By Rachel Lippmann, St. Louis Public Radio
St. Louis – Chefs at 28 restaurants throughout downtown are putting the finishing touches on their menus for St. Louis's Restaurant Week.
The sixth annual event promotes the downtown food scene as well as raises money for Operation Food Search. Last year, 19,000 people took advantage for three-course gourmet meals for $25, and raised $9,000 for the food pantry.
Copia Winery is back after a two-year absence following a 2007 arson. Participation was a no-brainer, the restaurant's Jen Dahr said.
"Even before we started talking about Restaurant Week, I started having people asking us, hey, are you going to be a part of Downtown Restaurant Week?" she said.
Sandra Calvo, the manager at the Pervuian restaurant Mango, said the decision to participate in her eatery's first Restaurant Week was also a simple one. Mango opened its second location because of the city's impressive growth, Calvo said, and Restaurant Week was a natural progression.
"We just wanted to be a part of this uprising of St. Louis city, and for people to come down and see that the city is diverse, and there's so many different cultures," she said. Big parties have made reservations every night this week, she said.
At Copia, Jen Dahr said at least 85 groups have made reservations.