If you have been putting off trying that new dining spot, bistro or eatery, now is the time to dive in. Annapolis Restaurant Week kicks off Sunday, with over 40 establishments offering special menus through March 3.
Some will be open for breakfast and all will be open for lunch or dinner, or both.
And all will have a prix fixe menu selection: Two-course breakfasts at $12.95, two-course lunches for $15.95 and three-course dinners for $34.95.
The event is organized annually by the Downtown Business Partnership. Said Executive Director Erik Evans: “People tend to get stuck inside during the winter. This is a chance for locals to break out of their hibernation and enjoy the food this town has to offer.”
Evans said to be sure and check out the individual restaurants on their websites for new features available at some locations during the week. “Some are offering, in addition to the prix fixe prices, complimentary drinks or appetizer discounts.”
The Annapolis Smokehouse, at 107 Hillsmere Drive in the Bay Ridge Market Place Shopping Center, is cranking up for the week.
The restaurant just celebrated its fifth anniversary by signing its second five-year lease and its managers are looking forward to seeing new faces during Restaurant Week.
“One of our most popular dishes is the sampler platter, and we have it on the Restaurant Week menu,” co-owner Ryan Gaines said.
That dish offers you your pick of three of the house smoked meats — ribs, brisket, kielbasa, pulled pork, pulled chicken or quarter chicken — all cooked low-and-slow on a Southern Pride smoker with oak or pecan wood.
The restaurant will also offer lunch, starting with a choice from among five salads, or crab soup or chili; then four of the sandwiches, including the Eastportorican, the Smokehouse version of a Cubano.
Dinner comes with an appetizer. Try the frickles — fried pickles, for the uninitiated — then a choice of the BBQ sampler, the house signature pork flat iron or whiskey salmon, plus two sides.
Over at the Light House Bistro, at 202 West Street, the staff is gearing up for its first Restaurant Week.
“Here it is, almost our one-year anniversary, serving great food with great service and employing graduates of the Light House programs,” said Elizabeth Kinney, president of Light House Social Enterprises.
Most employees at the Bistro are graduates of the 16-week culinary training program at the Light House shelter’s facility on Hudson Street.
“It’s an amazing mission and social enterprise right here in Annapolis,” Kinney said.
The culinary program, she said, has graduated 300 people ready for “not just a job, but a career.”
Get there for breakfast and start with a trio of beignets, then chicken and waffles, or a California omelet. Stop back for lunch for the Bistro’s signature fries with aioli or creamy crab soup, then choose from a pulled chicken salad with quinoa avocado and arugula, a Bistro burger or the BLAT flatbread.
“We make the flatbread here from scratch every morning,” chef David Hammer said. “We top it with arugula, bacon, jack cheese, avocado and heirloom tomatoes.”
For Dinner, try the crab dip appetizer, then select from flat iron steak, seared salmon or chicken pot pie. But, save room for dessert.
Flamant, tucked away in West Annapolis at 17 Annapolis St., is open only for dinner and will pair the prix fixe menu with wine per course for an additional $20.
The first course offers a choice of Belgian endive salad with fourme d’ambert blue cheese, pickled figs watercress and hazelnut dressing, garlic-seared Atlantic shrimp with spinach and sun-dried artichoke, or the mussel salad with brioche garlic, parsnips and lemon dressing.
Main course selections include grilled rainbow trout, roasted organic farm chicken or a cauliflower strudel. And, don’t forget dessert: Grand Marnier tiramisu or an almond-banana beignet.
Preserve, at 164 Main St., will start you off with choice of crispy kale with cumin yogurt, pepper jelly and red onions, or crispy potato cakes. Or, how about griddled Maryland blue crab pierogies or a potted chicken liver mousse?
For the main course there’s a choice of gnocchi with oyster mushrooms, kimchi broth and crispy onions or chicken-fried Maryland blue catfish, a griddled chickpea-broccoli cake, or pork and sauerkraut.
Across Spa Creek at Carrol’s Creek Cafe, 410 Severn Ave., you can hit a lunch or dinner prix fixe during the week.
Lunch on a first course salad followed by grilled salmon, or tasso panini, cioppino, grilled mahi-mahi or a quinoa bowl with sun-dried tomatoes and grilled vegetables.
For dinner you can start with salads or sea scallop in phyllo, or a house cured tea and lime salmon. Or perhaps cream of crab or another soup.
The main course starts with a surf and turf with grilled top sirloin and lobster tail, grilled mahi-mahi, rib-eye steak, cioppino or the quinoa bowl.
There are plenty of choices at the more than 40 restaurants participating. You can find all the details and make reservations at www.downtownannapolispartnership.org/restaurant-week.
Most of the restaurants have reservations available via OpenTable. Those that don’t are designated on the website’s chart with contact information.
Bon appetit!
This article has been revised to provide the correct address for The Light House Bistro at 202 West Street, Annapolis.
