Dine LA

It's been over a month since my birthday, but every time Dine LA week (which is now 2 weeks twice a year) comes around, it feels like a gift! Restaurants are offering menus from $22-$44 for three courses at lunch and/or dinner starting tomorrow (Sunday Oct 2).

This year the participating restaurants include old favorites like Michael's, Spago's and Valentino, all offering three course dinners for $44, with entrees like olive-oil poached bass with grilled radicchio, roasted fingerlings, orange, and balsamic beurre noir at Michael's, or halibut with shrimp mousse in crispy shredded phyllo with a ragout of Summer shelling beans at Spago's.

This is the time to try notable new places with international menus which opened this year, like Fig & Olive (where Obama just had his $18K per plate fundraising dinner), which features courses like a Cote D'Azur Fish Soup with garlic saffron aioli, or Picca, which offers Peruvian dishes like Patita, a pig trotter stew, made with chorizo, potatoes and peanuts.

Whether you are in the mood for healthy food in Santa Monica at True Food Kitchen, or you want to taste Thomas Keller's food at his Beverly Hills outpost Bouchon, your wallet will thank-you for  dining out during the next two weeks. DineLA menus are available Sunday through Friday only and it's a good idea to make reservations with Open Table and sync your (personal) American Express card with Foursquare to get an additional discount every time you dine and use your card to pay for it.

Ready, set, eat!