OC Restaurant Week Soldiers On

*Pamela Waitt, President of the Orange County Restaurant Association. Photo credit Pamela Waitt.*

During a year of constant cancelations, some traditions remain. When the 13th annual OC Restaurant Week arrives next month, it promises to be better than ever.

Participating restaurants, including several from Irvine, have plans for take-out, outdoor dining, and dining-in options, depending on COVID conditions and restrictions in early March. This year’s OC Restaurant Week will have something for everyone. The Vine spoke with Pamela Waitt, OC Restaurant Association president and organizer of OC Restaurant Week, to learn more.

“We're doing date night kits and family meal kits and prefixed,” says Waitt. “Some restaurants are doing prefixed to-go. Many of them are planning to have it dine-in. We’re working on some really cool event cocktails that are for both.”

The goal for this year’s OC Restaurant Week is flexibility.

“We're positioning the event as dine your way,” says Waitt. “People might not feel comfortable with indoor or outdoor dining. They can choose to do it their way and just do take out.”

This flexibility extends beyond how diners get their food. Restaurants are also tailoring special OC Restaurant Week menus to their customers’ unique needs.

“People will really love the date night kits and all of the different family meals that you can get,” Waitt says. “A lot of restaurants are doing family meals ever since we launched it with the last Restaurant Week, but they're really going to do something special for Restaurant Week to make it extra cool. It will be something that you could only get during Restaurant Week.”

After seeing so much strife over the past year, restaurants are in dire need of support from their community. With the extra promotion participating restaurants receive, OC Restaurant Week couldn’t come at a better time.

“We all have to be in it together and help,” says Waitt. “These events, they're designed for fun for the diners and for the community to enjoy, but also to help the restaurants recover as quickly as possible. Because, yeah, hearing the stories I have to hear every single day, talking to them and working with them, it's heart wrenching.”

Some of these stories involve restaurants that are on the brink of survival after thriving for generations.

“Families that have had these restaurants for sometimes decades are so close to losing everything,” says Waitt. “So it's just been brutal.”

Of course it isn’t just the restaurant industry struggling these days. Many have suffered this past year. Waitt says everyone in the community can benefit from some great food and a few nights away from the stove.

“Restaurant Week is such a fun celebration,” Waitt says. “It's exciting to have one week where you just let yourself do take-out and let the restaurants do all of the cooking.”

Perhaps even more importantly, this year’s OC Restaurant Week is the excuse we all need to get out of our comfort zone and broaden our horizons. After a year of monotony, now is a great time discover something new.

“Explore different restaurants and find new restaurants that you love,” urges Waitt. “That's my thing. More than ever, let's really support this industry that we all love and use this week to find new favorite restaurants.”