Downtown Albany's Restaurant Week Just Got Bigger!

The Downtown Albany Business Improvement District (BID) has announced additional programming to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Restaurant Week in downtown Albany. The 10-day celebration kicks off on Wednesday, April 2, 2014 and runs nightly through Friday, April 11, 2014. Throughout the event different entertainment options, giveaways, and discounts will be offered to make your time in Downtown Albany even more enjoyable.

Program highlights include:

• Free Anniversary concert in Tricentennial Park featuring Melonious Thunk 5:30pm-8pm on Friday, April 4th.
• Multiple ticket give-a-ways for shows at Capital Repertory Theatre and the Palace Theatre.
• 30 tickets to be given away from each participating restaurant to see the Albany Devils at the Times Union Center.

Why go home after work? If you work downtown, stay downtown. Downtown Employees are invited to bring their 2014 Restaurant Week receipt to the BID office between 9am-5pm from April 2 - 10, 2014 to receive a FREE Downtown t-shirt and be entered to win tickets to:

• America’s Test Kitchen Live! (3 pairs)
• Family Feud Live! (1 pair)
• Bruce Springsteen (1 pair)

The drawings will be held Thursday, April 10, 2014 at Noon. That's not all. A variety of discounts will also be offered so you can pair a delicious dinner Downtown with world class entertainment and exciting events. Entertainment discount offers include:

• Save 10% on tickets to see Gypsy: A Musical Fable at Capital Repertory Theatre April 2 - 12, 2014 when you bring your Restaurant Week receipt to the Box Office.

• Take $10 off premier $45 tickets to America’s Test Kitchen Live! With Christopher Kimball on Sunday, April 13, 2014 at the Palace Theatre when you mention the "Restaurant Week Discount” in person at the Box Office.

• Ask your Restaurant Week server for a FREE pair of tickets to see the Albany Devils at the Times Union Center on April 19, 2014 while supplies last.

For more information on offers and events click here. You can find out about all of the participating restaurants and see their menus by clicking here. Select restaurants will be extending Restaurant Week through April 12, 2014. See individual menus for details.

America's Test Kitchen coming to the Palace!

With all of the drama, heat, and spice it makes sense that one of PBS' hit shows would translate well to the stage. No, we're not talking about Downton Abbey, even spicier - America's Test Kitchen Live! The hit PBS show will take to the Palace Theatre stage on Sunday, April 13 at 3 p.m.


America's Test Kitchen on PBS is one of today's most popular cooking shows on television. Christopher Kimball, Host and founder of the show, will bring you on a one of a kind live, behind-the-scenes experience :of the world of America's Test Kitchen to fans around the country."

Kimball is on a never-ending quest to answer the question, "What is good cooking all about?" Dan Souza from America's Test Kitchen will be joining Chris on stage for demos, tests and more!

As host of America's Test Kitchen for the past 14 seasons, as well as editor of the popular Cooks Illustrated magazine, Christopher Kimball will share his strong and entertaining opinions on culinary trends and cooking equipment. He'll take questions from the audience as well as test their knowledge of unusual ingredients in an interactive segment during the live show. America's Test Kitchen Live with Christopher Kimball will deliver a fun and informative evening for fans and foodies around the country.

Dan Souza is a senior editor of Cook's Illustrated and an on-screen test cook for America's Test Kitchen. In addition to his work on Cook's Illustrated, Dan has contributed content to a dozen America's Test Kitchen cookbooks, most recently executing and editing the test kitchen experiments for The Science of Good Cooking (October 2012). Dan cut his culinary teeth as an apprentice in Hungary before graduating first in his class from the Culinary Institute of America (CIA). After cooking in restaurants in New York City and Boston, however, he found his true calling: applying good science to create great recipes for the home cook.

America's Test Kitchen Live will coincide with Downtown Albany 10th Anniversary Restaurant week! A limited number of VIP Tickets are available for $85. The "VIP Ticket" includes:

• Ticket to the show
• Meet & Greet with Christopher Kimball 
• A Copy of Christopher Kimball's book "The Complete America's Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook 2001 - 2014."

Tickets for the show itself will go on sale February 28 at 10 am for $34 and $45, respectively. Tickets can be purchased at the Palace Theatre box office and online.