The annual food fest known as Charlottesville Restaurant Week—sponsored by The Hook and benefitting the Local Food Hub—has some competition this year from a local marketing group.
In addition to the original and well-known Charlottesville Restaurant Week, which run January 21 to January 27 (and again from July 8 to 14), a new event—somewhat confusingly also dubbed Charlottesville Restaurant Week—will run January 28 to February 3. But whether or not somebody’s trying to eat somebody else’s lunch, it looks like the more the merrier for foodies. After all, the only thing better than a week of great food on the cheap is two weeks of great food on the cheap.
The new promotion is organized by local marketing firm VMV Brands, an advertising, PR, and social media company based in Charlottesville and headed by Jerry Miller, who is steering some proceeds from the event to the Virginia Institute of Autism.
The back-to-back events are similar (though the newcomers have corralled several more than the established group), and there’s some overlap among the participating restaurants. Here’s the breakdown:
The original Charlottesville Restaurant Week:
- Runs January 21-27
- Benefits the Local Food Hub
- Restaurants offer a 3-course meal at either $29 and $36, depending on the restaurant
- Restaurants include Ristorante Al Dente, Balkan Bistro & Bar, bang!, The Bavarian Chef, The Boar’s Head Old Mill Room, Burtons Grill, da Luca Bistro and Bar, Horse and Hound, l’etoile, The Melting Pot, Orzo, and the C&O. Check out the list here—it has links to each restaurant’s special prix fixe menu.
The new event, billing itself as “the official Charlottesville Restaurant Week”:
- Runs January 28-February 3
- Benefits the Virginia Institute of Autism
- Restaurants offer either a $16 two-course meal, a $26 three-course meal, or a $36 “premium” three-course meal.
- Restaurants include Petit Pois, Fleurie, the Aberdeen Barn, Ten, Rapture, ZoCaLo, Downtown Grille, Maya, Escafe, The Melting Pot, Glass Haus Kitchen, Tempo, Sal’s Caffe Italia, Balkan Bistro & Bar, Citizen Burger Bar, West Main, Blue Light Grill, The Virginian, Positively 4th St., Michael’s Bistro, C&O Restaurant, Himalayan Fusion, Brookville Restaurant, Rhett’s River Grill, The Bavarian Chef, Savour Restaurant, and Orzo. Click here for a list with menu links.