King of Prussia restaurants to host dineKOP Restaurant Week for fourth year

Source, The Reporter, Gary Puleo

UPPER MERION >> As the King of Prussia dining scene has grown, so too has dineKOP.

Now in its fourth year, King of Prussia District’s (KOP-BID) dineKOP Restaurant Week returns from March 5 through 11, with a record-breaking 28 restaurants on board, offering special three-course prix-fixe meals to the tune of $10, $15 or $20 for lunch, and $20, $30 or $40 for dinner.

If you’ve been meaning to try one or more restaurants in King of Prussia, whether it’s an icon like Ruth’s Chris or Sullivan’s Steakhouse, or one of the many newer kids on the culinary block like Paladar Latin Kitchen & Rum Bar, there will never be a better time to get your taste buds acquainted with the town’s diverse palate than during dineKOP.

“It’s no secret that King of Prussia experienced a restaurant boom in 2016 and 2017,” said Eric Goldstein, King of Prussia District executive director. “Whether you try out one of our newcomers like Founding Farmers, Mistral or True Food Kitchen, or revisit a KOP favorite like Seasons 52, Legal Sea Foods or The Capital Grille, dineKOP is a great time to explore our incredible culinary scene.”

A portion of the proceeds from dineKOP will be donated to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) King of Prussia Specialty Care & Surgery Center. Since 2015, dineKOP has raised $37,000 for the Center. Many of the participating restaurants will host CHOP Ambassador Families during dineKOP, giving these families an opportunity to enjoy a meal together in a relaxed setting.

“The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s King of Prussia Specialty Care Center team truly appreciates the continued support from our community,” said Claire Bowers, the facility’s site manager. “Proceeds from dineKOP Restaurant Week will help us continue to expand beyond the walls of the hospital into our surrounding communities, providing breakthrough care and outstanding patient-family experiences like no other. We are extremely thankful for our neighbors in the King of Prussia District.”

New this year, dineKOP introduces KOP Shops for CHOP, a charitable day of shopping on Saturday, March 10. Participating retailers and fast-casual restaurants will donate a portion of proceeds from March 10 to CHOP King of Prussia Specialty Care & Surgery Center. The growing list of participating locations includes Tory Burch, Ted Baker, Clarks, South Moon Under, Shake Shack (exterior location) and more. For a full list, visit KOPShops.com.

Among the dineKOP rookies is MidiCi The Neapolitan Pizza Company, which opened at King of Prussia Town Center, 201 W. Main St., King of Prussia, last November and boasts a live olive tree growing in the middle of the restaurant.

The meticulously maintained olive tree even has a name, noted Dawn Fisher, who co-owns the fast casual eatery with her husband, Phil Fisher. “Her name is Isabella and she is a black olive tree growing right from the earth. Her energy is phenomenal and she seems to really love it in here,” Fisher added.

The California-based pizza franchise with a mission “to bring friends together” was created to be a gathering spot for food, drink and conversation over a menu focusing on flash-fired, authentic Neapolitan pizzas made in front of you with basic, simple ingredients and baked to perfection at around 1,000 degrees in 90 seconds in a hand-crafted, wood-fired oven from Naples.

The King of Prussia MidiCi (pronounced Mee-Dee-Chee, meaning “You tell me” in Italian) was the first to open in Pennsylvania.

MidiCi’s dineKOP offerings include $10 lunch of garlic bread plus appetizer (house-made meatballs or Burrata Caprese salad ) and main course of either pizza (including Margherita, White Bianca, Red Marina, House Pesto, Four Cheese, The Caesar) or MidiCi House Salad) and scoop of gelato.

Dinner ($20) includes garlic bread, appetizer of house-made meatballs or Burrata Caprese salad; third course of pizza (Margherita, White Bianca, Red Marina and Chicken Pesto among the selections) or MidiCi House Salad and scoop of gelato.

Another newcomer to the dineKOP realm, Tiffin Indian Cuisine, is keeping its Restaurant Week specials simple.

“Our lunch menu features any chicken or veg entree and for dinner you can choose any entree on the menu,” noted Tiffin founder and CEO Munish Narula, who launched the first Tiffin — an Indian-English word for a light midday meal — in 2007 in the Northern Liberties section of Philadelphia, with a pioneering attitude of raising the standard of traditional Indian cooking, along with public perception, and branding the specialty ethnic cuisine in a way that hadn’t quite been done before.

Dinner also includes a choice of appetizers, breads and desserts.

“Tiffin is offering a special prix fixe menu for the DineKOP event but created it to give diners the flexibility to be able to have their usual favorites or try something new. Most of the participating restaurants are around the mall or in the Town Center, so we’re inviting people to get away from the crowds and have an open menu along with a great price,” Narula said.

For its ninth location in 10 years, Tiffin Indian Cuisine took up residence at 254 W. DeKalb Pike, King of Prussia, last June, smartly perched overlooking the highway in the newly renamed Valley Forge Plaza Shopping Center.

“CHOP is a great neighbor for Tiffin in Philadelphia and now at our King of Prussia location so the decision to participate in DineKOP was instantaneous,” said Narula. “We feel very much at home in King of Prussia and the response to our restaurant here has been tremendous. This is a great opportunity for us to give back to the community that has opened its arms to us.”

Narula said that since the King of Prussia location debuted, he has been receiving a lot of calls about other franchise opportunities.

“Right now we have opportunities to grow both organically and through franchising,” he said.

Additional restaurants iin the dineKOP lineup nclude Bahama Breeze; Bonefish Grill; Cantina Laredo; City Works Eatery & Pour House; Creed’s Seafood & Steaks; Davio’s Northern Italian Steakhouse; Fogo de Chao; Founding Farmers; Legal Sea Foods; Maggiano’s Little Italy; Mistral; Morton’s The Steakhouse; Outback Steakhouse; Paladar Latin Kitchen & Rum Bar; Pepper’s Italian Restaurant; Ralph’s of South Philly; Revolution Chop House; Ruth’s Chris Steak House; Savona; Seasons 52; Sullivan’s Steakhouse; The Capital Grille; The Melting Pot; The Pub by Wegmans; Tiffin Indian Cuisine; True Food Kitchen; Valley Tavern and Yard House.

For menus and a full list of restaurants, visit dineKOP.com.