Oakland Restaurant Week begins today and runs through January 21.

With 100 restaurants spanning across all neighborhoods and cuisines, this year’s program introduces a new highlights including interactive food demonstrations, walking tours, and special dining events (full list below).

Also notable is the introduction of an official $10 price point for lunchtime diners.
Bay Area diners are marking their calendars for Oakland Restaurant Week, presented by Visit Oakland. From Thursday, January 11 through Sunday, January 21, 2018, 100 Oakland Restaurants will celebrate the largest and most diverse restaurant week in the region.

Now in its 8th year, the popular program runs over eleven days and two weekends for foodies to take full advantage of dining deals. Participating restaurants will offer prix fixe lunch and/or dinner menus at $10, $20, $30, $40 and $50 price points. The promotional prices reflect up to 25% off regular a la carte items.

In response to Oakland diners’ desire to learn about the stories behind their food, Oakland Restaurant Week 2018 introduces new interactive dining experiences to the 2018 program.

+ Local Food Adventures, an East Bay walking food tour company, will offer their Rockridge and Grand Lake neighborhood food tours during the two ORW18 weekends.

+ SUN, JAN 14, 10AM – 3PM: Chef Demo and Free Tastings at the Jack London Square Farmers Market

The Visit Oakland Mobile Visitor Center will be at the Jack London Square Farmers Market to bring chef demonstrations and tastings to inspire shoppers for Oakland Restaurant Week.

Chef Demo from Terrace Room Restaurant & Bar’s Executive Chef Jack Andrew
Free Samples from House of Chicken & Waffles
Flavors of Oakland cookbook authors Anya Ku and Elazar Sontag book signing

+ TUES, JAN 16, 6PM – 9PM: Dine with Leslie Sbrocco and Liam Mayclem at alaMar!

Enjoy an evening at alaMar with Leslie Sbrocco, host of Check, Please! Bay Area and Taste This on PBS/KQED and Liam Mayclem, host of Foodie Chap on KCBS Radio. Savor hors d’oeuvres by Chef Nelson German paired with local wine and spirits.

+ WED, JAN 17, 6PM – 8PM: CORE Kitchen Tour, Class & Tasting

In partnership with Feastly, enjoy a tour of CORE kitchen, the world’s first gluten free certified and plant-only restaurant. Every dish is made from 100% fruits and vegetables. No sugar and no additives of any kind. Learn about important food lessons and sample a menu of offerings from the CORE menu.

The Alameda County Community Food Bank returns as the Oakland Restaurant Week’s non-profit partner. Proceeds from participating restaurants will be donated to the organization to help distribute fresh food within the region and battle child hunger within schools and our community. Visit Oakland will also be encouraging visitors on oaklandrestaurantweek.org to make a donation to the food bank.

“Oakland Restaurant Week continues to feed Bay Area diners with their appetite for delicious food and their thirst for knowledge of how their meal came to be,” says Mark Everton, President & CEO of Visit Oakland. “With our new interactive dining experiences this year, we’re recognizing that Bay Area foodies are looking for more than just a delicious meal – they also care about the stories behind the recipe, the techniques of food preparation and about the neighborhoods the restaurant calls home.”

Complete restaurant lists, menus, and reservations are available on www.oaklandrestaurantweek.org. The list can be searched by neighborhood, cuisine, lunch or dinner offerings. Through a partnership with OpenTable, reservations (strongly recommended) can be made directly from the Oakland Restaurant Week page.

Oakland restaurants are part of a thriving hospitality industry in Oakland. Sales tax revenue from the restaurant and hotel spending category was the primary driver of growth as spending increased by 3.4% from 2015-16, signaling a strong trend in recreation and travel spending by residents and visitors alike. In 2016, Oakland visitors spent over $156 million on food and beverage alone. Restaurants generated $11.4M in local tax revenue. Oakland resident and visitor spending supported 2,145 jobs in the city and generated $59M in earnings for Oakland workers.

Oakland Restaurant Week is a part of California Restaurant Month, created by Visit California. The statewide event is a promotional initiative encouraging post-holiday travel to California during the month of January, which is typically a slow dining month after the holidays.

Dates and times of participation vary by restaurant. A la carte menus will also be available.

Join Oakland Restaurant Week on social media by following #ORW18.

http://www.visitcalifornia.com/california-restaurant-month

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ABOUT VISIT OAKLAND

Visit Oakland is a non-profit organization marketing Oakland, California as a travel destination. Visit Oakland offers a wide variety of complimentary services and materials for travelers interested in visiting Oakland. For more information, check out www.visitoakland.com. Want to share the Oakland love with the world? Follow @visitoakland on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

(Photo courtesy of Visit Oakland)