ALONG COMES MARY

Eat your heart out, Long Beach! Dine Out Long Beach, Restaurant Week 2.0 is taking over the shore side city from February 28-March 5.  Over 40 restaurants have signed up to offer prix fixe 2-selection lunches and 3-selection dinners to give diners a taste of this fabulous city.

Participating restaurants are located in almost every corner of the city, including downtown, Bixby Knolls, Belmont Shore, Naples Island, Belmont Heights, and 4th Street Retro Row.  Every restaurant situated in Shoreline Village, which overlooks Rainbow Harbor in downtown Long Beach, will be part of Dine Out Long Beach, too.

Restaurants will offer lunch and/or dinner with 2-option menus for lunch starting at $10 and 3-option menus for dinner starting at $20.  Some restaurants are offering a shared menu where two guests can split an appetizer and dessert, but enjoy their own entrée.  As for settings and cuisines, California’s sixth largest city has an abundance of offerings, from the waterfront and Bixby Knolls to Downtown and Belmont Shore-Naples.

“We have a great line-up of restaurants and cuisines,” said Elizabeth Borsting, founder of Dine Out Long Beach, Restaurant Week 2.0. “There’s Lebanese food, Honduran and Peruvian specialties, Japanese favorites, Argentine fare, Greek food, Latin American and New Mexican offerings plus American classics, such as barbecue ribs, prime steak, and more.  Some restaurants will feature small plates and wine pairings. Dine Out Long Beach is a great time to explore the city and its diverse selection of restaurants.”

Borsting, who founded the city’s first restaurant week in 2013, added that Dine Out Long Beach doesn’t require any tickets or passes.  Guests simply can peruse the special, prix-fixe menus at dineoutlongbeach.com and decide where they’d like to dine by selecting a neighborhood, price point or cuisine.   Restaurants will also have their regular menus available, too.

Some of my favorite restaurants that will be on the itinerary include George’s Greek Café Downtown and Belmont Shore, Brix at The Shore, Dogz Bar & Grill, Roe Xpress, Café Sevilla, Schooner or Later and Yard House…plus, 40 more!

I’m extremely excited that I’ll be heading to Kihon Japanese Tapas + Sushi and Utopia to get a sneak peek at what these eateries have to offer, look out for my report back all about them!

Having flown out from Long Beach Airport on JetBlue both times I have been to New York, I am also happy to announce that an exciting contest launched on February 8th; guests can enter the #Selfoodie contest at gazettes.com for a chance to win a trip to New York City.  Once they satisfy their appetites in Long Beach, they can take a bite out of the Big Apple with roundtrip airfare from Long Beach Airport to JFK aboard JetBlue, a three-night stay at the lux Archer Hotel in Midtown Manhattan and dinner for two at Celebrity Chef David Burke’s fabrick.  No purchase necessary, watch the video below and visit www.gazette.com for details.

Hope to see you eating and drinking yourself silly at Dine Out Long Beach! xo

(*Disclosure: I am covering some of the participating restaurants in Dine Out Long Beach on behalf of blog features. All opinions are my own. Photos: Courtesy of Dine Out Long Beach.)