17th St. serves 2nd course

On the heels of the Newport Beach Restaurant Week, which seems to have been successful so far, 17th Street restaurant proprietors are looking toward a similar promotion next week to boost foot traffic at their eateries.

The first 17th Street Restaurant Row Week, which will be from Monday to Feb. 4, is small compared with the promotion by the beach, but restaurant owners are hoping it’ll be a big boost to their business and to people’s awareness of great food and drinks on 17th Street.

Avanti, Caliente, French’s Cupcake Bakery, Greek Town Grill, and Thai Spice in Costa Mesa, and Haute Cakes Caffe in Newport Beach will participate in the week-long promotion.

“We just wanted to get the word out to everybody that 17th Street is a good pace to come for lunch and dinner,” Avanti Cafe co-owner Mark Cleveland said. “Just come on down to 17th Street and choose the place once you get here.”

Cleveland and fellow Avanti proprietor Tanya Fuqua wanted to highlight that the other restaurants in the same shopping center serve dinner, along with wine and beer.

“This center is known for its lunch crowd and we wanted to put it out there to residents that, hey, come for dinner, too,” Cleveland said. “The lights go down, the candles come up, we have beer and wine, and it’s a nice atmosphere across the board.”

And although the promotion is obviously being run to generate more dollars for each establishment, it’s also an effort become a cohesive string of restaurants.

“I always liked the idea of businesses within a small area getting together and promoting themselves as group,” Costa Mesa Chamber of Commerce President Ed Fawcett said after hearing about the restaurant row event. “Coming out of the hotel business, we had an adage — if there’s only one hotel, it goes broke; two create a convention center. They don’t compete with each other; they feed each other. And these restaurants can do the same thing.”

Haute Cakes Caffe owner Paul Taddeo is a regular customer at Avanti and wanted to participate in the week-long event after Cleveland mentioned it to him, even though the cafe is on Westcliff Drive, which turns into 17th Street at Irvine Avenue.

“We want to create more of a restaurant community like you see in San Francisco or New York,” Taddeo said. “The restaurants are a community, and all the chefs know each other and are all there for each other to back each other up.”

With the recent upgrades to shopping centers on the street and the addition of more high-end stores, Taddeo thinks the area will become a dining and shopping destination.

This is not where it ends. The participating restaurateurs hope to have themed events like this more often and include more 17th Street restaurants.

Taddeo said that he and Cleveland are even looking to have a farmer’s market, although nothing has been confirmed.

Specials on 17th Street

17th Street Restaurant Row Week participants hope their specials will entice more people to visit them and neighboring shops from Monday through Feb. 4.

Avanti Cafe: Get a four-course dinner, including an appetizer, soup or salad, a main course and dessert, for $14 from 6 to 9:30 p.m. during the promotion. 259 E. 17th St., (949) 548-2224.

Greek Town Grill: Half-price bottles of wine and two-for-one beer purchases. Plus each night a $20 gift card will be raffled off. 279 E. 17th St., (949) 515-2788.

French’s Cupcake Bakery: Buy one loaf the bakery’s Florentine bread and receive 50% off any other loaf of freshly baked bread. 273 E. 17th St., (949) 642-0571.

Haute Cakes Caffe: Buy a breakfast meal and receive a free cup of Cafe Moto drip coffee. 1807 Westcliff Drive, (949) 642-4114.

Caliente: Buy-one-get-one-free tacos and burritos from 3 to 9 p.m. 271 E. 17th St., (949) 515-0909.

Thai Spice: Purchase one dinner and drink and receive the second dinner for half price from 3 to 5:30 p.m. 259 E. 17th St., (949) 548-4333.