By BETTS GRIFFONE
LOOKING for a way to sample a great city? Visitors will get a dining treat this month when Riverside’s Greater Downtown Fine Dining Group hosts its first-ever Restaurant Week, with a portion of the proceeds benefitting the city’s arts community.
The festivities begin with the Restaurant Week Gala at the Riverside Art Museum on Sept. 14 with live music and an elegant evening of remarkable food, wine and art.
Guests will enjoy live performances and artist demonstrations on all three floors of the museum and can get a taste of sumptuous treats under the stars on the roof of the museum.
Hooray for sensory overload! Following the gala, each of the eight participating restaurants will provide a prix fixe three-course lunch and dinner menu for the rest of the week, with a portion of the proceeds going to the arts. Lunches will cost $25-$35 with wine pairing; dinners will cost $35-$55 with wine pairing.
At the end of the week, on Saturday, Sept. 21, a check will be presented to the Riverside arts community at the Mayor’s Ball for the Arts. Tickets for the gala cost $50.
A closer look at Restaurant Week participants:
CAFE SEVILLA - 3252 Mission Inn Ave. (951) 778-0611; www.cafesevilla.com
Since 2000, Cafe Sevilla has been providing the true essence of Spain to guests along with traditional Spanish cuisine. Located in the heart of historic downtown Riverside, the restaurant is just minutes from the landmark Mission Inn.
Chef de Cuisine James Ojeda, with more than 24 years of experience, provides a variety of tapas as well as platters, brochetas (grilled skewers) and traditional and signature paella dishes.forAtastetaste artartRiverside restaurants serve fine fare for a cause
CIAO BELLA RISTORANTE - 1630 Spruce St., Riverside (951) 781-8840; www.ciaobellariverside.com
If it’s ambience you’re looking for, Ciao Bella may be the place for you. With a floor-to-ceiling glass and granite bar, three fireplaces and patio dining, it offers casual elegance to diners who enjoy the contemporary Italian menu.
Ciao Bella features premier beef, lamb, chicken and seafood dishes along with pizza and pasta specialties prepared in the open display kitchen.
MARIO’S PLACE - 3646 Mission Inn Ave., Riverside (951) 684-7755; www.mariosplace.com
An award-winning restaurant, Mario’s Place opened on Spruce Street in 1990, with Chef Leone Palagi in the kitchen creating his signature dishes. In 2001, after much success, the three Palagi brothers and their mother, Eleonora, moved the restaurant into a lovely Tuscan-style building on Mission Inn Avenue.
Besides offering upscale northern Italian fare, Mario’s also has an award-winning wine list. The restaurant offers 450 wines that explore all of Italy as well as boutique wines from California, Spain, France, Germany and Austria.
MISSION INN RESTAURANT - 3649 Mission Inn Ave., Riverside (951) 341-6767; www.missioninn.com
As one of the four restaurants in the beautiful historic hotel, the Mission Inn Restaurant features a new, state of the art display kitchen in which Chef Robert Gomez prepares signature “comfort foods.” Diners can enjoy international fare while dining inside the restaurant or outside in the open air on the Spanish Patio.
OLIO RISTORANTE - 3400 Market St., Riverside (909) 784-8000; www.olio-ristorante.com
Nestled inside the Marriott Hotel, Olio Ristorante offers Riverside an opportunity to enjoy fresh Italian cuisine with a strong emphasis on steak and seafood.
Award winning Chef Luis Martinez learned to appreciate the romance and artistry of great food from his grandmother who cooked over a wood-burning stove. His excitement for life sent him at an early age to the United States from his native Mexico.
RESTAURANT OMAKASE - 3720 Mission Inn Ave., Riverside (951) 788-8820; www.restaurantomakase.com
Putting your dining experience into the hands of the chef is truly a good thing at this one-of-a-kind restaurant. Chef Brein Clements takes each diner’s preferences and creates an individual menu unlike any other.
In the two years since he and wife Roryanne opened the restaurant, his spontaneous tasting menu has received rave reviews from newspapers and praise from the Automobile Club’s Westways magazine.
SAFFRON - 3425 Mission Inn Ave., Riverside (951) 367-1396
The garden setting of Saffron inside the Riverside Art Museum provides a cool and inviting atmosphere in which to enjoy unique and handcrafted foods.
Chef Matthew Sramek grew up with cooking and entered the California School of Culinary Arts in Pasadena immediately after high school. He trained with Chef David De La Cruz at Saffron in Guasti for two years as sous chef and then went on to the Hotel Bel Aire, where he refined his skills under Chef Douglas Dodd.
VIA VENETO TRILUSSA RISTORANTE/BAR - 3737 Main St., Suite 100, Riverside (951) 683-3494; www.trilussariversideca.com
Found in the Mission Inn District, Trilussa Ristorante offers a taste of old Italy in an intriguing atmosphere.
Owners Giampaolo and Neena Dorigo opened the restaurant two years ago in an old bank building.
Traditional Italian cuisine, ranging from pastas to wild game and fresh fish, can be served in the vault, which has been converted into a wine cellar where private dinners are held.
