Dine in Park Slope offers a taste of Brooklyn eateries

Eat your heart out, Restaurant Week. One Brooklyn neighborhood is doing its own thing when it comes to summer food deals.

The first ever Dine in Park Slope, a partnership among the Park Slope Fifth Avenue Business Improvement District, the North Flatbush BID and the Park Slope Chamber of Commerce, will offer specials, prix fixe menus and free food at more than 35 Park Slope dining establishments Aug. 20-30.

The event came about to unite Fifth, Seventh and Flatbush avenues in Brooklyn, according to Mark Caserta, executive director of the Park Slope Fifth Avenue BID. It will ideally draw visitors to the neighborhood in the dog days of summer while getting Park Slope residents to explore their surroundings.

“We’re hoping to put people in the streets, get them to try adjacent shops, try a bar they’ve never seen before,” Caserta said.

Unlike Restaurant Week, which has set prices for lunch and dinner at all restaurants, Dine in Park Slope allows restaurants to set their own deals. The program’s flexibility means that all food businesses can participate — not just table-service restaurants.

The cheese shop Bklyn Larder, for example, will give away free gelato for purchases of $20 or more.

“We’re really a neighborhood business and we have a lot of regulars we know by name, so anything we can do to engage with the community is right up our alley,” Mandy Wynn, the shop’s owner, said.

Late August may be hot, but it’s also time to harvest a variety of local fruits and vegetables. Bklyn Larder will serve seasonal gelato in flavors like blackberry.

“We’re happy to be giving people something that’s seasonal and that they can enjoy in this horrid, humid weather,” Wynn said.

Other deals include a $25 prix fixe menu at the Italian restaurant Sotto Voce, 20 percent off sandwiches and salads from noon to 3 p.m. at Kos Kaffe, and 25 percent off purchases of $10 or more at the bakery Ovenly. Don’t forget to mention Dine in Park Slope to get the discount.

If you’re not in town at the end of the month, don’t worry: The partnership hopes to hold a similar event this winter.

Dine in Park Slope already features much greater participation from local businesses than the ostensibly citywide Restaurant Week. More than 40 businesses are already pledged to participate in the upcoming promotion, in contrast to just 10 from the entire borough that took part in Restaurant Week.

Participating eateries include: