After a successful run last October, Riverdale Restaurant Week is back beginning on April 15. Presented by Dine Out Riverdale, the week-long event will include four additional restaurants this year from the Kingsbridge, Van Cortlandt and Riverdale neighborhoods, bringing the total roster to 33.
However, the excitement is bitter-sweet as the Riverdale community has lost three eateries in the last six months — Blue Bay Diner, Madison’s Italian restaurant and Siam Square Thai cuisine, two of which were participants in the inaugural restaurant week.
“It’s fun, but I really learned the importance of this (event) to these businesses,” said Laura Levine-Pinedo, who co-founded Dine Out Riverdale along with Michael Gabert of Flexis Media.
In a borough that is often under-represented during NYC & Company’s Restaurant Week, which spans across the five boroughs, this localized iteration draws more Bronx establishments, in an event that can help drive traffic to their businesses.
Restaurateurs of Dine Out Riverdale pay $100 to participate. This includes quality video promotion that is featured on the Dine Out Riverdale Instagram page, which has accrued 990 followers in six months.
Over that same timeframe Tobalá restaurant, which sits at 3732 Riverdale Ave., has gained more than 12,000 followers.
The suave Dominican-owned Oaxacan restaurant is awash with earth tones, down to the servers’ uniforms, and the room is open and inviting. The diners are well-dressed. The menu is pricier than most, but that’s where restaurant week comes in. Where else in the Bronx will you find an octopus dish with chicatana sauce? It’s made of Mexican flying ants and the taste is a sweet earthiness. The dish is on their restaurant week prix fixe menu at $60 with an appetizer and dessert included.
“We felt like it was a cuisine that wasn’t being explored properly in New York,” said co-owner Billy Mercader.
The four owners of Tobalá have been working in the industry for…
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