Saturday, August 1, is the start of Main Street Restaurant Week, which runs…let’s see here…oh, a week, until August 8. So let’s all run down to Main Street and, um…
Wait a minute. According to Google Maps, Main Street in Orlando is essentially the parking lot of a strip mall that fronts Orange Avenue, just south of Gatlin Road. There are a couple of electronic cigarette stores and a balloon shop along with some other small businesses, but if there are any restaurants in the mix there aren’t enough of them to have their own weeklong celebration.
Ah, here’s more information. Main Street is an initiative of Orlando to recognize the various neighborhood commercial districts throughout the city. Ever wonder where the Mills 50 designation came from when everyone else was referring to that neighborhood as Little Saigon? That was from the Main Street program. The other designated Main Street neighborhoods are:
- Church Street
- Audubon Park
- College Park
- Downtown South (not SoDo or even DoSo)
- Ivanhoe Village (not Antique Row)
- Thornton Park
- Orlando Tech Association (huh?)
- Gateway Orlando (ditto)
Gateway Orlando, apparently, refers to Semoran Boulevard leading up from Orlando International Airport. I can’t figure out what the heck Orlando Tech Association is or what it’s doing in the Main Street program. And the area code for the contact person is for Palm Beach. But they don’t have any restaurants participating in the Main Street Restaurant Week anyway, so we’ll just let that one slide.
So, Main Street Restaurant Week works similarly to other restaurant weeks or even months. Participating restaurants put together a special prix fixe menu, however there are no set rules as to what prix they fixe to it. It could be $5, it could be $30 or anything in between. It could be for lunch, it could be for dinner.
There is an official Main Street Restaurant Week website, but it’s a bit cumbersome and sluggish and only has spotty information. (I’d hate to think any of the Orlando Tech Association folks put that together; maybe they could get together and make it better.)
But you can at least see a list of the participating restaurants, and in some cases you can see what they’re offering.
K restaurant, for instance, has a $30 three-course dinner with a choice of Creole BBQ Shrimp or Watermelon and Lobster salad for a starter; Roast Tri-tip or Wild Salmon for an entree; and an ice cream sandwich or cheesecake for dessert.
Some other participants include flog favorites Tap Room at Dubsdread, Ragazzi’s Pizza & Restaurant; and Shari Sushi Lounge.
You can see the complete list of participants, if not all of their menus, at this link.
