Menu venues offer deals

NEWPORT BEACH -- Tom Craft and Linda Baxter sat in a booth at Wilma’s Patio on Balboa Island and let their taste buds plot a course.

With more than 70 eateries stretched out across the city participating in the first-ever Newport Beach Restaurant Week, the Laguna Hills couple has a lot of ground to cover in the next four days.

Kicking off Sunday, local restaurants working in cooperation with the Newport Beach Restaurant Assn. will offer three-course, fixed-price menu options for lunch and/or dinner. Lunch costs $12.95; dinner $26.95.

For some restaurant patrons, the promotion is a chance to visit a pricey venue without fear of dropping half a paycheck on something they may not enjoy. For others, say restaurant regulars, it is an invitation to venture off the beaten path into menu wilderness.

“It’s fun to have the option of an entrée and dessert,” Baxter said, adding that having the entire meal put together by the people who should know best — those who run the restaurant — allows diners to sit back and enjoy their food without worrying about ordering a bad combination.

Beginning their journey at Wilma’s, Craft and Baxter roughly mapped out a game plan for the week.

Topping their list of places to hit was Tommy Bahamas, whose menu options caught Baxter’s eye with dinner featuring coconut shrimp, pan-seared tuna, rack of ribs or pork chops, and upside-down pineapple-vanilla cheesecake for dessert.

“We’ve been there before, but the food they offered looked great,” Craft said.

Aside from the football crowd, the end of January often proves slow for restaurants in Newport Beach, and unless the Super Bowl is in town, owners need something extra to draw the customers in, said Sheri Drewry, restaurant association’s vice president.

This promises to be a week of firsts for the restaurateurs as well. Drewry, whose mother owns Wilma’s, added a number of menu items particularly for the promotion. Among the recent additions, the shrimp and carne asada tacos wowed a number of customers. Customers began requesting the shrimp tacos as early as 9 a.m., said Drewry. “I didn’t just want to do something already on my menu,” Drewry said. “This is allowing me to go out and experiment with different products.”

The key lime tart, another Restaurant Week special at Wilma’s, received such raves within the first day from staff as well as patrons, that it may earn a permanent spot on the regular menu, Drewry said. “I’ve been putting the menu out for a couple of days so people get an idea of what’s going on.”

Explaining the whole concept took up most of Drewry’s day, but she cheerfully sat down with anyone interested and talked them through it.

“It’s a hard concept to grasp,” she said. “What I’ve been finding is it needs a little more explanation.”

At Rockin Baja Lobster on the Balboa Peninsula, consumers seemed to be swallowing the idea with ease.

“Sunday night is always a little slower, that’s when we’ll see the biggest difference,” manager Lindsey Hlubic said.

Judging from reservation lists at some of the higher-end restaurants, business was expected to be far above average.

Nearly booked by 5 p.m., restaurants like Dolce on West Coast Highway saw an abnormally high amount of business, which is always a good thing, according to hostess Shannon Thomas.

“It doesn’t get too busy around here on Sundays,” Thomas said. “Restaurant week is one of the best things for Newport Beach. I mean — $26.95 for a four-course meal.”

Nearby, The Arches restaurant was booked solid for at least a couple of hours, also unheard of even at this well-known spot, hostess Gabrielle Lipscomb said.

Money raised during the promotion week will go toward the city’s adopted Marine battalion, the 1st Battalion, 1st Marines. A list of participating restaurants and their menus are available online at www.newportbeachdining. com/restaurantweek. Rese- rvations are recommended by most establishments, but walk-ins are available.