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For the first time, restaurant incubator La Cocina is wading into the restaurant week game, with a series of dinners featuring some of its successful entrepreneurs. The non-profit has helped launch over 20 small businesses in the Bay Area, 97 percent of which are female-operated.
Restaurant weeks, designated time periods when restaurants offer discounted prix fixe menus, can be a great way for diners to connect with places they might not normally patronize. La Cocina’s week aims to accomplish similar goals. “There’s still a gap of percept in quality [with our businesses],” La Cocina executive director Caleb Zigas told Eater SF. “When people talk about the ‘best of,’ we want to make sure our people are recognized in a meaningful way.”
Zigas also said that although many people are very supportive of La Cocina, they don’t realize that there are around 25 brick-and-mortar businesses available for them to visit throughout the Bay Area. “This week can help introduce these people to spaces that women have built,” said Zigas. “Business that started with less than $5,000 in capital.”
The week, which purposefully coincides with International Women’s Day (March 8), runs March 6-12, featuring a different dinner and entrepreneur each night. Special collaborations are bringing current La Cocina participants and alumni together with local chefs, like a dinner with Berkeley’s Los Cilantros chef-owner Dilsa Lugo and chef Robert Hurtado of Arguello.
Dinners are ticketed, with 40 seats available for $85 each . Check out the full list below, and head here to buy tickets.
- Monday, March 6 at El Buen Comer with Pizzeria Delfina and illy Caffé
- Tuesday, March 7 at El Huarache Loco with Three Twins Ice Cream, Belcampo and Marin Country Mart
- Wednesday, March 8 at A16 during their Festa Della Donna with El Pípila.
- Thursday, March 9 at Sabores del Sur + a guest chef collaborator to be announced at a later date
- Friday, March 10 at Los Cilantros with Arguello Restaurant
- Saturday, March 11 at D’Maize with Smitten Ice Cream
- Sunday, March 12 at Nyum Bai with Sophina Uong of Mestiza Taqueria and Emeryville Public Market
