Central Street Evanston will host its first-ever restaurant week, a promotional event for participating businesses, from April 7-13.
Fourteen restaurants will participate, with deals ranging from a free dessert with the purchase of an entree to discounted menu items. The participating restaurants span various cuisines and have different menu options available for customers.
The initiative comes amidst the nonprofit’s 2025 marketing theme, Central Street as a destination, according to Angela Shaffer, Central Street’s community director.
Great Harvest Bread Co. is offering a free pastry with the purchase of a warm drink.
“We’re trying to be a little bit more vocal with the community,” employee AJ Miles said. “We’re trying to change things for the better and see what the community wants from us.”
Miles said the bakery recently changed ownership and is hoping to connect more with the community. The bakery added coffee to its menu in the past couple of months, and Miles hopes Central Street Restaurant Week will provide the perfect opportunity to increase drink sales and receive customer feedback.
Customers participating in Restaurant Week can get two hours of free street parking on Central Street while dining. Shaffer said she organized Restaurant Week to bring the community together and promote the variety of small businesses, especially restaurants, that Central Street has to offer.
“I was looking at all the different kinds of cuisines we have. We have French, we have Irish pub grub, we have Thai, we have Latin — all different kinds of food,” Shaffer said. “We really do have a special community. I wanted to highlight our restaurants and give them some special attention.”
Curt’s Café is also participating in Restaurant Week. The cafe sells coffee, pastries, breakfast and lunch foods, and is offering a buy one, get one deal. If a customer purchases a lunch entree and makes a donation to Curt’s Café, which also acts as a nonprofit, they will receive a free lunch entree.
Curt’s Café hires student-trainees ages 15-24 who live in at-risk situations, have contact with the judicial system, are homeless or food insecure, or have dropped out of school. Director of Operations Safia Goodwin hopes participating in Restaurant Week will bring in more money to fund the nonprofit’s mission.
“We are a part of the community and only exist on the support of our community. We can only work if people stop by,” Goodwin said. “Our goal is to get as many new folks through the front door as we can and spread the message of our mission.”
Shaffer said the community often gives Central Street’s retail business more attention than it gives to the restaurants. Her idea to host a restaurant week came from a desire to give equal attention to all businesses.
If restaurant week proves to be a success, Shaffer hopes to turn it into a yearly tradition. Chicago has a restaurant week, and the North Shore has a restaurant month of its own, so Shaffer wants to bring the event to Evanston.
“I thought, ‘A lot of people do restaurant weeks. Why shouldn’t we do one?’” Shaffer said. “There’s something for everyone.”
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