Foodies and families alike flocked to the Atlanta Downtown Restaurant Week on Aug. 9 through 17 to gobble gourmet meals at fast food prices. This urban dining event is in its 12th year and features price- fixed menus of either $15, $25, or $35 for 36 restaurants in the heart of the city. ADRW was sponsored by the Central Atlanta Progress, an Atlanta initiatives organization, as a way to peak restaurant patrons’ interests in the downtown area.

Café 458, located at 458 Edgewood Ave., participated in the event by offering a $15 brunch menu for two. Arthur Cliette, a patron of the cafe, said that he saw Restaurant Week as an opportunity to try new foods and visit parts of downtown Atlanta he had never experienced before.

“I was invited down for this, so I’m down to go downtown,” Cliette said.

He also said he had been coming to restaurant week for many years and was excited by how many people were visiting multiple restaurants during the event.

Nicole Gowering, another patron of Café 458, said she came to the cafe specifically to support restaurant week. Gowering said that she made several reservations for participating restaurants in the event.

Clitette also said that he tries to visit as many restaurants as he can during the restaurant week.

A large emphasis of restaurant week this year was to showcase the specific qualities that make Atlanta unique. Michael Lynch, manager at Gibney’s Pub, said he was hoping to encourage potential investors and residents to spend more time downtown.

“The outsiders, the suburbanites, the locals, they don’t really come down except to work,” Lynch said. We want them to stay downtown.” This was the first year Gibney’s Pub had participated in restaurant week. They were offering a $15 fixed price dinner menu.

Several restaurants participating in Restaurant Week used the event as a way to increase awareness of local issues.

“We want to give back to the community,” Lynch said. “Every year we donate to several educational and cancer research charities.”

Café 458 donates to several homeless shelters in the city and is run entirely by volunteers. They also partner with the Career Works Readiness Program to boost employment readiness for the homeless. All proceeds from the restaurant (including tips) go directly towards the underprivileged community. The café slogan is “Eat Well Do Good.”

Hannah Kennedy, a Café 458 hostess, describes the Career Works Readiness Program as a three-week program in which the homeless participants take life skills classes with a life coach. Participants are offered housing throughout the program.

“The career program has a 70 percent employment rate upon completion,” Kennedy said. “That is something special; we are creating an environment for these people to change their lives.”

Central Atlanta Progress, known informally as the CAP, created Atlanta Downtown Restaurant Week as a way to promote the community of downtown Atlanta and to support the underprivileged living in the area. Hundreds of well-known Atlanta businesses and attractions partner with the CAP to further its to revitalize the city and increase the quality of life for all visitors and residents of the area.

The Historic Oakland Foundation, including the Oakland Cemetery, is one of the many members of the CAP.

“We feel like we have a stake in downtown, and we want to work with the CAP to make Atlanta a more pleasant place to live and a safer place to be,” said David Moore, director of Oakland Cemetery.

Oakland Cemetery is especially close to the CAP’s heart because one of the original Central Atlanta Progress founders, Dan Sweat, is buried there.

“We feel like we are partnered with [CAP] and with all the other members of it to do our part in making downtown Atlanta a place to be,” Moore said.

Moore said he loves CAP programs, especially Atlanta Downtown Restaurant Week, because it is a way to partner with unique restaurants and attract new visitors to the cemetery.

The combination of discounted prices and the variety of restaurants participating made restaurant week a smashing success. Café 458 was so busy during Restaurant Week this year that persons without reservations were not admitted. The establishment received many complaints about the lack of available parking.

Kennedy described the atmosphere as hectic. “I volunteered for the busiest week of the year,” Kennedy said. “Thank goodness I didn’t wear heels.”

Kennedy said she didn’t care about running around frantically though.

“If we are supporting our community, our restaurants, and our people, I don’t mind,” she said.