Cleveland Restaurant Week is under way, with independent restaurants selling three-course prix fixe menus that generally run $39. A Nov. 13 account of the promotion said about a week remains and described the run as continuing through Nov. 21.
The current event runs Nov. 9–21. Fresh Water Cleveland, in a Nov. 2 feature, described the same basic offer: three courses, generally $39, with individual restaurants free to adjust prices and the dates those menus are available.
The $39 Menu, Plus the Asterisks
Cleveland Independents says three-course, $39 prix fixe menus, with additional charges, are offered at the majority of participating restaurants. Some houses price above $39. The number is the center of the promotion, not a printed guarantee on every check.
Two limits are blunt. Gift certificates will not be accepted during the promotion, and third-party delivery services are not participating. The week is built for a table, not a courier.
Menus and participant information are available on the Cleveland Independents website.
Where the Plates Are
The names already attached to the week run from downtown to the suburbs. Hyde Park Prime Steakhouse in Westlake is offering starters that include a wedge salad, a Caesar, or lobster bisque. Sapphire Creek Winery & Gardens in Chagrin Falls has desserts that include beignets or crème brûlée.
Mallorca, at 1390 W. 9th Street in the Warehouse District, has an entrée choice of individual paella. Fresh Water reported that the restaurant has joined Restaurant Week for the past decade, and the same feature marked Mallorca's 30th year alongside the group's anniversary.
Also on the participant list: Astoria Café & Market, Batuqui on the Falls, Batuqui the Flavor of Brasil, Black Door Tavern, and Blue Canyon Kitchen and Tavern. Nearly 30 is the organizers' figure, so those names are a slice of the card, not the whole of it.
A 20-Year Pitch in a Pricier Kitchen
Cleveland Independents is marking its 20th anniversary. CoolCleveland describes the group as locally owned independent eateries that banded together to promote themselves. Membership is wider than this week's lineup: about 70 restaurants.
The Nov. 2 Fresh Water feature described operators contending with high food costs and increased gas prices. The $39 menus arrive while those costs are still the operating weather, and the week is also being pitched as a kickstart to the holiday dining season.
The group recently created Bite, a magazine profiling local chefs. Restaurant Week is the shorter version of the same job: get the independent names in front of diners before the holidays fill the calendar.
What Is Left on the Calendar
From Nov. 13, dinners remain on the calendar through Nov. 21. A given restaurant can also stop earlier. Fresh Water noted that houses may adjust dates as well as prices.
Anyone planning around a gift card or a delivery app is already outside the rules. Everyone else is down to a reservation, a posted menu, and whichever independent kitchen is still cooking the set.
