SF celebrates Dining Out for Life

A breakfast of waffles and coffee at The Cove on Castro, a lunch of clam chowder and crab salad at the Franciscan Crab Restaurant, a hearty dinner of lasagna with a nice bottle of Chianti--those are just some of the options for Bay Area diners participating in this week's Dining Out For Life.

Folks in San Jose got a jump on the event, a national campaign to raise money for AIDS service organizations in the communities that benefit from them, with DOL occurring in the South Bay today, but most of the country will participate in the event Thursday, April 24. Northern California areas observing DOL this Thursday include San Francisco, the East Bay and Sacramento; in southern California events are being held in San Diego and Riverside/San Bernadino. Las Vegas and Reno also celebrate DOL on Thursday. Dining Out will be observed in Palm Springs on May 1. Sonoma County will hold it on Dec. 4.

Restaurants participating in Dining Out for Life are listed at www.diningoutforlife.com. Reservations are urged in most cases. Restaurants participating pledge 25 percent of their food tab that day will go towards the cause; some restaurants (indicated on the web site) also donate 25 percent of their liquor tab.

In San Francisco, Dining Out for Life supports the Stop AIDS Project. in the East Bay, the beneficiary is Vital Life Services.