Birmingham Restaurant Week Raises $4,000 for Forgotten Harvest

The 8th annual Birmingham Restaurant Week was a success, organizers say, raising nearly $4,000 for Forgotten Harvest.

During Restaurant Week 2013, held in late January and early February, chefs from 20 Birmingham restaurants created special, three-course menus for lunch and dinner costing $15 and $30, respectively.

In addition, several participating restaurants sold raffle tickets to benefit Forgotten Harvest, Birmingham Restaurant Week's official charity partner for two years in a row.

By the end of the two-week-long event, three lucky raffle winners won an "Enjoy Birmingham Package" valued at $500 in gift certificates from businesses such as Adventures in Toys to Qdoba to La Belle Provence.

"Birmingham's Restaurant Week event was a great success in more ways than one," a press release from the Birmingham Principal Shopping District said.

As an incentive to sell more raffle tickets, the Bank of Birmingham offered a reward for the top three servers who raised the most for Forgotten Harvest overall.

Fadwa Aoude, the chef at Elie's Mediterranean Grill, brought home the first-place award, receiving $150. The other two top servers were also from Elie's, with the staff at Elie's selling more than $2,900 in raffle tickets — more than any other participating restaurant.

Restaurants and other Birmingham businesses participating in the Forgotten Harvest raffle include:

• 220
• Big Rock Chop House
• Cafe Via
• Elie's
• Forest Grill
• Streetside Seafood
• Astrein's Creative Jewelers
• Artloft
• suhm-thing

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