HOUSTON – It's the time of year local foodies look forward to experiencing.
It's a chance to dine out while helping out a good cause.
Houston Restaurant Weeks 2017 officially kicked off Tuesday.
It's a chance to sample some of Houston's finest cuisine while helping area food banks.
Houston Restaurant Weeks is a fundraising partnership between the Houston Food Bank and nearly 275 area restaurants in which diners can enjoy specially priced multicourse menus with proceeds benefiting the food bank.
The event includes restaurants in Harris, Galveston and Montgomery counties.
"That's the great thing about Restaurant Weeks, you can get out and see a lot of restaurants that you haven't seen at what's a very good price," Alex Brennan-Martin, owner of Brennan's of Houston, said.
Brennan's has been one of the restaurants on the list for most of the 15 years the fundraising effort has been around.
Last year, the five-week event raised a little over $2 million for the food bank, which amounted to tens of thousands of meals to fight hunger in the Houston community.
"We see people for restaurant weeks that we really don't see other times of the year, they're trying a whole bunch of other restaurants." Brennan-Martin said. "I know many of the restaurants have great wine deals and cocktail deals going on at the same time. It really is a bargain and a great way to see what's going on in Houston."
Money raised by restaurants will benefit food banks in their respective county.
For example, a restaurant will donate $5 for $35 spent on a three- or four-course dinner. The $5 donation is enough to provide 15 meals in the community.
Houston Restaurant Weeks runs to Sept. 4.
View the list of participating restaurants here.
