Die-hard food lovers living in the East Bay no longer need to commute to San Francisco in order to get their choice of cuisine. Lafayette has a "Restaurant Gulch" of its own, with parking, and foodies all over Contra Costa County are descending on the area to see what's cooking.
On Tuesday May 17, many of these local boits get to strut their stuff to hungry diners during the annual “Taste of Lafayette" restaurant tour.
This is the ninth year for the annual restaurant walk thrown by and Lafayette Community Foundation and organizers are determined not to disappoint.
“We really feel like the core of our downtown is our restaurants,” said Jay Lifson, executive director of the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce. “We have some great restaurants here in Lafayette and it's our chance to show them off.”
Tickets are $45 per person and the tour is limited to 450 participants due to the strain on the restaurants an eager - and hungry - crowd presents.
Diners will start the tour at the park plaza at 5:30 p.m., sampling appetizers, wine and beer while listening to live acoustic music provided by Red House Studios and participate in the silent raffle. Some of this year's prizes include a week in Hawaii, Carmel, a BMW for the weekend and even a dinner for two for an entire year in 12 different restaurants in Lafayette.
From there, patrons can stroll along along “Restaurant Row” and taste the delicacies laid out by local chefs displaying their culinary heft at 15 to 20 participating restaurants such as , , , , and newcomer – just to name a few. And if walking does not sound ideal way to travel venue to venue, there is a shuttle bus service offered throughout the night.
At the end of the tour, around 8:30 p.m., all patrons are invited back to the Lafayette park plaza for coffee and dessert, which may just inspire sugar-induced dancing by sated diners.
The fundraiser, organized by the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce and the Lafayette Community Foundation, “is the one night of the year where you have 500 people walking down the sidewalks of Lafayette, bringing pedestrian life to thrive in Lafayette," Lifson said.
Tickets are available through the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce, located at 100 Lafayette Circle, Suite 103. Visit their website or call 284-7404.
