Encore St. Charles County Restaurant Week is Sept. 23-29

Posted Sep 16, 2013

Some of the area's finest restaurants are gearing up for the second annual St. Charles County Restaurant Week, which runs from Monday, Sept 23 through Sunday, Sept. 29. Participating restaurants will feature a special, fixed-price dinner menu and will offer their regular menus also, giving patrons the opportunity to order their old favorites or try something entirely new.

Once again, restaurants participating in St. Charles County

Restaurant Week will offer diners a three-course meal priced at $25 per person, plus tax and gratuity. Guests will be presented with a special dinner menu featuring options for each course, and restaurants will showcase some of their best dishes. There are no tickets, cards nor coupons involved, but patrons are encouraged to call ahead for reservations to avoid disappointment.

Bobby Conn and Rob Muckler, managing partners of R & B Productions, initiated St. Charles County Restaurant Week last fall. After producing a similar event in West St. Louis County, they decided to bring the concept to St. Charles, where it was very well-received. In addition to drawing area residents to some restaurants they never had tried, the inaugural event raised some much-needed funds for a local food pantry and thrift store that serves thousand of families each year.

"We raised about $1,400 for O.A.S.I.S. Food Pantry," Muckler said, noting that the money was raised through the generosity of Restaurant Week diners who chose to add an "extra portion" (optional donation) to their dinner bills.

This year, St. Charles County Restaurant Week diners will have the opportunity to support a different cause: HavenHouse St. Louis (havenhousestl.org), an organization that provides the comfort of home and a community of support for families traveling to the area for medical care. HavenHouse is located on 19 acres in West St. Louis County, features 32 bedrooms with private baths and operates 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

"We have done some events with HavenHouse before, and we selected them as our St. Charles County Restaurant Week charity of choice this year because they are a local organization, and they do a lot of good work for families in need," Muckler said.

Of course, donations are entirely optional, but diners who donate will have the chance to win a nice reward.

"Anyone who chooses to make a donation - it could be $5, $10, $20 or any amount-will have their name entered into a raffle for a $500 gift card that has been donated by Diamond & Jewelry Brokers," Muckler said. "Diamond & Jewelry Brokers is also donating another $500 gift card, which will be given to the restaurant server who garners the most donations for HavenHouse." At Mid Rivers Newsmagzine presstime, participating restaurants include:

Bristol Seafood Grill, 2314 Technology Drive, O'Fallon (625-6350)
Concetta's, 600 S. 5th St., St. Charles (946-2468)
Culpeppers, 3010 W. Clay St., St. Charles (916-3102)
Culpeppers, 4401 Hwy. K, O'Fallon (442-5053)
Magpie's Restaurant, 903 S. Main St., St. Charles (947-3883)
Old Hickory Golf Club, 1 Dye Club Drive, St. Peters (477-8960)
Pio's, 403 First Capitol Drive, St. Charles (724-5919)
The Brass Rail, 4601 Hwy. K, O'Fallon (329-1349)
Tucanos Brazilian Grill, 1520 S. 5th St., #100 (724-4499)

Muckler said he anticipates additional restaurants will sign on, and when they do, they will be listed online at stcharlesrestaurantweek.com. The site also contains participating restaurants' menus and links to their websites.

Presented by R&B Productions, Restaurant Week is sponsored by Diamond & Jewelry Brokers, Mid Rivers Newsmagazine , News Channel 5, the city of O'Fallon, Oldies 103.3, Time Off and Z-107.7 FM.