ESCANABA, Mich. (WZMQ) – Now through Saturday, February 28, Escanaba is celebrating its fourth annual Restaurant Week.
When Restaurant Week in Esky launched in 2023, Downtown Escanaba was home to 17 eateries. Over the years, that number has gotten smaller.
“We’ve been going through some tough times as a community,” said Downtown Development Authority Director Craig Woerpel. “With fires and closures, we’ve lost five of those restaurants, so there’s twelve remaining. It’s good to support those twelve and show them that the community is behind them. We certainly want to support the downtown and those businesses that are there, whether they’re a restaurant or not.”
Participating restaurants are offering various specials, some daily and others for the entire week. Businesses like La Cantina are serving up exclusive menu items that are only available this week.
“We are offering our quesa birria tacos,” said manager Taylor Rodman. “You get three tacos. They come on corn shell tortillas with melted cheese, cilantro, onion, and shredded beef, and then a side of consommé dipping sauce, and then our homemade spicy salsa as well. Those are $18.50. Then we also have our birria ramen. You have the ramen noodles instead of the corn tortilla, the shredded beef, onion, cilantro, cheese, and spicy salsa if you need to spice it up a little bit. That’s $18.00.”
In a time when national fast food chains have become increasingly more common, Rodman says Restaurant Week reminds patrons of the importance of dining locally and supporting the people who make it possible.
“Personally, it’s a lot more work, I feel,” she said. “It’s a lot more work and a lot more time away from people’s families. You have less staff than more corporate organizations and everything like that.”
La Cantina has participated in Restaurant Week in Esky every year. Rodman says the promotion provides increased exposure for local eateries, encouraging diners to try something new or to revisit an old favorite.
“It has helped with putting our restaurant back on the map and everything, introducing our new specialty cocktail menus that we do monthly,” said Rodman. “It’s just been bringing in a lot more new business and recurring business for us.”
This year, more than ever, Woerpel says Restaurant Week in Esky is an opportunity to bring people together over great food.
“Restaurant Week is just fun,” he said. “You don’t have to do anything but go out to eat. When winter strikes, we tend to stay home a little bit more. This is a way to support some of the businesses, as well as each other in a community that we’ve been suffering for a bit. Now it’s time to have some fun.”
To see the full list of participating restaurants, visit escanabadowntown.com.
La Cantina is working on some new developments for after Restaurant Week. The restaurant has partnered with the Salvation Army for a monthly Shop and Dine promotion, beginning March 28. Shoppers who spend $30 and get a special stamp from the Salvation Army can get 25% off of their meal at La Cantina. La Cantina is also working to obtain the necessary permitting to become part of Downtown Escanaba’s social district this year.
