Austin Restaurant Week and Dining For Life 2009 Kick Off

Austin Restaurant Week is back and bigger than ever. The semi-annual citywide event, put on by the new crew at Rare magazine, affords Austinites a chance to try out special $25 and $35 prix fixe menus at over fifty upscale eateries. Participating restaurants include relative newcomers like Perla's, Sushi Zushi, and Frank, plus classic Austin institutions such as Hudson’s on the Bend and Jeffrey's.

This year's ARW happens to coincide with AIDS Services of Austin's annual Dining For Life event, and the two share some overlap. Here's how it breaks down:

• Dining For Life only runs today and tomorrow, during which participating restaurants will donate 10-25% of their proceeds to ASA.
• Not all restaurants participating in Austin Restaurant Week are also participating in Dining For Life, and vice-versa (although there's a little overlap).
• Restaurants that are participating in both Austin Restaurant Week and Dining For Life will still donate 15% of their proceeds to ASA on Monday and/or Tuesday of this week
• ASA will receive a $1 donation for every Austin Restaurant Week reservation that's made through the official website
• AIDS Services of Austin is also the designated charity for the first half of Austin Restaurant Week (Sept 13-16), and will receive a smaller portion of its restaurant sales (including from non-Dining For Life venues)
• Most Dining For Life restaurants are participating either Monday or Tuesday, but not both. Exceptions include South Congress Cafe, Trudy's, and Satay.
• Austin Restaurant Week 2 will benefit a separate organization (the Sustainable Food Center)

For a full list of restaurants taking part in either event, click through the jump.

Related:
Austin Restaurant Week Official Site
Dining For Life Official Site
Map of participating ARW restaurants [pdf]
Google Map of participating DFL restaurants
ARW on Twitter

Austin Restaurant Week 2009 runs from September 13-16, 20-23rd. Dining for Life is September 14 and 15.