Winter Long Island Restaurant Week Is Here

With all the uncertainty surrounding when restaurants will be able to fully reopen, those longing for a meal cooked by someone else can take advantage of a new Long Island Restaurant Week, which will run from Sunday, January 24, to Sunday, January 31, at restaurants located throughout Nassau and Suffolk counties. This winter, with COVID-19 still firmly in our midst, participating restaurants are offering three-course prix fixe menus for takeout with some choosing to also offer a dining-in option.

Restaurant Week is a great opportunity to support local businesses, try new restaurants and savor old favorites — this time, in your own home. Here’s how it works. Restaurants may offer a $25, $35 or $42 three-course dinner prix fixe with one, two or all three price options throughout the promotion. Each participant is required to offer three dinner options per course (appetizer, entrée and dessert). The promotion runs Sunday to Sunday (except Saturday, when it only has to be offered until 7 p.m.). In addition to takeout, many restaurants will be offering the promotion for limited indoor and outdoor dining. Contact restaurants individually to inquire about the options.

To date, East End participants include: Calissa’s in Water Mill, Lulu Kitchen & Bar in Sag Harbor and The Preston House in Riverhead. Jamesport Manor will soon be added to the lineup, and more South Fork restaurants are expected to sign on as well.

Long Island Restaurant Week is a tri-annual event designed to garner positive publicity and additional business for the region’s restaurants. Since 2006, it has been an annual fall promotion until the first spring. Long Island Restaurant Week was launched in April 2011, and then winter was added in January 2016, due to popular customer and restaurateur demand.

This year, visitors are encouraged to make donations on the Long Island Restaurant Week website to two organizations — the Independent Restaurant Coalition (saverestaurants.com), which supports restaurants and works for legislative change, and Island Harvest (islandharvest.org), which distributes millions of pounds of food through a network of community-based food pantries, soup kitchens and emergency feeding programs.

“Now more than ever, we want to make a difference for two groups in need: restaurants and those facing food insecurity,” said Steve Haweeli, president of the Long Island Restaurant and Hospitality Group, which organizes the event.

For a full list of participating restaurants and details on how to donate to the organizations, visit longislandrestaurantweek.com.