Order up: Orange County Restaurant Week returns with more than 200 options this year

There has never been a better time to try that new restaurant you’ve been meaning to check out as Orange County Restaurant Week returns March 2 to March 8.

Now in its 16th year, the seven-day event gives diners an incentive to visit their favorite neighborhood eatery or explore new options with participating restaurants offering prix fixe lunch menus priced from $15 to $25 and prix fixe dinners ranging from $25 to $45.

“O.C. Restaurant Week is a celebration of connection — an invitation to gather with friends and loved ones, discover new restaurants and create unforgettable memories while supporting the incredible restaurants that make our community so special,” O.C. Restaurant Week founder Pamela Waitt said in a statement.

Waitt is also the president of O.C. Restaurant Assn., which serves Orange County restaurant-industry professionals with resources, support and an online job board listing open culinary positions. The association started O.C. Restaurant Week as a way to encourage diners to explore more Orange County restaurants. It is now the largest culinary event in Orange County with more than 200 local restaurants participating this year. According to the association, nearly 200,000 people dine out during O.C. Restaurant Week, and the average enthusiast dines out three times during the weeklong event.

Raise a glass at your favorite restaurant for Orange County Restaurant Week, March 2 through March 8.

(Pamela Waitt)

The O.C. Restaurant Week website allows users to search menus by price and city. All restaurants are listed alphabetically, but additionally, menus are organized by popular categories like date night menus, wine lovers menus and vegetarian menus under a tab titled “Celebrate Your Way.”

Participating restaurants this year include Mint Desi Kitchen, Darkroom, Fermentation Farm, Lola Gaspar, Paradise Dynasty, Taco Mesita and more. Options range from a casual $20 lunch, like Irvine’s Terrace Kitchen’s offering that includes an appetizer course with a choice of sesame prawn toast or spring harvest salad, an entree of either spring crab mafaldine or a duck pastrami sandwich with gruyere, blackberry cherry mostarda followed by dessert of coconut and kaffir panna cotta or capriotada bread pudding. Luxury date night menus include the dinner for two offered at O Sea in Orange for $100 with seafood menu options and a bottle of wine.

The event begins on March 1 with a Restaurant Week Masters VIP Launch Party at the Marriott Irvine Spectrum. Restaurants will serve samples of their O.C. Restaurant Week menus along side premium cocktails, Paso Robles wines and music with proceeds benefiting California Love Drop, an organization that provides healthcare workers and first responders with meals, beverages, treats and supplies.

For tickets to the kick-off event and a complete list of participating restaurants and their menus for the week visit ocrestaurantweek.com.