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Restaurant Week means more than a $35 steak.
For some of the more than 100 restaurants joining in the annual business and charity promotion next month, it's also a chance to impress new customers and try new menu items.
"Some restaurants try to cut corners during Restaurant Week, but I won't do that," said Bobby Albanese, taking reservations now for another Restaurant Week, Aug. 16-22, at Piola Restaurant and Garden, his bungalow cafe in the Fort Worth Cultural District.
"For me, this is the best time to try something new. My regular customers are excited about something different. The new customers will tell me whether to put it on the menu."
Piola is one of 32 Tarrant and Parker county restaurants serving $35 dinners that week -- some continue a second week or through Labor Day -- and donating $7 of that to charity.
(Reservations opened this week. Call each restaurant to book specifically for Restaurant Week, and see www.krld.com for the full list of more than 100 restaurants.)
The donations go to the Lena Pope Home children's charity in Tarrant County or the North Texas Food Bank in Dallas County.
Because it's a charity event, some larger restaurants try to save by skimping on portions or limiting reservations.
Not Piola. "For me, this is a time when I'm trying to make an impression," Albanese said.
The Piola menu will feature a lobster cake appetizer with summer caviar sprinkled on top, along with entrees such as beef short ribs, asparagus lasagna and a pork chop stuffed with mozzarella and mango chutney.
Piola is open weekdays for lunch and nightly except Sunday for dinner at 3700 Mattison Ave., 817-989-0007; www.fwpiola.com.
(One Restaurant Week location is missing from the KRLD list: The Wild Mushroom Restaurant & Lounge, 1917 Martin Drive, Weatherford. For reservations, call 817-599-4935; www.thewildmushroomrestaurant.com.)
Rudy's Country Store and Bar-B-Q, a Hill Country chain, will add an Arlington store at 451 Interstate 20 E.; www.rudys.com.
The Oregon-based Original Pancake House (home of the "Dutch Baby") is open for breakfast and lunch at 1505 William D. Tate Ave., Grapevine; www.originalpancakehousedallas.com.
Fuzzy's Taco Shop is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner daily at 480 W. Southlake Blvd. in Southlake, with locations coming in west Fort Worth, Burleson, Dallas and Euless; www.fuzzystacoshop.com.
Tollie's Barbecue, 6407 S. Cooper St., Arlington, owned by caterer Tollie Giddings, will open next week; www.tolliesbarbecue.com.
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