C&O owner Dave Simpson, center, with his Bel Rio partners Jim Baldi and Gareth Weldon, says the Belmont eatery will offer a Restaurant Week-style deal next week.
FILE PHOTO BY DAVE MCNAIR

By late last week, several owners of restaurants participating in Restaurant Week reported they were close to– or already– booked solid. Now, halfway through the week, a few participants are revealing that, due to popular demand, they will be extending the bargains through next week.

“We’ve been doing 200 [people] a night,” says C&O owner Dave Simpson, who estimates the restaurant has had to turn nearly that many away. As a result, Simpson says, he’s decided to offer a $25 prix fixe menu at C&O’s sister restaurant, Bel Rio, from Tuesday July 21 through Sunday, July 27.

Fossett’s at Keswick is another restaurant extending the bargains through next week, according to Chef Craig Hartman, who says Restaurant Week so far has been “fantastic,” and that he’s particularly excited by the number of 20 and 30-somethings driving to Keswick for dinner. “Those are the type that like to stay downtown,” he notes.

Next week, Hartman notes, the prix fixe menu price at Fossett’s will jump by $10 to $35.

“We kicked the menu up a little bit,” says Hartman, who says that in addition to the three main courses, guests are treated to an “amuse bouche” (that’s French for “mouth amusement”), which is a small extra course, and, following the meal, a “mignardise,” a small sweet treat.