By Olivia Turner | Arts & Life Editor

Starting Friday, local foodies have the opportunity to get discounted meals and special menu items from over 50 restaurants, cafes and food trucks across town, all thanks to Waco Restaurant Week.

Since 2019, this food-focused event has been serving Wacoans tasty deals and raising over $100,000 for local charities like Caritas and Keep Waco Beautiful, the event’s current non-profit dedicated to promoting the city’s sustainability and beautification. Founder of both Waco Restaurant Week and Keep Waco Beautiful, Carole Fergusson described the inaugural event as her “grassroots year.” Now, the likes of Uber Eats and Neighborly are partnering with Fergusson’s dream come true.

“I just really wanted to see the vibrancy of our culinary destinations come to life,” Fergusson said.

Danielle Young, owner of Revival Eastside Eatery and Street Dog Cafe, said Revival was a part of Waco Restaurant Week in 2019 and Street Dog has been a participant of the annual event ever since its opening in 2023. Young said she hopes this week brings a little more traffic to East Waco.

Revival’s special menu for Waco Restaurant Week features their signature burger — a beef patty with caramelized balsamic onions, whipped herb goat cheese, lemon garlic aioli, and arugula, all on a brioche bun served with French fries. At Street Dog, the special menu combo includes a breakfast taco with egg, bacon, cheddar and potatoes in a flour tortilla and a cup of coffee, served either hot or iced.

“As a small business, it’s a fun way to be a part of something bigger that’s going on in Waco,” Young said. “They do a great job publicizing small businesses and coming up with creative events. I think it’s just kind of fun to see how vibrant the food scene has to become in Waco.”

This year, Creative Waco’s Dia de los Muertos festival will also be partnering with the event to highlight several local Hispanic restaurants and trucks. This Restaurant Week will also include a downloadable digital passport to view a map of the participating restaurants and track various deals and specials. The passport is free and requires no app installation. So far, over 1,000 Wacoans have downloaded the passport, Fergusson said.

“Every year, I’ve had a lot of people say, ‘Man, there’s just so much going on. I’m overwhelmed. I don’t know where to go,’” Fergusson said. “So this is just an easy way for people to pull up information and see where they’re located. It pulls directly from your Google listing, so it’s easy to find.”

Fergusson said Waco Restaurant Week has allowed her to view the city’s culinary growth over the years.

“There’s a lot of incredible chefs in Waco,” Fergusson said, “It’s just really starting to change the landscape of fine dining in Waco.”

Fergusson said she is looking forward to seeing some of the newer restaurants, cafes and food trucks get some recognition through Waco Restaurant Week, such as Frenchie Daddy French Toast, a local food truck, and Luna Cafe, which offers a safe space for mothers with young children to eat and get a coffee.

Aniceto Charles Jr., co-owner of Tru Jamaica and long-time Waco Restaurant Week participant, said he is anticipating welcoming customers into the brand new building after the restaurant’s fire in 2022. Charles said he just hosted the Tru Jamaica grand re-opening on Wednesday at 937 Taylor St., the shop’s original location.

Charles said the event is great for business, but more importantly, for sharing the culture through food.

“I’m really looking forward to, you know, bodies coming in, hearing some reggae music, enjoying our chill vibes and then enjoying some of our food,” Charles said. “I’m looking for the community to come out and try all the different plates and different restaurants that are doing specialties.”

Charles said Tru Jamaica will debut a special combo menu item called “Taste of Jamaica,” which includes a traditional jerk chicken plate, peas, steamed veggies, fried plantains and sorrel, in addition to rum raisin bread pudding, back on the menu for the first time in three years. Charles said he also recommends newcomers try the “Rasta Pasta,” an earthy vegan dish of penne, bell peppers and a little spice.

Collaborating with Tru Jamaica on an Asian-Jamaican fusion menu item is Cha Community, a boba tea cafe. Jaja Chen, the cafe co-owner, said the special dish is jerk beef pan-fried dumplings, drizzled with the signature Tru Jamaica jerk barbecue sauce. These dumplings will only be available for Waco Restaurant Week and will be sold exclusively at the downtown location, located at 1001 Franklin Ave.

“Nowhere else can you find this in Central Texas,” Chen said.

Discounts on regular menu items will also be available at their 1205 S 8th St. Baylor location, she said.

Cha Community has been a part of Waco Restaurant Week since its start. As a board member, Chen said she also has close ties with the event’s non-profit, Keep Waco Beautiful.

“I care deeply about the organization and the great work that they are doing here with promoting recycling cleanups, river cleanups and all sorts of other sustainability-related events and volunteering opportunities,” Chen said.

According to Chen, Waco Restaurant Week is more than just a fun, delicious event. It’s an opportunity for Wacoans to expand their culinary horizons.

“This is a great time to try new things, because so many of the businesses are offering specials and discounts,” Chen said. “Go on the Waco Restaurant Week website and pick and choose a few that sound very interesting that you haven’t tried before, and then use the digital passports to find your discounts and then be a part of it.”