PHOTO BY PAULA MULLER
Chef de Cuisine Torrie Jackson prepares the Vodka Cream Sauce for his ravioli dish at the Stone Wood Tavern.
BY LEAH DEARBORN
PEABODY — It’s going to be a lot cheaper for Peabody residents to dine out on the town this summer.
Through August, a number of Peabody restaurants are participating in “Cuisine Scene” that give diners a chance to try out their food for less.
So far, 10 eateries have signed up, with more to come, and each one is offering a different deal. It’s a twist on the traditional “Restaurant Week” promotions. Rather than focus on a few weeks and force you to make the tough choice on which restaurant to choose, Peabody’s promotion offers special offers daily at several restaurants.
The restaurants include: Wardhurst Restaurant & Bar, Scoops n’More, the Stonewood Tavern, Karl’s Sausage Kitchen, Maki Sushi Bar & Grill and Buddha’s Tavern. Edible Arrangements, Tasty Foods, Kayla’s Diner and Su Chang’s Restaurant are also taking part in the event.
“The special $5 dollar appetizers seem to do really well,” said Brooke Welter, a spokeswoman at Karl’s Sausage Kitchen when asked about the European market’s offerings for Cuisine Scene.
They are doing appetizers Monday through Friday, rotating fried pickles, sausage bites, herring marinated in tomato and smoked gouda cheese and some very Scandinavian offerings.
“We did coffee and a pastry last year, so this year we want to do something different,” she said.
The promotions are different for every restaurant and some run through the week while others are available on the weekend.
At the Stonewood Tavern on Lynnfield Street, marketing manager Kim Candilieri said diners will be offered a $29.99 dinner for two on Tuesdays from 4 to 9 p.m. that includes soup or salad, an entree, dessert and a bottle of wine.
Maki Sushi Bar & Grill will give $5 off of any purchase of $25
or more through the week and Buddha’s Tavern will take $2 off of lunch specials. At Edible Arrangements, customers just have to mention the words “Cuisine Scene” to get 20 percent off their order.
Other restaurants are hoping to lure the weekend crowd.
“Diners will have a choice of three entrees,” John MacDonald, manager at Wardhurst Restaurant & Bar about the Sunday special the restaurant is promoting. “Queen prime rib, Boston baked haddock and Mediterranean chicken.”
Scoops n’More is doing a “Sundaes on Sunday” feature with a new specialty sundae each week. Customers can get two meals for $20 at Kayla’s Diner on Saturday nights.
“People tend to go away during the summer, but I think they also eat out more often when they are at home,” said Deanne Healey, Peabody Area Chamber of Commerce president, about the Cuisine Scene promotion.
The specials offered by the restaurants will remain the same through the event, but there’s still time for more restaurants to join, she said.
Healey also said participating restaurants chose an existing special from their menus to promote instead of having to create new items specifically for the event.
In the past, Peabody hosted a single “Restaurant Week.”
“With Restaurant Week you’re limited,” Healey said. “Most people probably aren’t going to try four new restaurants in a week. But over the course of two months they can continue to try new promotions.”
