Chicago Restaurant Week serves up delicious deals in city, suburbs

Shaw's Crab House in Schaumburg experiences a reservations drop during the winter, but for the past five years they've counted on a surge of traffic during Chicago Restaurant Week, when the seafood spot joins about 340 eateries from Chicago and the suburbs in serving multicourse $22 lunches and special dinner menus for $33 or $44.

“We love offering a great value to our guests,” said Shaw's director of marketing Ruthann Gagnon. “It's a great opportunity to invite new folks into the restaurant. Our repeat guests might decide to try a dish that isn't their old standby. Many times we get people who discover they love Shaw's and want to come back outside of restaurant week.”

This is the 10th year for Chicago Restaurant Week, which runs from Jan. 27 to Feb. 9. Operated by the city's tourism organization Choose Chicago, the event started with just 44 participating restaurants and has grown to include more spots throughout Chicago's neighborhoods and the surrounding suburbs, all listed at choosechicago.com. Some restaurants are even adding $22 brunches for the first time this year.

“We are continuously adding more restaurants, including those that are led by world-renowned chefs, which include James Beard nominees,” said Choose Chicago director of partnerships Jordan Engerman.

“Chicago Restaurant Week drives people out of their homes and in to enjoy Chicago's top-notch dining scene,” he added. “It also helps restaurants bring in new customers who might not have tried their restaurant otherwise, as well as return customers who want to take advantage of restaurant week specials and creative menus.”

Chicago Restaurant Week offers plenty of good reasons to eat out, whether diners crave a hearty meat-and-potatoes dinner at a steakhouse or the chance to try a new ethnic cuisine. And if the experience whets diners' appetites for other fine dining deals, Chicago Restaurant Week is followed by a succession of suburban-only promotions.

Leeann Repta, general manager of Itasca Country Club, home of Fox & Turtle, said she experienced the benefits firsthand last year, which is why the restaurant will be participating in Chicago Restaurant Week for the second time in 2017.

“It's great exposure,” she said. “We are still a hidden gem. People didn't even know we were here. They'd come for restaurant week and then they'd keep coming back.”

Fox & Turtle is offering a three-course lunch and three- and four-course dinner menus that let them show off signature dishes such as the Itasca chicken, a deboned whole chicken served with crispy Yukon potatoes, sautéed broccoli and lemon-oregano sauce, while also bringing back some favorites that had left the menu like the spicy grilled pork chops.

“We think folks are looking for an alternative to going into the city,” Repta said. “This is closer to home. We have parking. You don't have to deal with the traffic.”

B., which opened in July at the Hilton Chicago/Oak Brook Hills Resort, is hoping that their first appearance in Chicago Restaurant Week will bring out new customers who will come to appreciate their focus on sustainable farming. They'll be showing that philosophy off with dishes including the Living Salad, made with lettuce cut from its roots right at the table, and their signature dessert — a spin on tres leches featuring honey cake soaked in milk and topped with milk foam, panna cotta and white chocolate.

“We really want to focus on getting the word out in the community,” said executive chef Sean Curry. “Since we've opened we've gotten a lot of locals coming in. It made sense to expand our horizons.”

Shaw's menu will be showing off the restaurant's new emphasis on Southern cuisine with offerings including blackened redfish with red beans and rice and shrimp and crawfish etoufee.

“We have found that in the outlying suburbs we're not seeing a ton of folks who are honing in on this cuisine,” Gagnon said. “We started playing with it as a special or two and found folks are receptive to it. What's nice about (restaurant week) is not only is it a bit of a lighter time for us, but it gives us time to think of new dishes. It gives our guests a good reason to get out of the house as well. It's a win-win.”

Here are some of the suburban restaurants participating in Chicago Restaurant Week. See choosechicago.com or individual websites for menus and other specifics:

• The Ashburn, Rosemont

• Atwater's, Geneva

• B., Oak Brook

• Bistro Bordeaux, Evanston

• The Capital Grille, Lombard and Rosemont

• Chuck's Southern Comforts Cafe, Darien

• Farmhouse Tavern, Evanston

• Fox & Turtle, Itasca

• Hearth Restaurant, Evanston

• L. Woods Tap & Pine Lodge, Lincolnwood

• McCormick & Schmick's Seafood & Steaks, Rosemont, Skokie and Oak Brook

• Mon Ami Gabi, Oak Brook

• Morton's The Steakhouse, Rosemont and Schaumburg

• Oceanique Restaurant, Evanston

• Peckish Pig, Evanston

• Perry's Steakhouse and Grille, Oak Brook

• Ruth's Chris Steak House, South Barrington and Northbrook

• Sam and Harry's Steakhouse, Schaumburg

• Seasons 52, Oak Brook and Schaumburg

• Shaw's Crab House, Schaumburg

• Tokio Pub, Schaumburg

• Vie, Western Springs

• Vistro, Hinsdale

• Wildfire, Glenview, Lincolnshire. Schaumburg and Oak Brook

Check, please

East Dundee just wrapped up its first restaurant week. Here's when and where to find other restaurant week/month promotions in the suburbs:

• Geneva Restaurant Week, Jan. 23-29, genevachamber.com

• Naperville Restaurant Week, Jan. 27 to Feb. 9, dinenaperville.com

• North Shore Restaurant Month, Feb. 1-28, northshorediningdeals.com

• Chicago Northwest Restaurant Week, Feb. 24 to March 5, chicagonorthwest.com/restaurant-week

• In Good Taste Restaurant Week in Wheaton, Feb. 24 to March 5, downtownwheaton.com/event/good-taste-restaurant-week/

• St. Charles Restaurant Week, Feb. 27 to March 3, stcharlesil.gov/restaurant-week

• Lake County Restaurant Week, March 3-12, visitlakecounty.org/restaurantweek

• Randhurst Village in Mount Prospect, March 12-18, randhurstvillage.com

• Batavia Restaurant Week, March 20-24, see Batavia Restaurant Madness page on Facebook

• Northern Fox River Valley Restaurant Week, March 27 to April 4, northernfoxrivervalley.com/visit/restaurant-week

• Des Plaines Restaurant Week falls during October. Check www.desplaines.org/government/mayor/week.htm for details as it gets closer.