It’s (fill in the blank) night

SPECIAL nights aren’t so special now that they’re happening every night of the week at one restaurant or another. Some places are even doing multiple special nights. How unspecial is that? Others seem to flirt with and abandon special nights as often as a commitment-phobe changes dance partners (would that be, um, sequential specialness?).

Five years ago, there were just a few special nights around town: family dinner Mondays and grilled cheese Thursdays at Campanile (ground zero for the trend in Los Angeles) and Sunday supper at Lucques. A few others followed: Monday bistro nights at JiRaffe, Thursday family dinners at Angeli Caffe and tapas Thursdays at Firefly Bistro.

But in the last few months, the restaurant scene has been breaking out all over in special nights. All of a sudden you need a spreadsheet just to keep track.

Take Monday nights. Why is this night different from all other nights? It’s not only mozzarella night at Jar, but also $1 hot dog night at the Stand, “Inner Child” night at Luna Park complete with special drinks (for the very mature inner child, we suppose) and enchilada night at the Spanish Kitchen.

And that’s just a sampling. The list goes on, with entries such as ravioli night at Dolce Enoteca, so-called because the menu features three instead of the usual one ravioli choice.

At La Terza, Tuesdays are tavola Italiana night with platters of antipasto set out for sampling at $5 a pop. Two nights later, it’s mare e monti night, when, in addition to the regular menu, there is a $38 prix fixe menu available with a seafood starter, grilled meats entree (thus the ocean and mountain name) and dessert.

In case you’d like to fill in any blanks on your calendar, Wednesdays are “doughnut shoppe” night at Grace, and “Flight Night” at Napa Valley Grille (the one offers doughnuts for dessert, the other a complicated concept of separate wine flights and themed small bites dishes). Fridays are for pig roast and paella on the plaza patio at Norman’s -- try saying that 10 times fast -- beginning Aug. 19. If it’s Sunday it must be tapas at Ciudad, family-style dinner at Dominick’s and half-plates/half-bottles at Belvedere. Whew.

Small bites

* From Aug. 15 to 19 and Aug. 22 to 26, nearly 50 Los Angeles area restaurants, including Chaya Venice, Max, Vincenti, Il Grano, Michael’s, Border Grill and Xiomara are participating in the fourth annual S. Pellegrino U.S.A. Dine Out program. Diners can enjoy a special three-course menu, along with a complimentary bottle of S. Pellegrino or Acqua Panna, for $20 at lunch and $35 at dinner. One dollar from each Dine Out meal will benefit Share Our Strength, an organization that fights hunger. For more information, go to www.usadineout.com.

* Sara Levine, who was executive chef at the 4 1/2--month-old Opus Bar & Grill, is no longer at the restaurant. But according to owner John Chung, she may return. “We’re still kind of negotiating,” he said. “We have not decided what we want to do exactly.”

Opus Bar & Grill, 3760 Wilshire Blvd., L.A.; (213) 738-1600.