BERLIN – The town will once again celebrate its array of eateries with Berlin Restaurant Week.
The event, in its second year, takes place from Jan. 9 to 15. Nearly all of the town’s restaurants are offering specials to encourage residents and visitors alike to dine in Berlin.
“Berlin has so many unique restaurants and a restaurant week is the perfect opportunity to try those you’ve never been to before,” said Ivy Wells, the town’s economic development director.
The idea of a Berlin Restaurant Week was put forth last year by resident and business owner Cam Bunting. She said she’d seen how popular restaurant week was in Bethesda and thought that, with its growing number of dining establishments, Berlin should do something similar. It proved to be a hit with merchants and visitors alike.
“We had a really good turnout last year,” she said.
Robin Tomaselli of Baked Dessert Café agreed.
“It was a wonderful week for us during a time of year that’s generally slow,” she said. “We had all kinds of new visitors that came into Berlin to dine.”
She says the quality of food offered by the restaurants in Berlin is what makes them stand out.
“The thing about the restaurants in Berlin is all of them are different but all of them are doing made from scratch food,” she said, adding that when she and her husband went out to eat they always tried to stay in town. “If I’m going to spend money to dine, I want it to be something somebody’s made from scratch.”
By offering a restaurant week, Tomaselli says people who may not have eaten in Berlin before will be encouraged to give it a try.
“It’s an awesome way to showcase the culinary talent that resides in Berlin,” she said. “Once they come once, they will come back.”
Her restaurant will be offering a $5.99 lunch special and a $4.99 dessert special next week. She says that as she usually does, she’s made sure there are options for everyone.
“We tried to make sure there’s something organic, vegan, vegetarian, gluten free and one that’s none of the above,” she said.
Specials available elsewhere in town include a buy two get one free deal on honey whiskey cakes from the Brooklyn Baking Barons and $30 three-course menus from Fins Ale House and Blacksmith. The Atlantic Hotel will offer an oyster pot pie dinner for $16.95. The Globe will offer three courses for $20 with a special menu available. The Maryland Wine Bar will offer $5 glasses of wine and $5 appetizers. For a full listing of each restaurant’s specials, visit the Town of Berlin’s Facebook page.
“Come to Berlin and enjoy some good food,” Bunting said.
She said that to encourage people to visit more than one establishment during Berlin Restaurant Week, organizers were offering a promotion. She said they were printing restaurant week cards that patrons would be able to pick up and have stamped at each eatery they visited. Anyone who gets their card stamped by three restaurants can drop it off at the visitors center. On Jan. 16, a drawing will provide one winner with a $20 gift card from each of the town’s restaurants as well as $100 cash.
Bunting encourages residents as well as visitors to give the town’s restaurants a try. She expects many who dined during last year’s event to return.
“A lot of people are interested and have been asking when it was going to happen again,” she said.