One of the premier annual events is back. Starting March 1 and running through March 12, Maine Restaurant Week takes center stage in Maine.

Maine Restaurant Week

It all started back on March 1, 2009, the day the very first Maine Restaurant Week began. Created by Gillian and Jim Britt, the yearly festival is a celebration of all things culinary here in Maine. Inspired to get people out and help fill restaurants in the winter,  Maine Restaurant Week has been extremely popular with both diners and the industry.

Maine Restaurant Week is an opportunity for Mainers to experience special menus at local restaurants, sign up for great giveaways, and hit up incredible events, as well as helping a great cause, the Preble Street Resource Center. Event ticket sales and sponsorships have helped Maine Restaurant Week give back quite a bit to an organization that does so much for the community.

2022 Maine Restaurant Week Schedule

Due to Covd-19, this year's schedule is a bit pared down. However, there's still plenty to do over the next two weeks.

Crave 2022 is a non-ticketed continuous event at numerous restaurants, cafes, bakeries, and coffee shops. Each participating vendor will be using Coffee By Design coffee to create amazing dishes and drinks. And for every sale of the special item, a dollar will be donated to Preble Street.

2022 Spirit Quest is an event presented by Maine Spirits. The already sold out event is essentially a "pub crawl" where the participant doesn't know the locations until the actual day of. It will be held on Sunday, March 6, in downtown Portland.

Special Offers from Restaurants will be available for the entire event. Typically in the past restaurants have offered three course meals at set prices. However, with the ongoing pandemic, the participating restaurants have the option of what their special offer will be. You can see the entire list of participating restaurants, with menus and specials here.

 The Future of Maine Restaurant Week

It's great to see Maine Restaurant Week up and going for 2022, even with a reduction in activities. Again, with the ever evolving landscape of the pandemic, I can't imagine how difficult it has been to organize. However, with good restaurant participation and sold out events, clearly there is still solid demand for the wonderful celebration.

Maine Restaurant Week has been very open about what the future will look like., They expect to be able to expand the events and participating restaurants as soon as next year.

One of the expected events back will be the extremely popular Breakfast Cook-off. And it looks like I have a few co-workers that are already getting ready for the 2023 edition.

Congrats and best of luck to the Britt's for this year's event and for the future. And a big thank you to them, the participating restaurants, sponsors and all who help give back to the Preble Street Resource Center. Maine Restaurant Week is truly a premier celebration that has created a lasting impact on this community.

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