Mark your calendars and prepare your tastebuds

The dates are set for Summer Restaurant Week 2009: Aug. 10-25

No menus just yet, but I’m sure the usual suspects will be participating.

Plan to be in town and hungry this August.

Giving up and eating in

Today is the first day of Lent, and I gave up going out to eat. Not running through the drive-through or calling in an order at work is a sacrifice that will help me be more disciplined. I’ll have to plan better and perhaps I’ll even learn some new recipes.

The money I save by not eating out will go to two charitable causes championed by friends: Operation Care in Afghanistan, and uniforms for inner-city schoolchildren that my friend serves as a nurse.

Of course, with giving up going out to eat, I had to do it up big on Fat Tuesday. So I went to Harry & Izzy’s, which I learned is continuing their Restaurant Week lunch special. (You can also get the $30 dinner there and at St. Elmo on Sundays.)

I had the garbage salad (a personal favorite), filet medallion sliders, soup of the day, and brownie a la mode. All for $20.

The “garbage salad” was fantastic as always. The sliders were cooked properly and came with a horseradish sauce that isn’t nearly as biting as the famous shrimp cocktail, but that’s good because it won’t overpower the flavor. The soup was a white-bean puree, better than Au Bon Pain’s black bean (too intense) and the color of pumpkin soup. The brownie had hot fudge and caramel and the all-important candied nuts atop real whipped cream. Mmmm… that memory’s going to last me 40 days, I’m sure.

So … what, if anything, are you giving up for Lent?

Get out and eat

$30 prix-fixe menus. Go. Now. Don't make me tell you again.