Lucas: 3 things you won't want to miss during restaurant week

Food lovers get ready.

"Restaurant Week," which kicks off Saturday Jan. 23 on both Hilton Head Island and in Bluffton, will feature more than 60 restaurants offering specially-designed menus at fixed-prices, or "prix-fixe" courses.

In Beaufort, the event, happening now, features a handful of restaurants in conjunction with Restaurant Week South Carolina.

Happening throughout the month of January in cities and restaurants across the country, the event gives chefs a chance to experiment with new dishes or interesting combinations while diners are treated to an affordable night out.

Here are three things you won't want to miss at this year's Restaurant Week.

1. Unusual dishes, innovative fare

Now's your chance to get out and try some things you haven't tried before.

Many chefs are building menus around their usual fare, but are looking for ways to experiment or tweak older recipes.

Others are rolling out interesting ingredients as their main course.

The Bluffton Room's Chef Avery Early for example is offering a main course featuring Spanish octopus -- something they've already had success with but want to offer as part of Restaurant Week.

Unlike Atlantic octopus, Spanish octopus is a little smaller and less fatty giving it a delicate flavor, general manager Jeff Congdon explained.

"The flavor is a little different," he said. "It's a little sweeter."

The restaurant on Promenade Street serves the dish with butter beans, pickled red onions and a burnt lemon chimichurri.

Over at Pomodori, Chef Amanda Russ -- who is still fine tuning her prix-fixe menu -- said she was thinking of offering the restaurant's orecchiette, a small scrumptious pasta usually found in the Apulia region of southern Italy.

Russ plans to serve the pasta with the restaurant's house-made sausage and perhaps some crisp broccolini.

"We plan to keep it simple and keep it classic," she said.

And at Michael Anthony's, the dish might be familiar to Italian enthusiasts, but it was the unusual name that caught our eye.

"You asked about Priest Stranglers?" said Chef Chris Johnson.

Strozzapreti, or the elongated pasta which resembles the collars worn by priests, is actually a staple on the eatery's menu.

Johnson said they will "hold true" to their Italian roots and feature a few other classics on their three-course prix-fixe menu.

"If you go to Italy, you're going to see a lot of the same things that we do here but with a Nouveau twist," he said. "A Nouveau twist on classic recipes."

2. Deals, deals and well, more deals

If you're budget-conscious, there's no better time to dine out than Restaurant Week when you're likely to see prices starting at $15 or $20 for a two- or three-course meal up to $55 for a five-course meal with wine pairings.

The set price makes it easy for families or couples to budget, organizers say.

The week was so popular last year, the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce had more than 33,000 visits to the week's web page, according to Charlie Clark, the chamber's vice president of communications.

Over in Beaufort, chamber officials saw a 30 percent increase for several of the week's participating restaurants, said Rob Wells, vice president for the Beaufort Regional Chamber of Commerce.

"January is not a very busy tourism month for Beaufort so why not celebrate our locals and give back," he said.

And many restaurants will hold their prix-fixe menus over for a week so rewarding loyal customers with continued savings.

3. Dinnertime -- the new social/ happy hour

The week is also fast becoming the week to go out and socialize at time when, let's face it, no one wants to go out.

"Folks tell us they try a new restaurant literally every night," Clark said. "They get together with friends and dine out so it really becomes a whole social thing."

And getting out of your comfort zone and trying new things can sometimes be just as stimulating as say, a plate of Spanish Octopus.

"We all tend to get in a restaurant rut," Clark said. "We stick with our favorites so this is a great opportunity to branch out."

Restaurant Week runs through Jan. 30 on Hilton Head and in Bluffton.

In Beaufort the event runs through Jan. 17. The Beaufort Regional Chamber of Commerce also hosts a Restaurant Week in the fall.

For a list of participating restaurants or to view menus, visit http://www.hiltonheadisland.org/restaurantweek or www.beaufortsc.org/restaurant-week.

Follow reporter Mindy Lucas on Twitter at twitter.com/MindyatIPBG.

Related content:

• Beaufort Restaurant Week starts today, Sept. 10, 2015

This story was originally published January 14, 2016 at 3:55 PM with the headline "Lucas: 3 things you won't want to miss during restaurant week."