Off the Menu: Restaurant Week at Mohegan Sun

Among the signs of the sense of normalcy that is repopulating everyday life is the return of restaurant weeks.

The Mohegan Sun Resort Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut has such a promotion for later this month. Taking place from January 23-27, their Restaurant Week brings together a number of high-profile casino dining destinations.

The Italian restaurant VALLO offers a three-course dinner offering guests a choice of starters, the option to choose from four different dishes and a cannoli for dessert. The meal plan price is $35.

Michael Jordan’s Steak House has concocted a three-course dining experience around a seared tuna steak. The Caesar salad is the entrée and a chocolate bread pudding serves as the finale.

Lobster will be the attraction at Jasper White’s Summer Shack, where it will be served with a salad to start and a lime pie to finish.

Lansdowne Irish Pub, SolToro and Sushi Koya are among the other Mohegan Sun establishments participating in the promotion.

More details about Restaurant Week at Mohegan Sun can be found at mohegansun.com or by calling 888-226-7711.

The ancestor of restaurant weeks, NYC Restaurant Week, is back as a winter 2022 edition from January 18 to February 13.

Organized and promoted by NYC & Company, the Big Apple’s travel and convention agency, this winter’s “week” has prices for two-course lunches and three-course dinner menus set at $29, $39 and $59 with 450 restaurants in the city’s five cities. participating boroughs. As is customary, Saturdays are excluded from the program and Sunday participation is up to individual restaurants.

Restaurants in New York are subject to a proof of vaccination order for dining out.

Alongside Restaurant Week, NYC Broadway Week is also held, with many major musicals and plays offering two-for-one price deals on tickets.

For more details on any of the promotions, go to nycgo.com.

NYC & Company answers at (212) 484-1200.

One of this winter’s most innovative drink specials has been introduced by Baltimore, MD-based THB Bagelry and Deli.

During the holiday season, the three-unit chain promoted Old Bay Hot Chocolate as a limited-time special and found it so well-received that they are considering it for permanent menu status.

Old Bay Hot Chocolate is made from a hot chocolate mix in which Old Bay seasoning has been mixed in sensible amounts. When served, the drink is topped with whipped cream sprinkled with additional Old Bay.

Originally developed and promoted by a Baltimore-area spice merchant as a seasoning for crab, shrimp and other seafood, Old Bay is a proprietary blend of celery seed, paprika, red pepper and other aromas. It is currently produced by McCormick & Co, Inc., a leading manufacturer of spices, seasonings and condiments.

You can find a recipe for Old Bay hot chocolate on mccormick.com/old-bay/recipes/beverage/old-bay-hot-chocolate.

Although January is often a quiet time in the menu development cycle for major restaurant brands, two chains rolled out limited-time offers this month.

Starbucks is promoting a Pistachio Latte. Made with espresso and steamed milk, the drink is flavored with pistachio “sauce” and topped with a filling of brown butter cookies. The drink should be available during the winter months.

Taco Bell has turned to an all-time favorite snack, chicken wings, to round out its winter menu offerings. Only available after 2 p.m., the fried wings are seasoned with queso seasoning and served with a spicy ranch dip.

Mohegan Sun will hold its 18th annual Sun Wine and Food Festival the weekend of January 28-30.

The festivities actually begin on Thursday, January 27 with a “private dinner” hosted by James Beard Award winner Todd English. The five-course dinner will be accompanied by notable wines from Far Niente and Nickle & Nickel.

A “Whiskeys of the World” event will take place on Friday evening, January 28, where attendees can sample whiskeys and sample hearty “bites” from the regions in which the spirits were produced.

The main event, the Grand Tasting, will take place on Saturday, January 29 at the Earth Expo & Convention Center, with over 1,000 varieties of wine, beer and spirits to sample.

The festival culminates with a football-themed match-day brunch on Sunday.

A COVID-19 protocol requiring proof of vaccination or a negative test result applies to admission to the Fest event.

For a full schedule of all Sun Wine and Food Fest events, plus links to purchase discounted tickets in advance, go to mohegansun.com/sun-wine-and-food-fest.html.

Taco Bell made headlines earlier this month when it launched its “Taco Lover’s Pass,” a subscription program that gives pass holders a free taco a day for 30 days. The pass costs $10.

Seven variations of Taco Bell tacos can be ordered through the subscription program. The pass can only be purchased through the brand’s mobile app, which must also be used to order the free tacos provided by the pass.

Like most restaurant subscription programs developed over the past couple of years, the Taco Lover’s Pass is primarily designed to attract new members to the chain’s loyalty program. In a test of the subscription plan conducted last fall in the Tucson, Arizona area, Taco Bell found that nearly one in five pass buyers became a member of the loyalty program in order to access the ‘offer.

The Irish House restaurant in West Springfield has announced that it is temporarily reducing its à la carte restaurant operations to protect customers, friends and staff.

The Trinity Pub part of the operation will remain open, serving a light menu of sandwiches and soups as well as drinks. The opening hours of the Trinity Pub will be Wednesday to Saturday from 4pm to 10pm and Sunday from 1pm to 6pm.

Irish House Restaurant and Trinity Pub, still available for party rentals, answer (413) 342-4358.

Sandwich chain Arby’s has launched a new menu that it claims is the spiciest sandwich in the fast food universe.

Characterized by the company’s marketing executives as an experience that’s “not for the faint-hearted,” Diablo Dare includes Ghost Pepper Jack cheese, hot seasoning, jalapeno peppers, and a special ultra-hot barbecue sauce. spicy, all piled on a bun with a chipotle-chilli jerk. The sandwich comes in two versions – one with a chicken breast cutlet and a second with sliced ​​breast.

To underscore the serious assault on taste buds a Diablo Dare sandwich does, Arby’s is serving a complimentary vanilla shake alongside as an antidote to the heat.

The channel is also running a social media promotion on TikTok. The “Diablo Dare Hashtag Challenge” challenges sandwich shoppers to show their TikTok followers how much of a sandwich they’re capable of before taking a sip or two of the refreshing shake.

Diablo Dare sandwiches will be available through February 6 at participating Arby’s restaurants.

The organizing drive at the Starbucks store continues to gain momentum as four additional locations recently filed union election demands with the National Labor Relations Board. The cafes affected are located in Seattle, Chicago, Knoxville, TN and a suburb of Denver, CO.

The National Labor Relations Board also reportedly ruled that Starbucks Workers United won a previously contested organizing election at one of three Buffalo, New York, area sites that began the effort to organize. unionization.

Labor relations experts characterize the organizing movement at Starbucks as being characterized by localized “micro-unions”. Thanks in part to social media chatter about successful efforts so far, the desire to unionize could very well spread to other Starbucks locations in the coming months.

Hugh Robert is a faculty member of the Hospitality and Culinary Arts program at Holyoke Community College and has over 45 years of experience in the restaurant and education sectors. Robert can be reached online at [email protected].