and being social. Enjoy yourself and the meals!
