Lompoc has been gaining notoriety for its wine, but city representatives want to highlight their food scene as well. From a lunchtime nosh to a date night dinner, there are plenty of ways to taste Lompoc during its inaugural Restaurant Week.
Chelsea Cochran, executive assistant at the Lompoc Chamber of Commerce, said that 17 restaurants will participate in the event offering a prix fixe meal, two-for-one dining option, or special event for $20.16. A few restaurants may also offer wine or beer pairings for an additional fee. The event begins Sunday, Feb. 21, but the restaurants and menus went up on the lompoc.com site Jan. 25.
“I’m pleased that so many restaurants were on board with this,” Cochran said.
The event is sponsored by the Lompoc Valley Chamber of Commerce & Visitors Bureau (LVCC&VB), The Sta. Rita Hills Winegrowers Alliance (SRHWA), and Shop Lompoc, Shop Small (SLSS). The lompoc.com website will continue to be updated until the week of the event, so Cochran encouraged people to check back often.
The spirit of Restaurant Week is all about providing the opportunity for visitors and locals alike to get out and try new restaurants. Many lodging facilities are also offering special room rates so diners traveling to Lompoc can create an eat-and-stay package and maybe even take advantage of more than one dining venue.
Cochran said the event’s co-chair, and executive director of SRHWA, Barbara Satterfield, was the person who originally brought the idea forward last year. She said that many Lompoc Valley residents were familiar with the Santa Ynez Restaurant Week and its success and proposed that Lompoc Valley have one of its own.
“Restaurant Week has been successful in other communities around the Central Coast so we thought that we would try out the program here and give the Lompoc Valley eateries a chance to shine and show everyone how good they are,” Satterfield said in a press release announcing the event.
City officials decided to launch their own restaurant week after seeing the success other cities have had with the event.
If it seems like everyone is holding a Restaurant Week event, that’s because they are. Most events are being held in conjunction with VisitCalifornia’s Restaurant Month which took place throughout the month of January.
Cochran said in scheduling Lompoc’s event, care was taken so it wouldn’t conflict with anything.
“We didn’t want to compete with other cities having their event, and we didn’t want to schedule it at Valentine’s Day, when everyone is already going out to dinner already.”
As of press time the Santa Ynez Valley was in the middle of its sixth successful Restaurant Week, Jan. 24 to 30.
Danielle Laudon of Visit Santa Ynez Valley said their event had 22 restaurants participating, as well as many wineries that offered wine tasting and small bites. “It’s a really great deal and a great way to get people out and trying something new,” she told the Sun.
And the $20.16 price tag—like Lompoc’s—is a tough deal to pass up.
“It’s incredibly well-received. It’s grown in popularity year after year,” Laudon said.
Cochran said she hopes Lompoc’s event is as successful. In terms of planning, the event was fairly easy to organize, Cochran said, with a lot of support coming from businesses and enthusiasm from the restaurants.
“There has been an overwhelmingly positive response among the participating restaurants,” she said.
Diners can visit lompoc.com to view a list of the participating restaurants and businesses and view the special menus that apply to the event. Organizers stress that diners should call the restaurants and ask for details like hours and days that the special meals will be available. Most places will require reservations as well. Participating restaurants include places like Sissy’s Uptown Café, Floriano’s, Scratch Kitchen, Tom’s Burgers, and PJ’s Deli, among others.
As a bonus, diners who participate in Winter Restaurant Week will have the chance to win a $25 gift certificate. At the end of the week all participating restaurants will choose a winner who will receive a $25 gift certificate. Each restaurant will choose one winner.
In a press release announcing Lompoc’s event, Ken Ostini, president/CEO of the LVCC&VB, said that the timing is great for Lompoc businesses as well as for patrons. “We want people to come out to eat and enjoy themselves at a historically slow time for the restaurant industry. Lompoc has some really unique restaurants with a wide variety of cuisines. We would love for out-of-town folks to come try us out and taste what Lompoc has to offer.”
Editor Shelly Cone can be reached at scone@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jan 28 – Feb 4, 2016.