While Restaurant Week can be a great way to check out D.C.-area restaurants, figuring out where to go can mean scrolling through hundreds of menus trying to decide where to spend your money.
That’s where D.C. software engineer Adam Stambouli comes in.
For years, he wanted to develop a tool that would make all that information easier to search, but he couldn’t overcome the technical hurdles.
“It’s a really tough data problem that I wasn’t able to solve,” Stambouli said.
This year, he tried again with the help of artificial intelligence. The result is LetsEatDC.com, a website that lets you use a computer or phone to filter through offerings from hundreds of participating restaurants.
“If, you know, this week I’m in a mood to eat some good steak, I could easily search for that and find all the restaurants that are serving steak,” he said.
Once the site came to life, the results opened his eyes to just how much Restaurant Week has to offer, which includes close to 400 participating restaurants.
“Then thinking about, you know, every dish that is available, I think the current count is 7,000 or close to 8,000 different dishes that are available,” he said.
Not only can users filter by dish, ingredient and type of cuisine, they can also find restaurants that have earned critical acclaim, Michelin recognition, James Beard honors and other distinctions.
“This is a great opportunity to try out new cuisine, try out restaurants that are acclaimed that maybe, you know, you haven’t had the time to go try out,” he said.
The site also identifies restaurants offering Restaurant Week menus beyond Aug. 30.
Restaurant Week prices are set at $35 for brunch and lunch and $65 for dinner. Stambouli’s site also analyzes menus to show where diners may be getting the best value compared with what those dishes typically cost.
The website is not affiliated with Metropolitan Washington Summer Restaurant Week, but Stambouli hopes it will help people make plans and take advantage of the annual celebration of local restaurants. He said the feedback so far has encouraged him to continue improving the site.
“This really came from an idea to serve me, I mean, as a diner, so I’m glad it’s resonating with a lot of people,” he said.
Ultimately, he hopes more people use the tool to discover something new.
“All of this is, you know, comes from making it easier to find a restaurant that you maybe haven’t heard of yet, maybe find a place, your new favorite restaurant,” he said.
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