Restaurant Week 2010!

One of my favorite times of year to live in Chicago is Restaurant Week. There are over 160 amazing restaurants participating this year. I came across a helpful article in the Chicago Tribune today that includes some tips for Restaurant Week. Might be good for any first timers:

1. It's not a week. This year's Restaurant Week, the third annual, runs from Friday through Feb. 28, a full 10 days of discount dining.

2. More than 160 restaurants are participating, a nice increase from last year (144) and a big jump from the inaugural Chicago Restaurant Week in 2008, when 35 restaurants signed up.

3. Restaurants are offering three-course lunches for $22 and three-course dinners for $32. That's less than the cost of a single entree at some of these restaurants, such as Il Mulino, NoMI and The Lobby (in the Peninsula Hotel). Those four-course, $43 fondue dinners at Geja's Café are only $32 during Restaurant Week.

4. Participating restaurants served more than 225,000 customers last year.

5. It's so popular that many places sell out. Yes, they do. A colleague of mine is still smarting from last year, when she got shut out of Naha's lunch. You snooze, you lose. And you eat at your desk.

6. Most participants are in Chicago, but there are a few suburban players, including Atwater's in Geneva, Jack Binion's Steakhouse in Hammond and Mon Ami Gabi in Oak Brook.

7. A lot of high-end cuisine is being offered, but I count 22 steakhouses in the mix, and I probably missed a couple. Carmichael's, Ditka's, Harry Caray's, Kinzie Chophouse, Morton's, N9ne, O'Brien's, The Palm, Rosebud Prime, Ruth's Chris, Smith & Wollensky and Wildfire are just some of the names you'll find.

8. Though the site contains the occasional glitch (Brasserie Jo is at 59 W. Hubbard St., not 50), eatitupchicago.com lists all the participating restaurants, lets you view their menus and lets you make instant online reservations.

9. Last year's Restaurant Week ran eight days, but it was such a success that most restaurants agreed to extend the deals for another week. Fingers crossed.