https://soundcloud.com/listenfrontier/restaurant-week-kicks-off-in-tulsa

Restaurant Week begins Friday night at Antoinette’s Baking Co., 207 N. Main St., and runs through Sept. 19.

Don’t know what Restaurant Week is? Oh, it’s fun. And better yet, it’s for a great cause.

The event is organized by the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma, which this year has brought together more than 40 participating restaurants. Each restaurant offers a special menu during the week, with 10 percent of the proceeds going to the Food Bank’s Food For Kids program.

RW

There are also ways to donate if you dine at one of the participating restaurants but don’t choose to eat off the Restaurant Week menu. And nothing says you have to stop at one restaurant.

The George Kaiser Family Foundation is matching donations up to $25,000.

It couldn’t be easier.

And the restaurants are great: Doc’s Wine & Food, Yokozuna, The French Hen, Biga and Andolini’s, to name just a few.

Yes, Andolini’s Pizzeria on Cherry Street. When the opportunity arose to interview the restaurant’s owner, Mike Bausch, for this week’s Listen Frontier podcast, we jumped on it.

Bausch, like the other restaurant owners participating in Restaurant Week, sees the event as a way to give back to the community while showcasing his restaurant’s great foods.

He let us try what he’ll offer on his Restaurant Week menu: pizza, garlic knots, salad and a couple of delicious desserts: an oreo cheesecake brownie and an Italian butter cake.

Also joining us on the podcast is the Food Bank’s executive director, Eileen Bradshaw, whose work to secure food for those without is a year-round mission.

It’s important work that most of us don’t pay much attention to. Over the next few days, we can help by simply doing something we all love: eating great food.

Enjoy.

For more information about the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma and Restaurant Week, go to okfoodbank.org or TulsaPeople.com.