Watch CBS News

With 502 participating eateries, Chicago Restaurant Week is bigger than ever this year

Social media users make maps, identify deals for Chicago Restaurant Week
Social media users make maps, identify deals for Chicago Restaurant Week 02:25

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Chicago Restaurant Week returns on Friday, and organizers say it is the biggest yet.

A total of 502 restaurants are participating, with different menus for brunch, lunch, and dinner. On Thursday night, a crowd of hundreds of hungry eaters poured into the Field Museum of Natural History for First Bite — the official kickoff of Restaurant Week.

Executive Chef Steve Chiappetti, executive chef at The Albert, 228 E. Ontario St., and State and Lake Chicago Tavern 201 N. State St., has been a part of the event since the beginning.

"The first time I did it, it was just a unique experience, and it was a really small audience," Chiappetti said, "and it's grown so much over the years, and we appreciate that."

Restaurant Week has grown massively since its start in back in February 2008, when it had only 44 participating restaurants.

"It really shows the growth of our food industry in Chicago," said Mayor Brandon Johnson.

With so many restaurants taking part this year, some Chicago social media users are helping Restaurant Week participants make the most out of their money.

"It's an overwhelming amount of restaurants that participate, and a lot of information to digest," said Elophia Mengestu, a Tiktok content creator.

To help others digest that information, Mengestu made a spreadsheet of all the participants — posting her information to TikTok after countless hours and round after round of edits.

"Oh my goodness, weeks," she said. "It definitely took weeks."

Meanwhile, Josh Stock made a Restaurant Week map and posted it to the Chicago Food subreddit on Reddit. He said it took him only hours, with some friends' help, to plot out all the participating restaurants.

So when asked if he could find out how many people had accessed the information, the numbers caught him off guard. It had received 18,000 views.

"That is surprising to me," he said. "I literally no other promotion or sharing, or anything else."

Stock said he forwarded his map to Restaurant Week organizers, hoping they will make their own version next year.

"Especially now that I've done it once, the level of effort to recreate it is pretty straightforward," he said.

But even if Restaurant Week doesn't put up its own map, with this kind of feedback, Stock said he'll do it again himself.

Another spreadsheet that has been circulating on social media documents value — that is, the biggest bang for a consumer's buck — among restaurants that are part of Restaurant Week.

Restaurant Week started out as just one week — but these days, despite the name, it lasts more than two weeks. It begins on Friday, Jan. 24, and runs until Sunday, Feb. 9.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.