Restaurant Week Set to Return to Rockville

Rockville Restaurant Week returns Sept. 10-18, offering two weekends’ worth of opportunities to sample from what city chefs have to offer.

Twenty restaurants will participate in this third annual edition of Restaurant Week, sponsored by the Rockville Chamber of Commerce and Buy Rockville.

Bethesda and D.C. might be better known for their dining delights, but Rockville has gained new restaurants even as it is striving to gain recognition, said Andrea Jolly, the chamber’s executive director.

Participating establishments will offer one of two prix-fixe menus with either an $8 lunch and $15 dinner menu or a $15 lunch and $30 dinner menu.

Both price structures include a two-course lunch and three-course dinner.

The number of participating restaurants is down from 30 last year.

“Quite frankly some of the ones that had less extensive menus chose not to participate this year,” Jolly said.

Pricing was a factor in the decision of some restaurants to drop out.

A focus group of restaurant owners picked price points, Jolly said.

“The chamber asked restaurants to pick something that they thought would be attractive to customers and where they wouldn’t lose money,” she said.

This year’s lineup is set. The roster of restaurants features old favorites and a few new participants. Participating restaurants are located across the city, from near White Flint to Traville Gateway.

Not all participants are chamber members, though some became members because of their participation, Jolly said. The chamber’s participation fee is $250 for a member restaurant and $300 for nonmembers.

Every cent goes back into supporting Restaurant Week through advertising, including posters in business windows and handbills distributed at community gatherings, Jolly said.

“The chamber really does this to help our members and to help the restaurant community in general,” she said. “The chamber doesn’t make any money off of this.”

This year’s Restaurant Week spans two weekends. Past Restaurant Weeks have only included one weekend. It’s part of an effort to draw more customers and build the reputation of Rockville as a destination location for dining, Jolly said.

“Once people patronize Rockville restaurants they come back because the parking is easy, the food is good and the prices are more reasonable,” than in other places in the metropolitan Washington area, she said.

“Restaurant Week in the District and Restaurant Week in Bethesda are probably a bit more well-known right now,” she said. “So we’re trying to make Restaurant Week in Rockville a little bit more well-known and something that people look forward to.”

Rockville Restaurant Week 2011 Participants

 Sept. 10-18

Aladdin Indian Kitchen

Nick's Chophouse

For more information, see these websites:

• www.rockvillechamber.org/
• http://buyrockville.org/
• www.rockvillerestaurantweek.com