Restaurant Week Deals Extended At Some Hot Spots

By Anthony Todd in Food on Feb 24, 2011 9:20PM

News has been trickling in that some restaurants are extending discounts beyond the official dates of Chicago Restaurant Week. The promotion, which is always wildly popular, has been filling dining rooms all over Chicago. Chef Sarah Grueneberg, of Spiaggia, told us that Cafe Spiaggia did over 100 lunch covers yesterday, when their average Wednesday runs about 40. Takeaway? If you haven't made your reservations, make them now. But at some restaurants, the discounts don't end at the end of the week.

Lettuce Entertain You announced that several of their restaurant were extending restaurant week deals. Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak and Stone Crab will be extending their R-week bargains until March 4, and HUB 51, Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba and Mon Ami Gabi will be pushing it back to March 6. Same deal - $33 for 3 courses, except at Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba, which serves up 5 courses, including any two tapas off of the regular dinner menu.

Mercadito is extending their restaurant week till March 6. The menu, which includes homemade guacamoles, ceviche and and a flan de tres leches, looks worth booking, and the price is definitely right.

Zealous restaurant has moved back their end date to March 12. At Zealous, you have some options - either the standard Restaurant Week 3-course menu for $33 or a 4-course menu with cheese pairings for $44. Even though the dish requires a $9 surcharge, we really want to try the short stack of mango pancakes with Hudson Valley foie gras, a sunnyside-up quail egg and savory caramel sauce.

Benny's Chop House told us that, as far as they were concerned, Restaurant Week was really Restaurant Month. Their deal goes through the end of February. Compared to the "regular" restaurant week, which runs until February 27th, Benny's deal goes to the end of the month. It's only one extra day, but if you want to eat a great three-course meal for $22, it might be just what you need.