Las Vegas eateries offering specials for Restaurant Week

A record number of valley restaurants will participate in the 12th Las Vegas Restaurant Week from June 18-29, which benefits Three Square food bank. Brian Burton, Three Square president and CEO, said more than a week before the deadline that 150 restaurants had signed up, with more expected.

Many of them are in the tourism corridor, but Burton said there’s “good coverage” across Southern Nevada.

“I love to see the off-the-Strip restaurants, like Todd’s Unique Dining in Henderson,” Burton said. “Elephant Bar is new this year, and we have faithful ones coming back, like Andiron and Honey Salt.”

Ten Station Casinos restaurants, 15 at Caesars Entertainment properties and 30 at MGM Resorts International properties will have Restaurant Week menus. Las Vegas Sands, Wynn Resorts, The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, SLS Las Vegas and South Point also will participate again this year.

Here’s how Restaurant Week works: Restaurants create prix-fixe menus ranging from $20 to $80, and a fixed amount for each menu sold is donated to the food bank. The menus generally represent a savings over the restaurants’ regular prices. Last year’s Restaurant Week raised more than $200,000 — providing more than 600,000 meals to hungry people in the region — and the event has brought in $1.4 million since it began.

“We feel the importance of Restaurant Week supersedes our need for exclusivity in order to achieve a higher purpose, namely to be able to feed America,” said Steve Barr, executive chef at Green Valley Ranch Resort, where Hank’s Fine Steaks & Martinis will feature a $50 dinner option.

The “week” is actually 12 days, but at The Venetian and Palazzo, it’s a week longer.

“We (extended) it last year and it was successful; that’s why we’re doing it again,” said Phillippa Fryman, vice president of food and beverage for the two properties.

Three Square estimates that last year’s extension meant 40,000 extra meals.

Fryman said this year the properties also are offering deals at their two newest cocktail bars.

At The Dorsey at The Venetian, the most popular drinks, Penicillin and Spicy Flamingo, will be $15 instead of the usual $18, with $3 going to Three Square for each drink. At Rosina at Palazzo, the drinks on the secret mint julep menu — five variations on the classic, “for those in the know” — also will be $15, with $3 to the food bank.

“I imagine it’s because they see the benefit of really appealing to locals during that time, when maybe in the heat of the summer the tourist traffic slacks off a little bit,” Burton said. “I think it’s a good business proposition as well as their desire to continue to make hunger awareness a part of the program.”

For details on Restaurant Week, with participating restaurants, menus, prices and donation amounts, go to helpoutdineoutlv.org.

The Review-Journal is owned by the family of Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson. Las Vegas Sands operates The Venetian and Palazzo.

Restaurant Week

This year’s Las Vegas Restaurant Week will kick off with the Summer Cookout featuring Robert Irvine from 7 to 10 p.m. Thursday at Robert Irvine’s Public House at the Tropicana.

The event will involve dishes from Irvine’s spot and Tropicana restaurants Oakville Steakhouse and Red Lotus Asian Kitchen such as blackened mahi sliders, Prime Cowboy Sushi Nigiri and Thai veggie egg rolls.

Tickets, which start at $50, are available at the Tropicana box office, troplv.com or by calling 800-829-9034.

Contact Heidi Knapp Rinella at Hrinella@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0474. Follow @HKRinella on Twitter.