DineL.A. restaurant week: Where to get the best bang for your buck

DineL.A., the two-week Los Angeles restaurant tasting event, is happening July 14 to 27. Eateries around the city are offering special, prix-fixe menus designed to give diners a taste at a discounted price.

Those in the know use DineL.A. as an opportunity to try all the restaurants on their bucket lists that may not readily fit into a Tuesday night dinner budget. But with 360 restaurants participating, where should you go? Below is a list of eight of the restaurants that offer great bang for your buck.

Abigaile: Executive chef Tin Vuong has created a varied tasting menu at his Hermosa Beach gastropub. For $45, diners get a five-course menu including escargot poppers with roasted garlic caper aioli, plancha baby octopus with Portuguese sausage, quail egg, bacon aioli and mojo verde and a pig “pop tart” with smoked pork confit bacon and Gruyere in a pastry. For dessert, a take on Snickers with nougat, peanut butter creme and milk chocolate ganache. 1131 Manhattan Ave., Hermosa Beach. www.abigailerestaurant.com/.

Paiche: Ricardo Zarate is serving up a taste of his version of izakaya with a Peruvian touch. Lunch is $25 and includes a choice of three dishes, including the spicy tuna with tacu tacu and rocoto aioli, sauteed branzino, lomo saltado, churros and more. 13488 Maxella Ave., Marina del Rey, (310) 893-6100, www.paichela.com/.

Lawry’s the Prime Rib: This iconic restaurant on La Cienega is known for giving some diners sticker shock, but Dine LA gives people an opportunity to sample some of the most well known dishes at an affordable price. For $45, dinners can order the spinning bowl salad and 8-ounce prime rib with whipped cream horseradish and broiled Nova Scotia lobster tail with drawn butter, mashed potatoes and Yorkshire pudding or salmon and a lobster tail with your choice of old-fashioned chocolate pudding, traditional English trifle or creme brulee. 100 N. La Cienega Blvd.Beverly Hills, (310) 652-2827, www.lawrysonline.com.

The Larder at Burton Way: If you’re looking for an affordable weekday lunch, head to Suzanne Goin’s The Larder at Burton Way. The restaurant is serving a $15 menu that includes a soup of the day or salad, your choice of any three vegetable and/or grain salads, the pilgrim turkey sandwich or the Argentine roast beef sandwich and for dessert, bread pudding. 8500 Burton Way, Los Angeles, (310) 278-8060, www.larderatburtonway.com.

Tipple & Brine: This new seafood restaurant and oyster bar by The Tasting Kitchen alum Mike Williams is offering a $35 three-course menu. Dinner starts with fried octopus, cauliflower or braised greens, followed by roasted chicken and drop biscuits, mushroom gnudi or market fish and duck fat potatoes and chocolate cremeaux or carrot cake for dessert. 14633 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks, (818) 528-2550, www.tippleandbrine.com.

Wolfgang Puck at Hotel Bel Air: A $25 three-course meal at the Hotel Bel Air is unheard of... unless it’s DineL.A. week. For lunch, Puck is starting diners off with a seasonal amuse bouche, followed by burrata and roasted apricots, tomato gazpacho or a white corn salad. Then choose between the fresh pasta, Alaskan halibut or merguez lamb pita and end the meal with a dessert Puck is calling milk and melon. 701 Stone Canyon Rd., Los Angeles, (310) 909-1644, www.wolfgangpuck.com/restaurants.

Plan Check: Times restaurant critic Jonathan Gold named Ernesto Uchimura’s Plan Check burger among his favorite burgers in L.A. During DineL.A. for lunch, you can try the PCB burger, which comes with Uchimura’s house-made Americanized dashi cheese and ketchup leather along with a Frito pie mac and cheese, baked crab dip or veggie chips and one of his signature cruller doughnuts for $25. The restaurant is also serving complimentary plum iced tea or mint lemonade. 351 N. Fairfax, Los Angeles, (310) 288-6500, www.plancheck.com.

Sotto: Chefs Steve Samson and Zach Pollack do Southern Italian food their way at Sotto. For DineL.A., the two have put together a $35 three-course dinner that starts with marinated olives and summer tomato panna cotta. For the second course, a choice of lamb spezzatino, rigatoni or pizza, followed by olive oil cake, chocolate crostata or cannoli. 9575 West Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, (310) 277-0210, www.sottorestaurant.com/.

You can view all of the participating restaurant’s available DineL.A. menus online.

Love a good bite to eat? Follow me on Twitter @Jenn_Harris_