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Business & Tech

Fork Dork: Dizzying Dining Deals Dole Discounts for Eastsiders

Competing restaurant promotions mean diners on the Eastside can enjoy fine dining values through the end of November.

Dine Around Seattle vs. Seattle Restaurant Week. It’s confusing.

First of all, let me begin by clarifying that Restaurant Week and Dine Around Seattle are two completely different promotions. To make matters more confusing, some restaurants participate in both.

Also, ponder that the so-called Seattle Restaurant “Week” is actually closer to two weeks. Further, “Seattle” Restaurant Week and Dine Around “Seattle” are not limited to Seattle.

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Despite the multiple and confusing monikers, the bottom line is that your dining out bottom line can be cheaper through the end of November. For a complete list of participating restaurants click on the Dine Around Seattle or Seattle Restaurant Week websites.

All competing for your attention will be Woodinville's  and the Salish Lodge and Woodman Lodge in Snoqualmie, on Mercer Island, and Kirkland's, , ,  and .

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Both promotions hold two campaigns a year, once in the fall and once in the spring, traditionally slower dining seasons than the winter holiday season and the summer travel season.

Seattle Restaurant Week, which is going into its second year this fall, runs Oct. 16-27 (excluding Friday, Oct. 21, and Saturday, Oct. 22) promoting three-course menus for $28 at more than 150 restaurants for nearly two weeks. It also offers three-course lunches for $15.

Dine Around Seattle follows on Nov. 1-30, excluding Fridays and Saturdays, promoting three-course menus for $30 at 30 restaurants for an entire month. Dine Around Seattle is now in its 11th year, originally founded as 25 for $25 and later renamed 30 for $30. Both campaigns have seen significant growth. This campaign also offers three-course lunches for $15.

“When we first started it, we could barely beg 25 restaurants to get involved,” recalls publicist Lissa Gruman of Gruman-Nicoll. “We pulled it together in March of 2001. It was sort of an instant hit from the get-go. Now, we have a waiting list of restaurants wanting to be part of it.”

Seattle Restaurant Week was a response to that waiting list, according to chef and restaurateur John Howie, whose and Seattle will be participating. It was also a response to lagging consumer confidence traumatized by a poor economy, said Howie, who is one of the founders and board members of Seattle Restaurant Week.

 “We wanted to give something back to the guest and not be exclusive of restaurants,” Howie said. “It’s been quite amazing how many restaurants have signed up.

“Back when we started this we wanted to get people back in restaurants. I think this was a good jump start to get people back in restaurants.”

The first evening Seastar Seattle opened for Seattle Restaurant Week in April of 2010 it served 320 guests. Howie says Seastar Bellevue and Seastar Seattle consistently feed 150 to 300 guests a night during Seattle Restaurant Week.

Howie insists not every restaurant is appropriate for Seattle Restaurant Week. Howie chose not to include his other restaurants,  at the Bravern in Bellevue and Sport under the shadow of the Space Needle, in Seattle Restaurant Week, saying it would be difficult for either restaurant to deliver value for the diners’ buck. The expense of quality beef at John Howie Steak would be cost prohibitive for the steak house. On the other end of the equation, guests at Sport can already dine for under $30 per person year round.

The reasons for restaurants participating, or not, are as varied as the dining options. Some restaurateurs want to fill their restaurants during traditionally slow months. Others do it strictly for marketing, hoping to garner the attention of new diners.

 and  in Bellevue, Beach Café and  in Kirkland,Preservation Kitchen in Bothell and  at Willows Lodge in Woodinville are among the restaurants participating in both promotions.

, which opened in Kirkland’s Carillon Point last December, is participating in Dine Around Seattle. Its owner, Ted Furst, said he would have participated in Seattle Restaurant Week had he heard about it in time to register.

“People who wouldn’t ordinarily find us on their radar will hopefully wonder and see what we are all about,” Furst reasoned in investing in Dine Around Seattle.

Jason Harris, director of operations at Hector’s and Milagro Cantina in Kirkland, registered Hector’s for Seattle Restaurant Week but not Milagro, which has been open less than a year.

“We wanted to let Milagro Cantina do what it was going to do for a year before we were going to do any promotional or marketing campaigns,” said Harris. Harris previously was the general manager atBoKa at Hotel 1000 in Downtown Seattle, where he participated in Seattle Restaurant Week.

“At BoKa it was a homerun of a week. It was really well thought out. I am a huge fan of Seattle Restaurant Week. We’ll probably do it for Milagro next time.”

Most participating restaurants say both promotions create more work at lower profit margins, often stretching their staffs. Most agree it’s worth the investment to keep guests dining out and for short-term and long-term marketing and branding.

“We cook something that they crave later so they’ll come back,” Howie said. “We bring a little more to Seastar. We offer more choices. If you are dining at Seastar it’s a great deal. We do that because we want them to think of us as a place that they can come to other than during restaurant week.”

 in Old Bellevue is skipping the promotions, preferring to focus on its regular clientele.

“It’s not for us,” Bis on Main owner Joe Vilardi said. “We have our regulars and we don’t want to tell them our restaurant is full during Restaurant Week or Dine Around Seattle.

“Sometimes I wonder. I’ll see how these restaurants get busy during that time but I don’t know how many of those guests stick.”

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