FINGER LAKES WINE COUNTRY ANNOUNCES RESTAURANT WEEK CHALLENGE

Select Finger Lakes Restaurants to Offer 100% Local Meals June 18-24, 2012

CORNING, NY (June 4, 2012) – Finger Lakes Wine Country Tourism Marketing Association is set to hold the first ever Finger Lakes Wine Country Restaurant Week Challenge, June 18-24, 2012.  Local Finger Lakes chefs are challenged to create three course prix fixe menus using only locally-sourced ingredients and Finger Lakes wines. The special menu is available at any of the 16 restaurants any day of the week that the restaurant is open. 

The cost to sample the chefs’ menus for dinner is $30 per person, plus tax, gratuity and beverages, and $25 for lunch. Participating restaurants will offer three course Finger Lakes wine flights for $15 per person to be paired with the meals. This week-long celebration of Finger Lakes food and wine highlights the rich agricultural offerings the region has to offer. Menus will feature the region’s seasonal bounty including early berries, asparagus, fresh herbs and greens and proteins such as beef, pork and chicken, which are available year-round.

“We think our Restaurant Week is the only promotion of its kind in the country that requires 100 percent local food and wine sourcing,” says Morgen McLaughlin, president of Finger Lakes Wine Country Tourism Marketing Association.  “While many of our local restaurants have a local focus, this is the first time that restaurants across the region will be offering a meal consisting of just local ingredients.”

Participating restaurants include:

• Bully Hill Vineyards Restaurant
• Grill 1-2-5 at the Radisson Hotel Corning
• Blue Pointe Grille at Watkins Glen Harbor Hotel
• Charlie’s Café
• Crystal Lake Cafe at Americana Vineyards
• Dano’s Heuriger on Seneca
• Ginny Lee at Wagner Vineyards
• Red Newt Bistro
• Stonecat Café
• Suzanne Fine Regional Cuisine
• The Cellar Modern Fusion Restaurant
• The Copper Oven
• Three Birds Restaurant
• Tony R's Steak and Seafood
• Veraisons at The Inn at Glenora Wine Cellars
• Vineyard Restaurant at Knapp Vineyards. 

A list of participating restaurants and days of operation for each, visit the website www.RestaurantWeekFingerLakes.com.

Daily giveaways will be taking place throughout Restaurant Week for Finger Lakes food-related items, including T-shirts, cookbooks, Edible Finger Lakes magazines, etc.

About Finger Lakes Wine Country

Finger Lakes Wine Country has been recognized as the World’s Most Beautiful Wine Region (Budget Travel), a top value destination (Sherman’s Travel), and is home to “America’s Coolest Small Town,” Hammondsport, N.Y. (Budget Travel). 

About Finger Lakes Wine Country Tourism Marketing Association

Finger Lakes Wine Country represents Chemung, Schuyler, Steuben and Yates Counties of New York.  The association boasts an engaged social media community with the largest Facebook fan-base of any wine country region in North America and a large following on Twitter.  For more information on the region, read Finger Lakes Wine Country travel magazine and visit the mobile travel app:  FLWC.mobi  and www.FingerLakesWineCountry.com, for maps, itineraries and more.

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