]]> http://www.charlestonrestaurantassociation.com/news/attend-this-event-and-receive-100-off-membership-fee/feed/ 0 http://www.charlestonrestaurantassociation.com/news/the-greater-charleston-restaurant-association-donates-over-45000-to-the-local-community/ http://www.charlestonrestaurantassociation.com/news/the-greater-charleston-restaurant-association-donates-over-45000-to-the-local-community/#comments Fri, 08 Feb 2013 13:55:20 +0000 TeamCRA http://www.charlestonrestaurantassociation.com/?p=1918 On Wednesday, February 6 at Rita’s Seaside Grille, The Greater Charleston Restaurant Association (GCRA) presented checks to local charities and their educational partners. Each year, the GCRA raises money for local charities and colleges through their annual festivals: The Southern Living Taste of Charleston and the Lowcountry Oyster Festival. To date, the GCRA has raised over $1 million.

“This past Wednesday was a great day for the GCRA, our charities, our educational partners and the local community. We were able to give back more than we have ever before. This year we raised a total of $47,500 for the local community” says Steve Carroll, president of the Greater Charleston Restaurant Association. Five local charities were each presented with a check for $5000. These charities include Ronald McDonald House, Hollings Cancer Center, Hospitality Heroes, Shriner’s Hospitals for Children and Charleston County Schools Science Materials Resource Center.

In addition, each of the GCRA’s three educational partners received $7,500. Each school will break that amount into five $1,500 scholarships to benefit students studying to be in the hospitality industry. The benefiting educational partners include The Art Institute of Charleston, The Culinary Institute of Charleston and The College of Charleston.

 The Crab House and Chef Brett will provide steamed local clusters of oysters and all the fixin’s of a Lowcountry oyster roast plus Chef’s Brett’s “Award Winning” chili. Bring your own chili for a “Taste Off” against Chef Brett’s chili and win $100 gift card to local restaurants.

This “All You Can Eat” Charity oyster roast is open to the public. Drinks and other foods are available for purchase.

For more information visit www.CharlestonCrabHouse.com, call 843.795.1963 or Facebook (Charleston Crab House) or Twitter(@ChsCrabHouse).

Tickets will still be available for $15 the day of the event: Sunday, January 27!

Purchase Tickets Here

 The Greater Charleston Restaurant Association, Inc. (GCRA) will host the 30^th Annual Lowcountry Oyster Festival on Sunday, January 27 from 10:30am – 5:00pm at Historic Boone Hall Plantation in Mt. Pleasant. To make this year extra special, the GCRA has added some new features with the help of their sponsors: JetBlue to giveaway tickets, Budweiser is bringing a “Build A Bar” and the Children’s area will be highlighted with jugglers, aerial acrobats and more. The Lowcountry Oyster Festival, coined “The World’s Largest Oyster Roast”, has been named one of the “top 20 events in the Southeast” by the Southeastern Tourism Society for the past 25 years. Each year the event brings in more than 10,000 guests who consume over 80,000 pounds of oysters. Not a fan of the mighty mollusks, no problem, there will be a food court featuring a variety of restaurants, food trucks and sweets. The food court restaurants will feature: Reds Ice House, Zeus Grill & Seafood, Gilligan’s Seafood Restaurant, The Windjammer, Jim ‘N Nicks Bar B Q, Wild Wing Café, AW Shuck’s and Hyman’s Seafood. The featured Food Trucks will be Dukes Barbeque, BlackJack Barbeque and Hubee D’s Tenders & Wings. Sweets will be provided by Dixie Supply Bakery & Café, Charleston Cookie Company and S&D Coffee.

JetBlue will be giving away tickets at the Oyster Festival every hour on the hour. Must be 18 or older and have to be present at festival to win the tickets. Tickets will be good from February 28, 2013 – February 28, 2014. Winners are subject to terms and conditions and must pay for applicable taxes. No early registration, must register at the Lowcountry Oyster Festival on Sunday, January 27.

Budweiser and Southern Eagle Distributing will be bringing out their “Build-A-Bar”. What is a “Build-A-Bar”? It is a trailer that transforms into a bar which features Plasma Screen TVs, Fixed Bar Seats and much more.

To help alleviate some traffic/parking issue in years past the GCRA has opened up an additional entry point to the event. In years past, the only entrance to the event was off Long Point Road. Now event-goers will be able to enter off Highway 17 near Boone Hall Farm’s Pumpkin Patch. This entrance will be open until 2pm and then it will reverse to accommodate outgoing traffic. From the Highway 17 entrance, the GCRA will offer a “Park n Ride” service. This is free will allow attendees to ride a trolley through Boone Hall Plantation to the back gate. This entrance provides easier entrance and exit from the event and helps alleviate traffic on Long Point Road.

This annual event is orchestrated by the GCRA with the help of hundreds of volunteers from the community. A portion of the proceeds will benefit local charities including the Ronald McDonald House, Hollings Cancer Center, Hospitality Heroes, Shriners Hospitals for Children and the Charleston County Schools Science Materials Resource Center. We would also like to thank our sponsors: JetBlue, Budweiser, US Foods, Town of Mt. Pleasant, Pepsi, The Chart Group, Frank’s Red Hot and Restaurant Solutions.

Charleston Restaurant Week January 10 – 20, 2013

Charleston Restaurant Week kicks off next week with over 120 area restaurants.

WHO:                          The Greater Charleston Restaurant Association, Inc (GCRA) presents Charleston Restaurant Week.                         

WHAT:                         Charleston Restaurant Week is January 10 -20.  All restaurants participating will offer prix fixe menus of 3 items for $20, $30 or $40.  Below are all the participating restaurants. 3 for $20 Restaurants:  Al Di La, AW Shuck’s, Barbara Jeans Restaurant, Basil Thai Restaurant, Boone’s Bar, Bricco Bracco, Caviar & Bananas Gourmet Market and Cafe,  Charleston Crab House, Cherrywood BBQ & Ale House, Firewater Grille,  Five Loaves Café, Fuel Charleston, Fuji Sushi Bar and Grill, Gilligan’s Seafood Restaurant-John’s Island, Harbor Breeze, How Art Thou Café, Hyman’s Seafood, J. Paul’z, Juanita Greenberg’s-Mt. Pleasant, La Fontana Authentic Italian, Locklear’s Lowcountry Grill, Manny’s Neighborhood Grille, Mellow Mushroom-Downtown, Nirlep Indian Restaurant, Noisy Oyster Seafood Restaurant, Old Towne Grill,  Page’s Okra Grill, Queen Anne’s Revenge, Rita’s Seaside Grille, Saffron Café & Bakery,  Sparians @ River Bowl, Swamp Fox Restaurant at the Francis Marion Hotel, Tabbuli, TBonz Gill & Grill- Market Street, The Wreckfish, Toast!,  Tommy Condon’s, Tsunami Downtown, Virginia’s on King, West Ashley Crab Shack, Wild Wing Café,  Yamato Japanese Steakhouse, Yokoso Japanese Restaurant and Zeus Grill and Seafood.  3 for $30 Restaurants:  ‘Cesca Ristorante & Trattoria, 39 Rue de Jean, 82 Queen, Alchemy Fine Food & Wine, Amen Street Fish & Raw Bar, Angel Oak Restaurant,  Anson Restaurant,, Barbadoes Room @ The Mills House Hotel, Bistro 536, Blossom, Blu Restaurant & Bar, Bocci’s Italian Restaurant, Burton’s Grill, Burwell’s Stone Fire Grill,  Butcher & Bee, Coast Bar and Grill, Cork Neighborhood Bistro, Cypress, Eli’s Table, Eurasia Café & Wine Bar, Fat Hen, Finz Bar & Grill, Fish, Fleet Landing Restaurant, Fulton Five, Gennaro’s Italian Ristorante, Gennaro’s Little Italy, Graze, High Cotton, Husk Restaurant,  Iacofano’s Italian Bistro & Bar, II Cortile Del Re, Jasmine Porch at The Sanctuary at Kiawah Island Golf Resort, La Fourchette, Lana Restaurant, Leaf Café + Bar, Long Point Grill,  Lowcountry Bistro, Magnolia’s, Med Bistro, Mercato Italian Restaurant, Morgan Creek Grill, Mosaic Café, Ms. Rose’s,  Muse Restaurant & Wine Bar, O-Ku, Old Village Post House, Opal Restaurant and Bar,  Poogan’s Porch, RB’s Seafood Restaurant, Red Drum Restaurant, Red’s Ice House, Saffire Restaurant & Bar at Charleston Marriott, Sea Island Grill at Wild Dunes, Shem Creek Bar & Grill, Slightly North of Broad, Social Restaurant + Wine Bar, Southend Brewery, Stack’s Evening Eats, Stars Grill Room & Rooftop Bar,  The Boathouse at Breach Inlet, The Grocery, The Library Restaurant at Vendue Inn, The Macintosh,  The Mustard Seed-Mt. Pleasant, Tomasso at Turtle Point and Wentworth Grill. 3 for $40 Restaurants: Carolina’s, Carter’s Kitchen, Circa 1886, Grill 225, Halls Chophouse, Hank’s Seafood Restaurant, Langdon’s Restaurant and Wine Bar, McCrady’s Restaurant, Middleton Place Restaurant,  Peninsula Grill, Sermet’s Downtown, The Atlantic Room at the Ocean Course, The Ocean Room at The Sanctuary at Kiawah Island Golf Resort,  Trattoria Lucca and Tristan. To view the menus please visit www.charlestonrestaurantassociation.com.

NEW:                           Download the FREE CRA smart phone app to have all of the Restaurant Week info at your fingertips. You will have a complete directory of the CRA members, information about events like The Lowcountry Oyster Festival and The Southern Living Taste of Charleston plus a tip calculator, a parking assistant and more. Go to your app store and search for Charleston Restaurant Association or CRA to download.

WHEN:                        Thursday, January 10 – Sunday, January 20  

WHERE:                       All over the Lowcountry: Downtown Charleston, Summerville, North Charleston, James Island, John’s Island, Folly Beach, Daniel Island, Kiawah/Seabrook, Mt. Pleasant and Isle of Palms.

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