The reason I love restaurant week so much is because I get to try many new restaurants in Charleston with friends who like to share bites off of their plates, so I get a good sampling of what different restaurants have to offer. A new foodie event in Charleston, the Charleston Small Plate Crawl (November 3 – 5, 2015) is offering that very experience, but with a new twist. During the 3-day culinary event, Crawlers travel from restaurant to restaurant, sampling the best of Charleston’s culinary scene. Participating restaurants will offer special Small Plate Menus priced from $4 to $10 showcasing their cuisine and Chef’s talent.
I love the idea of this event!
A Crawl Guide indicates hours each restaurant will be participating during the three day culinary event. Participating restaurants choose from the following time blocks to participate during the Crawl: 7:30-11:00am (Breakfast), 11:30am-3pm (Lunch), 5-10pm (Dinner) and/or 11:30am to 10pm (All Day).
Also, apparently there are selfie contests.
Here’s how the crawl works:
- Crawlers peruse restaurant menus, print the Crawl Guide and use the interactive map to plan their path and crawl. A Crawl Guide is not needed, but is useful as a reference for a list of participating restaurants, addresses and hours.
- When a Crawler pays at each restaurant, they will scan a Server Card with a QR Code using a QR reader on their mobile device. The first time they scan, they will be taken to http://ChekTrek.com and will be asked to enter their name, email address, and password. They will then be logged into the Crawl system which will check them in at each restaurant as they scan additional Server Card QR codes.
- QR readers are available for free via phone app stores. We recommend “QR Code Reader” by Scan, Inc. If a mobile device is not available, Crawlers may write down the alphanumeric code from the Server Card and enter these into http://ChekTrek.com before the end of the Crawl.
- If ANYONE in a group purchases a plate, EVERYONE in the group gets to scan the QR code for validation. Sharing is encouraged! Only the person that ordered a Challenge Cocktail can scan the cocktail QR code.
- Crawlers are automatically entered into prize drawings based on the number of restaurants they have visited each time they scan a QR Code or enter a Code manually. Prizes will be listed on the Crawl website. When a Crawler visits a restaurant outside of the main core of Charleston restaurants, their prize entries will be doubled. Prize winners will be contacted by email after the Crawl.
Ka-ching!
As of right now, confirmed restaurants include Vincent Chicco, Michael’s on the Alley, Saffire, O-Ku, HoM, and Virginia’s on King, with more restaurants to be added in the weeks leading up to the event. Follow the latest Crawl news by following Charleston Small Plate Crawl on Facebook. Columbia residents: The Columbia Small Plate Crawl will be happening in Cola September 22-24!
