A sweet deal at dineLA Restaurant Week


By
 in ,

Is there a better way to feel pampered than to lounge in a fancy restaurant and be served a three-course meal on fine china? Unless you’ve got a rich daddy, it’s hard for a college student to revel in such indulgences.

Thank goodness for dineLA Restaurant Week.

This two-week dining event brings specially priced three-course menus from some of the best (that means expensive) restaurants in Los Angeles. It kick-started Sunday and will run until Oct. 8, and again from Oct. 10-15.

Participating restaurants, several of them just a 10-minute drive away in Downtown Los Angeles, will offer lunches priced at $16, $22 or $28, and dinners at $26, $34 or $44.

Better start making your reservations soon — though you don’t need tickets or passes for this event, dineLA is popular enough that you might not be able to score seats. Take a look at the complete list of participating restaurants and drool over their menus here. But wait — there’s more good news.

Today, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill at L.A. Live, there will be a free pass to view the dineLA Quickfire Challenge finale in live action.

Yes, you get to watch four major chefs — Chef Mark Peel of Campanile and The Tar Pit, Chef Akira Hirose of Maison Akira, Chef Octavio Becerra of Palate Food + Wine, and Chef Eric Greenspan of The Foundry on Melrose — squirm as they compete to create their interpretation of the perfect dessert. Talk about a sweet deal.

The judges will be Wolfgang Puck Worldwide Executive Pastry Chef Sherry Yard, Los Angeles Times Food Editor Russ Parsons, and Chef and Owner of Angeli Caffe and host of KCRW’s Good Food, Evan Kleiman.

The event is free, but you will probably want to order a drink (or two). Specialty cocktails will be available for $8, including $6 appetizer specials such as sliders, stuffed peppers, chicken wings, fried calamari, and marghertia pizzas.

For foodies with fancier palates, you can also try the spicy tuna tartar and heirloom tomatoes with burrata, also for just $6.

Food lovers rejoice.