Only a little over a week stands between me and one of my favorite times of the year, the 25 for $25 deal where in March and November, 25 restaurants step forward and offer a 3 course dinner for $25 or a 3 course lunch for $12.50. There are precious few other times where you can see so much optimism shine in my eyes, and yes, the other times also tend to be food related.

A couple of comments about next month’s food extravaganza.

The new restaurant participant is Six Seven, located on pier 67 (what a coincidence!) at th Edgewater Hotel. Never having been there, I’ll only point out that they’ve opted to provide both the cheapo lunch and the cheapo dinner. That’s always nice when a newbie restaurant does that. It’s almost like getting two for one.

And speaking of two for one, even though it isn’t listed as new, the Yarrow Bay Grill are putting their Beach Cafe to work — somehow I don’t remember them doing that before.

A cursory glance over the preliminary menus exposes two immediate facts. The pumpkin-based menu items are, thankfully, gone. My big hope is that no-one took advantage of them, and that they won’t be back this November. In their place, a few more restaurants have decided to offer selections from a cheese tray. Could this be a nod to those of us in the carb-conscious crowd?