InstantNewsKaty.com

Katy area residents will be able to savor the best of the Houston region’s culinary scene while helping combat hunger by taking part in this year’s “Houston Restaurant Week.”

This year, Perry’s Steakhouse at LaCenterra in Cinco Ranch will be among more than 100 restaurants through the greater Houston area taking part in the effort, which helps raise funds for the Houston Food Bank.

Established in 2003, Houston Restaurant Week provides diners with the opportunity to sample special menus at fine dining restaurants while helping fight hunger.

Following the popularity and success of the 2009 event, Houston Restaurant Week 2010 has been extended to three weeks at the request of participating restaurants and diners. This year, it will begin Aug. 1 and continue through Aug. 21.

Perry’s and all the participating restaurants will offer a prix fixe, three-course gourmet dinner menu for $35 per person, with $5 of each dinner sold benefiting the Houston Food Bank. New to Houston Restaurant Week, select restaurants will also offer two-course lunch menus for $20, donating $3 of each lunch sold to the Houston Food Bank.

All meals exclude beverages, tax and gratuity.

Cleverley Stone, founder and chair of the event, said Houston Restaurant Week was an opportunity for Katy area residents to experience an impressive array of dining options at reasonable prices, all while helping to fight hunger.

“Last year, we raised a record-breaking $240,000, with 100 percent of funds raised donated to the Houston Food Bank. We hope to raise even more this year to support the Houston Food Bank in their mission to provide food for the hungry in 18 southeast Texas counties,” Stone said.

Brian Green, CEO of the Houston Food Bank, called the event “an inspired opportunity to take action on behalf of families and individuals who suffer from hunger.”

“Each diner at a participating restaurant will provide 15 meals for a hungry child or adult in southeast Texas,” Green explained. “Those meals are provided each week to 137,000 individuals who turn to food pantries, senior centers, soup kitchens and shelters for nourishment.”

The event is by reservation only. Menus from each participating restaurant will be posted at www.HoustonRestaurantWeek.com beginning Monday, July 19.

To date, the event has raised more than $356,000 to fight hunger in Houston.