With myriad restaurants and cafes in and around this charming Lake County burg, that it took this long for a Mount Dora Area Restaurant Week to be announced is something of a marvel, but beginning Saturday (July 25), its inaugural run will be official.
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“The idea came to us about two or three months ago through Salt & Ember, one of our newest Chamber members and one of Mount Dora’s newest dining destinations,” Rachel O’Ryan, president of the Mount Dora Area Chamber of Commerce, says.
“They suggested bringing a Restaurant Week to the area, and we immediately saw its potential as a strong summer promotion for our local restaurant community.”
Rather than spending a year hashing it out, the collective team decided to jump right in.
“This first year will definitely be a learning experience, but the response from restaurants has been incredibly encouraging,” O’Ryan says. “The event has continued to grow as we approach opening weekend, and we are currently working to add at least three more participating businesses before Saturday.”
Showcasing local restaurants and encouraging residents and the town’s copious visitors to explore the dining scene, this summer promotion will run through Aug. 2, with participants featuring special options in addition to their regular menus, including fun, prix fixe offerings, lunch and dinner combos, dessert features, specials and other limited-time goodies to garner interest … excitement … hunger.
“What makes this event exciting is that it is not limited to one rigid format,” O’Ryan notes. “Diners can enjoy a coursed dinner, find an affordable lunch special, try a creative food-and-drink combination, stop somewhere for dessert or cocktails, or bring part of the experience home through a recipe kit.”
Summer is slow. You hear it all over. And in part, that’s why they hopped to getting this event up and running.
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“Restaurants operate on tight margins, and additional reservations or even a few more occupied tables during a quieter lunch or midweek dinner service can go a long way,” O’Ryan points out.
Getting people into town for lunch means wandering, shopping, perusing the boutiques and hopefully, she says, letting others know about the deals. They’re also hoping folks will put their reservations in the books, planning dates, business get-togethers and social group events. In particular, at a place they may never have tried before.
“Visit MountDoraEats.info, look through the menus, choose a few participating businesses and make concrete plans to dine out,” she suggests.
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Participating restaurants at press time
Lunch offers will be capped at $30 and dinner at $50, with guests able to order directly from the Restaurant Week specials menus.
Mount Dora: Anthony’s Pizza and Italian Restaurant, Back Porch Pizza, Beirut Bites, Botanico Tacos & Tequila, Claire’s Crêperie, Eden Abbey Brewing Community, Fiesta Grande Mexican Restaurant, Highland Street Cafe, KKO Chocolates, Lakeside Inn, Las Palmas Cuban Restaurant, Maw’s Mountain Moonshine, Pisces Rising, Salt & Ember, Shadrach’s Fiery Furnace Pizza Co., Sweet Bites by Beirut Bites, The Mount Dora Bistro, The Salted Fry, The Spice & Tea Exchange, Whiskey Kitchen, Wolf Branch Brewing and The Yardery
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