Deals for Austin Restaurant Weeks Continue

Other people live for Christmas, or swoon over Valentine’s Day, but for many, Austin Restaurant Weeks is really the most wonderful time of year.

Not only does the annual event benefit Central Texas Food Bank, it’s also a great way to check out restaurants on your must-try list without breaking the bank. Whether you’re trying one of the specials benefitting the cause, or stopping for a discounted lunch or dinner, you really can’t go wrong. Austin Restaurant Weeks runs August 15 - September 2, so we've rounded up a few of the spots places we’re especially excited to visit. For even more information and restaurants, please visit www.austinrestaurantweeks.org.

Special Dishes

Suerte is donating $1 from every Suerte Lager and Suadero Taco sold during the event – a perfect excuse to pig out on beer and tacos.

Amy’s Ice Cream is making pigging out on ice cream an act of community service by donating $1 from every cool combo you order.

And Blue Owl Brewing is pledging $5 from every growler of Wild Boss With Peaches sold during ARW, making it the perfect time to stock your fridge and pick up something special to contribute to that next barbecue.

$20 Lunches

Both branches of Easy Tiger – 6th Street and The Linc – are doing a special lunchtime Food Bank Board that includes a small pretzel with beer cheese, a quarter-pound pastrami on rye, and a classic bratwurst with sauerkraut, Live Oak Big Bark Mustard, and a take-home baguette.

Chez Nous is offering a three-course lunch, with a cup of the soup du jour, a seafood- or spinach-stuffed crepe, and a choice of creme caramel or chocolate mousse for dessert.

Sixth and Waller at East Austin Hotel is giving you lots of choices with their two-course lunch: vegan kale salad, crispy brussels sprouts, sesame garlic edamame, or hummus as an appetizer; and for the main course, a coconut jasmine fried rice, garlic sesame udon noodles, arugula and fennel salad with seared salmon, a pastrami reuben, or their fried chicken sandwich.

Foreign and Domestic’s special Sunday brunch ARW menu features zucchini bread and lime creme fraiche, pancakes and peach jam, and a cast iron frittata with summer vegetables and gruyere.

$35 Dinners

Downtown French restaurant Le Politique is keeping things classic with escargot or butter lettuce salad for a starter, steak frites or Parisian gnocchi for the main, and a quivering blancmange for dessert.

Yuyo is bringing their typical nouveau Peruvian verve with three courses of papa a la huancaina or roccotto coctel, pescado Lucia or crispy pork chanchito, and alfajores or a lucuma sundae to finish things off.

At La Volpe it’s a choice of meatballs, caprese salad, or cauliflower for a starter, main courses of mushroom pappardelle, seasonal gnocchi, or lemon caperberry chicken, and a palate cleansing scoop of sorbet.

Second Bar + Kitchen offers Austinites a big meal for just $35. At the Downtown location, choices include heirloom tomato salad with tomato ricotta and candied quinoa, seared Faroe Island salmon with pork belly fried rice, and Nutella mousse with chocolate cake. The Domain NORTHSIDE location has options like blistered shishito peppers with miso aioli, roasted beet and citrus salad, grilled 44 Farms flank steak with warm potato salad, and fudge pops with graham cracker and marshmallow fluff.

Foreign and Domestic’s special dinner ARW menu features melons & pancetta with mint, dried chilis, and cashew butter; scallops and corn with fresh corn grits, tomatoes, and herbs; and buttermilk pie and peaches with peach leaf ice cream.

Already monthly donors to Capital Area Food Bank through Mealshare USA, L’Oca d’Oro is offering a changing three-course dinner menu with items like fresh mozzarella with Texas peaches and fermented chili, casarecce with garlic sausage and mushroom tomato conserva, and a cannoli with peach mascarpone and toasted almonds. Bell's Brewery will also donate an additional $1 for every Bell's sold.

From every three-course ARW dinner sold at Texas French Bread, $5 will go to the food bank. Choices include fried calamari with leek aioli, pork milanese with arugula and radicchio, and Hyde Park fudge cake with whipped cream.

$50 Dinners

Lucky Robot Japanese Kitchen is offering four courses of sustainably sourced fish: suzuki meron with striped bass as a starter, seared scallops kinomi hotate, daily market fish nigiri, and sweet summer melon for dessert.

Barley Swine will start you out with beef tartare, move on to shitake pasta dumplings, pork steak, and a meltingly rich cocoa nib tres leches cake.

Farm-to-table spot Intero is giving you four courses of choice: between summer melon and cucumber salad or grilled carrots; gnocchi with squash and roasted chicken, or spaghettini with grilled corn and truffled cheese, or beef sausage with eggplant and pickled chilis, or shrimp risotto; and watermelon sorbet or artisan chocolates to finish the evening.

Guests at Perry’s Downtown and Perry’s at Domain NORTHSIDE can choose from a three-course menu including dishes like their Famous Pork Chop (cured, roasted, slow-smoked and caramelized, served with homemade applesauce).

Rosewood, which just launched an all-night happy hour on Thursdays, has a four-course dinner menu planned for ARW: drum ceviche with pico de gallo, avocado, and furikake; sopa de concha with toasted pasta, tomato butter, and chili oil; oak fire-grilled bavette with crispy potatoes, rajas, and bone marrow; and for desserts, fig pie with honeycomb comb, preserved lemon cream, and vanilla ice cream.

Cocktails

Along with a three-course vegetarian lunch, The Beer Plant is slinging La Lavanda, lavender-infused Tito’s with orange juice, mango, mint, and sparkling water.

Citizen Eatery is serving The Summer Bunny: more Tito’s (the official drink sponsor, natch), with watermelon puree, lime juice, and cointreau.

Both Happy Chicks and Sour Duck are slinging $12 Tito’s mules. Happy Chick’s offering is a classic blend of vodka, ginger beer, and lime juice, while Sour Duck is fancying it up with house made ginger beer infused with tumeric and garden herbs.