Fill your plate on a budget throughout Downtown Dining Week

By The Daily Orange Culture Staff

For the next two weeks, restaurants around downtown Syracuse will be giving customers the chance to enjoy local flavors for a more affordable price. Across the area, restaurants will be participating in “Downtown Syracuse Dining Weeks,” a two-week period of deals on three-course meals from local favorites.

As a part of the event, lunch menus can’t go over $15 and dinner menus can’t go over $35. Each restaurant has put together a specific menu for lunch or dinner featuring some of their most popular items. Here are a few of the more than 50 restaurants that are participating in the event:

Original Grain

For Original Grain, dining week is an important Syracuse tradition for both the restaurants and the community.

General Manager MaryAnne Stella said Dining Week allows for community members to try out new places they may not have originally stopped at.

“It just brings people in who don’t know anything about specific restaurants and gives them a chance to have a better idea of what each one does and how they do it,” Stella said.” “Learn a little bit more (about the restaurants) and then maybe be able to go back again.”

Original Grain will be having a $15 combo deal for Dining Week that includes a choice of a sandwich or wrap, a bag of chips or soup, a cookie and a choice of OG Lemonade or water.

Funk ‘n Waffles

The jazzy waffle joint has both a lunch menu and dinner menu for Dining Week. For lunch, they are selling ½ chicken and waffles, wings, ¼ James Brownie and a medium soda for $15. Their dinner option is a Bulgogi Waffle, Jersey Shore Waffle and a large soda for $20. Funk ‘n Waffles also has frequent live bands and shows, like Comedy Night on March 9.

Dinosaur Bar-B-Que

Local barbecue restaurant Dinosaur Bar-B-Que will only have a dinner menu. For $30, customers will be able to choose from three appetizers, make their own combo plate and choose their desert along with two sides. The appetizers are fried green tomatoes, barbecue chicken wings or deviled eggs. Combo plates have one protein, like pulled pork or ribs, and two sides that could include baked beans, coleslaw or mac and cheese. The desert options are a salted caramel cookie bar, chocolate icebox and key lime pie.

Eleven Waters

The Upstate-inspired eatery will be using Dining Weeks to give visitors the chance to try out their full menu. Owner Luke DeWitt said that the deal gives visitors who don’t know the restaurant or are wary because of the price a chance to check out their restaurant.

“It’s so important because… there’s also a lot of people that maybe don’t really go out that much and whether it’s affordability or convenience,” Dewitt said. “This is a great opportunity for people to kind of venture out, try new places, save a couple of bucks and still get the full experience.”

Eleven Waters is offering a three course dinner for $35. On their Dining Week menu, they are offering shrimp gyoza, peruvian ceviche or blistered shishito peppers for the first course. The second course can either be Manhattan clam chowder or springtime panzanella and the third course can be a tofu bowl, seafood cioppino or a 6-ounce filet.

Habiba’s Ethiopian Kitchen

Habiba’s Ethiopian Kitchen is one of the many restaurants with booths in Salt City Market that have deals for dining week. For $35, visitors can buy Beyaynetu, Doro Beyaynetu or Yebere Beyaynetu, all combination platters