Newport restaurant week warms up

Restaurateurs, purveyors and chefs gathered this week for the launch party of the first Newport Beach Restaurant Week — which is scheduled to start Jan. 21 — and help the city’s adopted Marine battalion, the 1st Battalion, 1st Marines.

Tuesday night’s “launch party for the most part is a huge celebration for all of us. We’re so happy that this is happening,” Newport Beach Restaurant Assn. spokeswoman Peggy Fort said Tuesday. “The evening is really a combination of officially launching restaurant week … but also a chance to thank our sponsors, community partners and raise some funds for the Camp Pendleton Marines and their families.”

Newport Beach Restaurant Week has generated buzz for months, and Fort said many residents have called her and participating restaurants to get the scoop.

“Any time you do a first-time campaign, there are a lot of questions,” Fort said. “Overall, the restaurants have been very, very excited, and we’ve been getting a lot of calls already.”

Restaurant Week came to fruition after some research by local restaurateurs. Other cities in the country have had similar successful events for some time, and Newport Beach restaurant owners thought it could be successful here too, Fort said.

From Jan. 21 through 25, about 70 restaurants in the city will offer a three-course, fixed-price menu for lunch or dinner or both. Lunch will cost $12.95, dinner $26.95 — a good price for both restaurant owner and diner, said Arches owner and Newport Beach Restaurant Assn. President Dan Marcheano.

“It’s a neat way for the whole restaurant to celebrate with locals,” said the association’s vice president Sherry Drewry, whose mother owns Wilma’s Patio on Balboa Island. “I don’t think anybody will be disappointed.”

After paying a $150 fee, each restaurant was given creative license to come up with a menu that worked for them. Marcheano is offering lunch and dinner at the Arches, with each main course sandwiched by a Caesar salad and cherries jubilee. For lunch, the Arches will feature a chicken piccata, sand dabs, hamburger or meatloaf; and for dinner, customers can order sand dabs, filet and another chicken item.

Having the event at the end of January was strategic, coming at a time when Newport Beach restaurants are traditionally slower than others, Marcheano said.

“It gives the consumer a great opportunity to get out there to restaurants they haven’t been to or have kind of forgotten about,” Marcheano said.

Despite netting a bit less money than perhaps they would otherwise, Marcheano said he’s told his peers to consider participation as another form of advertising, something he said restaurant owners are accustomed to doing anyway.

More than touting Newport as a “dining destination” — promotional materials have been sent throughout Southern California, particularly in Newport Beach, Huntington Beach and Laguna Beach — the week serves the diner. Not often can you get a three-course meal at a restaurant like the Ritz, the Arches or Bayside Restaurant at the restaurant week’s fixed prices.

Less expensive eateries have other deals to make the price worthwhile, like two-for-one deals or wine pairings, Fort said.

“I think it’s the start of, hopefully, a very successful annual campaign,” Fort said. “And I think there’s a lot of restaurants — if for some reason [they] didn’t sign up this year — that will want to get on board for next year.”