In the News - 2006

Monday, November 20, 2006
The Ticker
Healthy Appetite

The numbers are in, and Long Island Restaurant Week exceeded even organizers Steve Hawelli’s wildest dreams: 102 participating restaurants, $2.8 million in revenue, more than 80,000 meals served after 942,997 hits on the “Restaurant Week” Web site by some 53,000 visitors. “We have restaurants that reported an increase in reservations and sales, some by up to 200 percent,” Haweeli said. “It is resoundingly successful, much more so than we even figured.” Which means only one thing: The East Hampton public relations executive has to do it all over again next year.

Fall/Winter 2006
Long Island Restaurant Week

The Long Island Restaurant Week is set for Nov.5-12. Special prix fixe dinners will be offered by participating local restaurants, including (so far) Tweed’s, Riverhead; the Seafood Barge, Southold; Cooperage Inn, Baiting Hollow; and Blackwell’s, Desmond’s, La Plage and Michael Anthony’s in Wading River. A number of South Fork and North Shore Restaurants have already signed up, too.

The price for a three-course dinner unique to each restaurant will be $21.95. It will be available all during dinner hours, except Saturday, when the special price ends at 7 p.m.

Check longislandrestaurantweek.com to see if your favorite dinning spot has signed up yet.

November 2006
Travel Desk
Fine Dining on the Island

What? First Annual Long Island Restaurant Week
When? Nov. 5-12
Where? Throughout Long Island
What to expect? In the spirit of New York City’s famed restaurant week, Long Island will host its first annual week-long event that will feature special prix fixe three-course dinners offered by top restaurants throughout the North Shore and South Shore, Central Suffolk, North Fork and South Fork. Each restaurant will present its own unique menu for $21.95. For more information, call 631/329-0050 or visit www.longislandrestaurantweek.com.

November 2006
Culture Notes-Arts, Theater & More
A Restaurant Week for All of Long Island

It’s the end of the harvest season and the local landscape is brimming with beauty. The timing couldn’t be better for the First Annual Long Island Restaurant Week. Simmering with good tastes from November 5 to 12, the week-long promotion serves up a special three-course prix fixe dinner based on each participating restaurant’s menu at $21.95 all night, except Saturday when the price is good until 7 pm. Modeled after successful restaurant weeks in Manhattan and The Hamptons, the Long Island event is divided into five regions: North Shore, South Shore, Central Suffolk, North Fork and South Fork. Visit the website for a full list of participants. www.longislandrestaurantweek.com.

November 24-30, 2006
Follow Ups
They’re stuffed!

After the first annual Long Island Restaurant Week, patrons are a bit fuller and restaurateurs a bit richer.

Through the brainchild of Steve Haweeli, 101 island restaurants offered prix-fixe meals between Nov. 5 and 12. The idea was to get diners out during an historically soft business period, and it worked. Participating restaurants brought in about $2.9 million for the week, with some eateries reporting increases of between 40 and 200 percent over the same week in 2005.

John Tunney, owner of Huntington Village’s Blue Honu restaurant, called it the “single-best promotion I’ve ever been involved in.” Tunney, like several others Island restaurateurs, even extended the promotion for another week.

November 1, 2006
Calendar
Restaurant Weeks

Restaurant weeks, with prix-fixe lunches and dinners, will be held on Long Island and in the Hudson Valley starting next week. More than 90 Long Island restaurants will offer special dinner menus for $21.95 from Nov. 5 through 12. On Nov. 11 dinners will be available only for 7 p.m. reservations. A list of restaurants is at longislandrestaurantweek.com.