Island Eats: Avalon Restaurant Week

Heading to Catalina for the Flying Fish Festival? Best tie that bib on.

WIDE-SWATH SUPPING: Somehow, over the last decade or so, the notion of the restaurant week grew some pretty big britches. Maybe California Restaurant Month, which fills out all of January, gave to this idea, or maybe because metropolises the size of small states now host their own restaurant week-y events twice or thrice a year. But a restaurant week shouldn't be prohibited by bigness or littleness, nor the types of cuisines, nor the fact that you'll need to be on a boat to reach it. Oh, did we just tip our hand there? We did, but perhaps the photo of the famous Casino Building on Catalina Island made the reveal for us. We've swung by to talk about pretty Avalon, the island's largest town, and its second-ever Restaurant Week. It's on from Friday, May 30 through Thursday, June 5.

GET TO KNOW ISLAND GRUB: Yep, you probably could visit Catalina for the day and snack upon nothing but ice cream and taffy, but the snug harbor-close town has some good eating, and Restaurant Week'll dip in to that savory side of things. Lunches'll run from $10-$20 and dinners from $20-$40 at Bluewater Avalon, Antonio's Pizzeria & Cabaret, and about eight or so more spots (some will only be doing lunch, some dinner). Taste of Catalina Food Tours will also be handing out the join-in deals during the week, so if you want a bit of guidance to your grubbing, start with them. You may just find a favorite steak or fish taco or dessert that goes well beyond that beach-close ice cream and fries you always favor.

OH... and there's a little thing called the Flying Fish Festival going down over the weekend of Avalon Restaurant Week. We josh -- the flying fish of Catalina Island are some of the burg's best-known ambassadors. Try out a new cafe, get a discount, and then head out on a boat that night in search of those flapping little wonders that seem to take flight just above the water's surface.

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