Houston Restaurant Weeks Begins Aug. 1

From Aug. 1 – 31, Houstonians will dine out to help out during Houston Restaurant Weeks , Houston’s premier philanthropic culinary event benefiting the Houston Food Bank. Established in 2003, the event provides diners with the opportunity to enjoy special menus at the finest eateries in the Greater Houston area while helping fight hunger. All participating restaurants will offer a three-course gourmet dinner for $35 per person, excluding beverages, tax and gratuity. Over 150 participating restaurants will donate five dollars from each special dinner sold to the Houston Food Bank. Select restaurants also will offer a $20 two-course lunch menu, donating three dollars of each lunch sold to the Houston Food Bank.

WHAT’S NEW THIS YEAR:

· For the first time, the 2012 event will include Galveston and Montgomery County restaurants, with donations directly benefiting the Galveston County Food Bank and Montgomery County Food Bank, respectively.

· Also new this year is the opportunity to give via text. Consumers simply text the keyword ‘HRW’ to 20222 to donate $10 to the Houston Food Bank through Houston Restaurant Weeks. Diners are encouraged to visit www.HoustonRestaurantWeeks.com for a complete list of participating restaurants, menus and reservation information.

Aug. 1 – 31, 2012

Over 150 Greater Houston Area participating restaurants

www.HoustonRestaurantWeeks.com

Houston Restaurant Weeks was established in 2003 by Cleverley Stone, host of “The Cleverley Show,” a talk show about food, wine and dining on Talk 650 / CBS Radio Houston and contributor to Fox 26 Morning News. To date, the event has raised more than $1.7 million to fight hunger in Houston. Houston Restaurant Weeks 2012 sponsors include Momentum Audi, Momentum BMW, Sysco, FKM, The Cleverley Show on Talk 650/CBS Radio Houston, ContentActive, 104.1 KRBE, 97.5 ESPN, Houston Magazine, CultureMap, 002houston, Health & Fitness Sports Magazine, Prime Living and Retna Media. For the latest Houston Restaurant Weeks information, including restaurant listings, menus, sponsor information, and reservations, visit www.HoustonRestaurantWeeks.com. Follow HRW on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/HouRestaurantWk and on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/HoustonRestaurantWeek.

About the Houston Food Bank

Now operating from a new, 308,000 square-foot facility, the Houston Food Bank is the nation’s largest size Feeding America food bank and source of food for hunger relief charities in 18 southeast Texas counties. They have been named one of 10 Top-Notch Charities across the nation by Charity Navigator. A network of nearly 500 food pantries, soup kitchens, senior centers and other agencies, feeding a total of 137,000 people each week, provides more than 53 million nutritious meals annually. Fresh produce, meat and nonperishables are distributed from the new warehouse at 535 Portwall, and hot meals are prepared and distributed from Keegan Center, a 15,000 square-foot industrial kitchen. Additional community services range from nutrition education to assistance with food stamp applications and hands-on job training. Red Barrels offer a convenient way for grocery shoppers to donate nonperishables for their neighbors in need. The Houston Food Bank, founded in 1982, is a certified member of Feeding America, the nation’s food bank network. The organization plans to grow to an annual distribution of 100 million nutritious meals by 2018.