Where will you eat out to support Dining Out For Life?
Before you answer, consider for a moment that it’s not simply a matter of menu selection, customer service and ambiance.
Deciding where to have breakfast, lunch or dinner Thursday during this annual fundraiser for Desert AIDS Project is increasingly a choice of which participating restaurant offers the best incentives — and where your loyalties lie.
For many of the restaurants that generously contribute a portion of their profits from the day to D.A.P., it’s become a heated competition to bring in the most diners and earn recognition as top do-gooder. Some in past years have sweetened the deal for customers with specially designed T-shirts to commemorate the event, bottles of wine at a reduced price and other treats.
Forty-four restaurants across the Coachella Valley will donate anywhere from 33 percent to 60 percent to D.A.P. There’s talk that one establishment known for its support of community events and causes plans to donate a whopping 75 percent. Care to guess which?
Several restaurateurs have their eye (the evil eye perhaps?) on TRIO in uptown Palm Springs this year. Its owners and staff have earned the right to boast “biggest pot” every year in recent years. Will this be the year that Wangs in the Desert, Spencer’s Restaurant, Tropicale or the new owners of Rock Garden Bar & Grill overthrow the reigning Dining Out For Life kings?
Perhaps, but it doesn’t really matter in the end. The real winners of the event and its competitive spirit are the thousands of residents served by Desert AIDS Project.
See the list of participating restaurants at desertaidsproject.org. And check back here in the next few days to learn the fundraising results as final numbers are tallied.