Drum Roll Please……. It’s Houston Restaurant Week(s)! Woohoo! D and I started off last night with a trip to Carmelo’s for some Gnocchi, Chianti and Tiramisu. I have to say it was delish! If you aren’t familiar with Restaurant Week, you are seriously missing out. Over 100 restaurants in the area have pre-fixed menus for lunch and dinner during the entire month of August, with donations being made per diner to the Houston Food Bank. Best of all, you get to try out these restaurants at a price that doesn’t hurt… for instance, what if that caviar foam isn’t all it’s cracked up to be? You certainly don’t want to pay the normal asking price for garbage, do you? I have one friend in particular who I’m certain dines out at least 4-5 times a week during this month, sampling the usually outrageously expensive establishments.  (I’m talking about you, Mr. Davis)

While this doesn’t directly relate to travel, Restaurant Week isn’t location specific. We have been lucky enough to be in different cities during this glorious culinary week and have taken full advantage. A few years back we were in Boston for a family wedding and low and behold, it was Boston Restaurant Week! There was a special restaurant that meant a lot to D and his family, and he wanted to take me to try it out. For $35 at dinner, we were able to sit on the bay, watch the sunset and have an excellent lobster dinner in a beautiful location that would have normally cost us triple what we spent.

If you have some extra time during your travel planning process, make sure you Google events in that particular city. You never know what may be going on there and what discounts you may be able to find. It is little tricks like this that allow D and I to go beautiful cities and really have first class experiences without the outrageous price tags.

So, if you haven’t already, use OpenTable and MAKE SOME RESERVATIONS FOR RESTAURANT WEEK!