Posted on: Wednesday, January 19, 2005

QUICK BITES
Extend your Valentine's Day celebrating

Advertiser Staff

If you haven't made reservations for Valentine's Day (or the weekend before, because it's a Monday this year), get on it. Most restaurants with any sense of romance will be booked.

A number are extending Valentine's Day specials through the weekend. Among these is Auntie Pasto's, where a special menu will be in place Feb. 10 through 15. Specials include veal chop Florentine, spaghetti with asparagus, smoked mozzarella and prosciutto, lemon-caper crab cakes and chocolate spoon cake. Information: 523-8855.

At the Halekulani, special fixed-price Valentine's Day menus will be available Feb. 12-14. At La Mer, a five-course dinner, including champagne toast, is $90. In Orchids, a $59 menu encompasses four courses. Information: 923-2311.

Recipe contest a call to all carnivores

Grilled steaks balsamico won top honors in last year's National Beef Cook-Off. Advertiser library photo

The National Beef Cook-Off is accepting entries through March 31 for a competition in which 20 national finalists will compete for more than $100,000 in cash prizes, including a $50,000 "Best of Beef" grand prize.

Categories include: Beef Market Basket (a recipe encompassing specific cuts and ingredients), Grilled Beef, Family Favorites (everyday recipes of eight ingredients or fewer) and "Inspired By" (an adaptation of someone else's dish). See www.beefcookoff.org to see the rules. The contest is Sept. 19-21 in Rapid City, S.D. For free 2004 recipes, send a stamped, self-addressed No. 10 envelope to National Beef Cook-Off Prize Winning Recipes, American National CattleWomen Inc., P.O. Box 3881, Englewood, Colo. 80155.