Restaurants to help charity

Proceeds from sales to support group that works to feed the needy

View File PhotoVolunteers Angela Gunderson, left, and Lilly Bennett load food to kick off the backpack program for schoolchildren at Three Square food bank, 4190 N. Pecos Road, earlier this year. Advertisement

Las Vegas Restaurant Week begins Monday, and with it, a chance to experience fine dining for less. In the tradition of other major food destinations across the United States, Las Vegas' finest restaurants will offer discounted dining selections from Monday through Sept. 7 in support of a local charity that feeds the hungry.

The more than 60 eateries participating will offer three-course menus during the week at a fraction of the usual price.

Lunch menus at participating restaurants will be priced at $25.08 per person, and dinner menus will be priced at $50.08 per person. A portion of the proceeds from meals sold during Restaurant Week will assist Three Square, a nonprofit organization working to end hunger in Southern Nevada.

This is the second year the restaurant industry in Las Vegas is reaching out to the community through Restaurant Week.

"It's just one more additional way to help out," Erica Dermer, volunteer coordinator for Three Square, said. "The response overall has been very positive."

Fine dining establishments both on and off the Strip are participating, including Chinois in The Forum Shops at Caesars, Maggiano's Little Italy at the Fashion Show mall, Onda at The Mirage and Fleur de Lys at Mandalay Bay.

Participating off-Strip eateries include Agave Comida y Tequila at 10820 W. Charleston Blvd.; The Charcoal Room at Santa Fe Station, 4900 N. Rancho Drive; Andre's at 401 S. Sixth St.; Twin Creeks at the Silverton, 3333 Blue Diamond Road; and The Broiler at Boulder Station, 4111 Boulder Highway.

Lesley Pittman, a former vice president at Station Casinos and current consultant for the resort company, is on the board of directors for Three Square.

"Restaurant Week is very helpful in adding exposure to Three Square," she said.

Examples of menu items one might encounter during Restaurant Week include herb-roasted New York steak, truffle-parmesan french fries, chocolate hazelnut fondant or Tecate beer shrimp tacos. Most of the participating restaurants' menus for the week are posted online via the Three Square Web site, www.threesquare.org. Click on the Restaurant Week logo.

"I would encourage everyone in our community to come out," Pittman said. "You get great deals at fine restaurants and are able to support a very worthy cause."

Three Square is a partnership among the casino and restaurant industries, major food distributors, local governments, UNLV and other charitable organizations in Southern Nevada. Three Square embraces a simple credo: "No one in our community should have to go without a healthy meal."

In the first six months of this year, Three Square and its partner agencies distributed more than 600,000 hot meals and 90,000 pantry bags, each bag containing a three-day supply of groceries, according to Three Square Program Manager Sarah Borron.

About 32 percent of the pantry bags went to seniors and 23 percent went to feed children, Borron said. Of the hot meals provided, 20 percent went to seniors and about 16 percent were served to children, she said.