(January 13, 2023) Berlin Restaurant Week is in full swing and with only a few days left to gather at its participating restaurants to sample the best food the city has to offer, managers and staff are happy with how the week is going.
“It’s going fantastic,” said Bob Beck of Pop’s Kitchen, who owns the restaurant with his wife, Kelli.
The Becks have operated two restaurants, the other being Denovo’s Trattoria in Ocean Pines, but now focus solely on Pop’s Kitchen.
“It was a really pleasant surprise (becoming part of a Berlin restaurant). We love the city. We’re really happy to end up in a place like this, just a pleasant surprise all the way.”
At Rayne’s Beef, manager and head waitress Amanda Pagett said they are keeping it simple and pushing their marquee special – a cheeseburger with fries, drink and free ice cream.
“It’s been pretty decent (through the first two days),” Pagett said. “We had a few visitors today (in the restaurant week).”
It’s not unusual for some restaurants to be closed at the beginning of the week, which is the case at Boxcar on Main, whose staff on Tuesday started the week on Wednesday.
“We usually do very well,” owner and chef Paul Suplee said. “We serve three courses for $27. The chef is Chris Samsone.”
“We’re known for having great made-from-scratch food, amazing cocktails, chili. It’s always fun to sit in front of the (Pompeian) oven.”
During Berlin Restaurant Week, participants are encouraged to visit at least three restaurants, where they can also pick up a card to be stamped after patronizing one of them. Cards with three stamps can be entered into a drawing for $20 gift cards from each restaurant plus $100 donated by local realtor and Berlin Restaurant Week founder Cam Bunting.
“I try to encourage everyone to try different things and see if they can get people to enjoy something else that they didn’t know they would be interested in,” she said last week. “Other, smaller restaurants, they usually try to do what (worked) the year before.”
Bunting said she got the idea for the annual culinary event when she and her daughter were in Bethesda, where they saw the city was hosting its own restaurant week.
“I thought it would be a great thing for Berlin because we have some great restaurants,” she said. “It’s a slower time of year and people are looking for things to do so people can come here and try the restaurants that we have.”
Berlin Restaurant Week ends on Sunday. The raffle draw will take place on Monday.
Participating restaurants:
410 Social
Atlantic Hotel Bistro Bar
Cafe with baked dessert
Kovářská restaurant
Boxcar on Main
Fire brick pizza
Gilbert’s provision
Jun & Juice
On what basis?
Pop’s kitchen
Rayne’s Cliff
Gastro Theater Globe
The Sterling Tavern