Foodies rejoice this week as the city of Binghamton’s third-ever Restaurant Week kicked off on Tuesday. The bi-annual event will run until Thursday, April 14.
Fourteen local restaurants are joining together to serve prix fixe lunches and dinners — lunch will be $10 per person, while dinner will be $20. Proceeds will be donated to local charities.
Alex Weiser, a Binghamton University graduate and current marketing director for Binghamton Restaurant Week, was given the chance to help launch the event while he was interning at Binghamton’s Economic Development Office. He considers it his “first big gig” in the working world.
“Restaurant Week is an opportunity to check out all the great local restaurants that Binghamton has to offer,” Weiser said. “If you ever thought about trying out a new restaurant in the area but never got around to it, this is that extra push you’ll need. It’s great because of the favorable deals offered. It’s only $10 for lunch [$20 for dinner] that includes an appetizer, main course and dessert.”
Restaurant Week was started two years ago by the owners of the Kilmer Brasserie, a French restaurant located inside the Kilmer Building. The restaurant went out of business shortly after.
Marie McKenna of the Lost Dog Café, along with Piero Lisio of Little Venice Restaurant, did not want the idea of Restaurant Week to disappear with the Kilmer Brasserie, but they needed help. This is when McKenna and Lisio reached out to Weiser and his colleague Chris Ryan.
“It was pretty disorganized at first,” Weiser said.
Originally starting with only seven participating restaurants, the involvement has now doubled in size. According to Weiser, expansion is really picking up and the online buzz has gotten pretty big as well.
“Restaurant Week makes going out to eat an event,” Weiser explained.
According to McKenna, many students only discovered the Lost Dog Café as an upperclassman or graduating student and said they wished they had known about the restaurant their freshman year. Restaurant Week would be the perfect way to introduce great restaurants in the area to students, McKenna explained.
“Connecting Restaurant Week with Binghamton University was and still is a goal of ours,” McKenna said. “Working with Weiser and Ryan was a great way to become more involved with the University because of all their connections there.”
According to Weiser, when students think of Downtown Binghamton, they typically think of the bars. Restaurant Week is not only another reason for students to come Downtown, but is also something else to associate Downtown Binghamton with, Weiser said.
“The SA [Student Association] is one of the sponsors this time around, which is huge for us. It is one of the few events where the community and the University are coming together for one common goal,” Weiser said. “We hope that events like Restaurant Week will help bring the University and the community together.”
“If it wasn’t for Restaurant Week I probably wouldn’t have ventured to Downtown Binghamton in the daylight,” said Sarah Brovda, a sophomore majoring in English.
Being a part of Restaurant Week has been a great experience for those of us working at the restaurant as well, according to McKenna. While ideas were exchanged and created, many friendships have also been created.
All the proceeds for Restaurant Week will be donated to charity. Some of the charities include the Boys and Girls Clubs of Binghamton and CHOW (Community Hunger Outreach Warehouse).
The Boys and Girls Clubs of Binghamton are after-school clubs for children who may not have a safe environment to play, study or just hang out. The clubs provide a place where students can engage in these activities in a secure and positive atmosphere.
Rachel Rosner, a sophomore majoring in accounting, felt the charity aspect will further encourage her to participate in Restaurant Week.
“Sometimes I feel guilty about going to a restaurant and spending too much money on food, but Restaurant Week is a good time to splurge while giving back to the community,” Rosner said.
According to McKenna, the ideas don’t stop with Restaurant Week. One of those new ideas being tossed around is Martini Crawl. It’s still in the early stages of brainstorming, but Martini Crawl would also be a $10 deal.
The proceeds for that would, of course, be donated to a charity as well, McKenna said. All the restaurants involved would come up with a drink using the same alcoholic ingredient.
“We have a lot of growing ideas,” McKenna said.