The holidays might be over and done with, but the most wonderful time of the year for foodies is just beginning. This month, more than 150 restaurants throughout the city and county will be offering dining deals in conjunction with Winter Restaurant Week—the annual 15-day promotion that offer diners prix-fixe pricing for lunch and dinner service.

BALTIMORE COUNTY:

Spots participating in Baltimore County Restaurant Week—including the likes of Café Troia, Linwoods, The Milton Inn, and Tark’s Grill—will offer special brunch, lunch, and dinner menus for $15-35 from January 15-30.

“We’ve found that it definitely brings in some new faces,” says Ted Bauer, owner of longtime Cockeysville fixture The Oregon Grille. “We want people to have a good sampling. The real benefit of Restaurant Week is having new customers experience everything.”

The Oregon Grille’s lunch menu will feature caprese sandwiches, shrimp tacos, and smoked mozzarella ravioli, while its dinner entrees will range from corn meal-encrusted wild blue catfish to prosciutto-wrapped chicken with roasted tomato pesto and fried Asiago polenta.

Larry Leonardi, general manager of Reisterstown’s Ristorante Firenze, also hopes to see new customers come through his door. Specifically, he hopes that Restaurant Week will be instrumental in amping up Firenze’s lunch crowd, as it did this past summer.

“It works for all of us,” Leonardi says. “It gives us a chance to try out new dishes that aren’t normally on our regular menu, and it also motivates customers to try new places.”

Firenze, which has been open just over a year, will offer a menu highlighting hearty seasonal dishes like Italian wedding soup, house made rigatoni with roasted garlic alfredo sauce, and grilled pork chops with roasted pepper pesto and cauliflower mash.

BALTIMORE CITY:

If you’re looking to hit some city hotspots this month as well, Baltimore City Restaurant Week overlaps with the county’s promotion. Eateries participating in Baltimore City Restaurant Week, which returns January 22-31, will offer two-course lunch and brunch menus for $15-20 and three-course dinner menus for $25-30.

While newbies such as Argosy Cafe and Alma Cocina Latina are participating in Winter Restaurant Week for the first time this year, city staples like The Food Market are gearing up for another special week of flavorful fare.

Chad Gauss, executive chef and co-owner of the Hampden hangout, will be whipping up a South American-inspired feast in honor of the occasion, with dinner dishes ranging from Brazilian black bean soup and smoked trout nachos to Waygu steak tacos and spicy grilled shrimp with pineapple and quinoa. Additionally, in keeping with the theme of the menu, the bar will highlight festive tiki drinks and sangrias throughout the week.

“This is a concept I’ve been looking to try for a long time,” says Gauss, who makes a point of switching up the theme of his Restaurant Week menu each year. “It all feels ‘Spanglish’ to me—like a Baltimore kid meets everywhere from Mexico to South America.”

Gauss explains that the featured Restaurant Week menu will serve as a test-run for a pop-up that he’s calling “La Food Marketa,” which could be featured at the restaurant more often this year if the flavors catch on with customers. He also mentions that one of the main perks of Restaurant Week is promoting the local dining scene as a whole.

“I just want to be a player on the team,” he says. “There’s no better feeling than a busy restaurant, and it’s great because you don’t have to go all-in for certain places that you’re skeptical about and feel like you’re overinvesting.”

Just over in Meadow Mill, Ben Lefenfeld, executive chef and co-owner of La Cuchara, is excited for his restaurant to participate for the first time.

Among the Basque-inspired bites to look out for on La Cuchara’s special dinner menu are txorizo sausage with charred cabbage and onion croquettes, and flank steak with capers, smoked potatoes, and horseradish aioli.

“It’s been something we’ve wanted to be a part of from the beginning, but we had only been open for three months before Summer Restaurant Week last year, so we weren’t quite ready yet,” Lefenfeld says. “People have their favorites that they dine at once a month but this gives them a reason to take a chance on a new place.”

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EAT

Jan. 9-24: Baltimore County Restaurant Week

Various locations, lunch and dinner time, discounted prices. baltimorecountyrestaurantweek.com

Maybe your New Year’s resolution was to cook more, eat better, or go to the gym after work every night, but we have a better idea. This year, you should live a little. Eat well. Drink well. Be the bon vivant of your very own life. Get started this weekend with the kickoff of Baltimore County Restaurant Week, which features multi-course lunches and dinners at awesome area restaurants on a dime. Indulge in the breadbasket at Cunningham’s, treat yourself to the fried oysters at Linwoods—it’s that time of year—and, while you’re at it, try the oyster-and-beef-carpaccio pho at Ryleigh’s in Hunt Valley. We have no idea what that last one will be like, but it’s a new year: dig in.

DRINK

Jan. 9-10: Baltimore Ravens vs. New England Patriots

Various locations, then Saturday, 4:35 p.m. on NBC. baltimoreravens.com

As the Ravens take on the Patsies this weekend, Baltimore is bleeding purple with playoff parties, flock festivities, and bar specials all over the city, county, and beyond. Starting at 6 a.m. on Friday, 98 Rock and the Ravens will be teaming up for a Purple Friday Fuel Up at Hightopps Backstage Grille in Timonium with free breakfast, cheap beers, the team cheerleaders, and our good, ole mascot, Poe. Come Saturday afternoon—wherever you are—get out of the house and cheer on our boys as they outwit Spygate Belichick, cover Gronk like white on rice, and name the winner of the ultimate battle: Suggs vs. Uggs.

SEE

Jan. 10: Mo’Nique

The Hippodrome Theatre at the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center, 12 N. Eutaw St. 8 p.m. $42.50-62.50. 410-837-7400. france-merrickpac.com

You likely know this comedic diva from one of her many loud-mouthed movie, TV, and comedy special roles, or, more recently, from the Oscars, where she won Best Supporting Actress for 2009’s Precious. What you might not know is that she’s a Baltimorean, born and bred, graduating from Milford Mill Academy high school, Morgan State University, and the Broadcasting Institute of Maryland, and cutting her chops at the Baltimore Comedy Factory. This Saturday, she returns home for a powerhouse night of standup.

HEAR

Jan. 10: Bosley

Lord Baltimore Hotel, 20 W. Baltimore St. 9:30 p.m.-12 a.m. $75. 855-539-1928. everymantheatre.org

Open hotel bar. Soul dance party. Dessert. Sold. Whether you’re attending Everyman Theatre’s Rhythm and Blues Ball or not, you can get down at their late-night afterparty in the historic Lord Baltimore Hotel, where local soul sensation, Bosley, will be tearing down the house. Celebrate the theater, support the local arts scene, and get inspired to check out one of their ambitious productions, if you haven’t already, like Deathtrap, which closes on Sunday.

DO

Jan. 10: 90s Hip-Hop R&B Dance Party

Mobtown Ballroom, 861 Washington Blvd. 9 p.m.-2 a.m. $7-10. 443-699-3040. mobtownballroom.com

The ’90s was a pretty amazing decade. There was Friends, Bill Clinton, The Big Lebowski, Nirvana, and then, there was hip-hop. Sure, hip-hop had been around for a while but the last years of the 20th century yielded some of its most major moments: Notorious B.I.G. Puff Daddy. Mase. Mary J. Hov. Montell Jordan released “This Is How We Do It.” Mack Morrison came out with “Return of the Mack.” This Saturday, the inaugural VNSMOL dance party celebrates the era’s hottest jams at Mobtown Ballroom, with local DJs Sean J and Nino Brown spinning on the ones and twos. Tickets include one drink and, if you get there early enough, a hip-hop dance class from 9-9:45 p.m.

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Not to be confused with Baltimore Restaurant Week, running from Aug. 1-10, this restaurant week is solely for restaurants in the county. 

Thirty-five Baltimore County restaurants are participating, including Cafe Troia, Cunningham’s, McFaul’s Iron Horse Tavern, Padonia Ale House, and Conrad’s Seafood.

A full list of the participating restaurants can be found here.

Restaurant week is the perfect opportunity to get a deal on your favorite spots. Call ahead for more information on lunch and dinner bargains. 

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They range from Ruth’s Chris Steak House in Pikesville and Dimitri’s International Grille in Catonsville to The Milton Inn in Sparks and River Watch Restaurant in Essex. Where ever you live, there’s a restaurant near you. (See our map below.)

The restaurants are offering prix-fixe lunch and dinner menus (or both) with prices ranging from $10.14 to $35.14. For instance, the new Liquid Lib’s, pictured, in Timonium has a tapas selection of four items for $20.14. And Pizza John’s in Essex has a choice of pasta with meatballs or meat sauce, a cannoli, and a soda for $12.14 plus tax.

Check out the Restaurant Week website for more menus.

After the county’s food frenzy ends on January 26, diners will have a couple of weeks to digest their food before the city’s Winter Restaurant Week returns from February 16-23.

Bon appétit! 

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