Restaurant Week heats up Costa Mesa

For the fourth year, the city’s Conference & Visitor Bureau will host Costa Mesa Restaurant Week, bringing together dozens of locations across town to offer special menus.

As a condition of involvement, organizers asked all participating restaurants to donate a gift card or certificate — and the supply was scheduled to be auctioned off Thursday night, with all proceeds benefiting Someone Cares Soup Kitchen.

This year will mark the third time Restaurant Week has raised funds for the kitchen at 720 W. 19th St. According to Shannon Santos, the charity’s executive director, the event netted $16,500 last year. Considering the $1.33 cost of assembling a meal at Someone Cares, that’s no small change.

“It is huge,” Santos said. “It is absolutely huge.”

For that matter, the coming Restaurant Week will be Costa Mesa’s most huge yet. The event, which will last from Friday through Aug. 22, involves 58 restaurants — up from the previous record of 40 a year ago.

“We really want to raise awareness, because we have so many great, amazing restaurants in Costa Mesa,” said Linda Ta, the visitor bureau’s marketing director.

Restaurants will offer prix-fixe menus, in which diners can choose among multiple options for different courses, or discounts. The participants range from casual (Newport Rib Company, Jerry’s Dogs) to upscale (Charlie Palmer, Antonello Ristorante).

Seabirds Kitchen, which opened at the Lab Antimall last October, is among the new participants this year. Owner Stephanie Morgan said she hoped the added exposure would boost business.

“I’m hoping that people will come give us a try who haven’t before,” she said. “Maybe they’ve been scared because it’s all vegetarian or vegan, but with the discount, hopefully they’ll say, ‘Why not?’”

For more information and a full list of restaurants, visit https://www.costamesarestaurantweek.org.