Eat out Thursday nights: Benefit Walnut Creek schools

Start a Thursday night family tradition: Eat out in Walnut Creek at a select group of downtown restaurants that will donate 10 to 15 percent of your receipt to the Walnut Creek Education foundation (WCEF K-12), which benefits K-8 schools in the Walnut Creek School District, as well as Las Lomas High School.

If you patronize one of these restaurants, you just need to mention to your waitperson that you "support our schools and WCEF."

Unlike previous efforts, the restaurants involved are not all your fast-food, pizza-type joints. Not that there is anything wrong with a burrito from Baja Fresh or one of Rocco's mouth-watering, cheesy, flavorful pizzas.

What I mean to say is that the restaurants under the Dudum Sports and Entertainment enterprise umbrella have signed on to the cause. As mentioned in Crazyinsuburbia message boards, the extended Dudum family seems to have its finger in the operations of various restaurant ventures throughout town. Including the high-end, white-table-cloth, nostalgia-tinged joint Bing Crosby's Restaurant and Piano Lounge'; the popular, and supposedly authentic Mexican restaurant Maria Maria: and the baseball-themed McCovey's Restaurant.

Other participating restaurants in the WCEF K-12 fundraiser are:

Babalou's Mediterranean, 1645 Bonanza St., (925) 930-8000
Baja Fresh, 1273 S. California Blvd., (925) 947-0588
Café Delle Stelle, 1532 N. Main Street, (925) 943-2393
Chili's Grill and Bar, 1403 Locust St. (925) 933-1251
Extreme Pizza, 1630 Cypress St. (925) 930-6100
Fresh Choice, 1275 S. Main Street. (925) 938-1529
Hubcaps Diner, 1548 Bonanza St., (925) 945-6960
Joe DiMaggio's Italian Chophouse, 601 Union St., San Francisco, (415) 421-5633
Maggie Moo's Ice Cream, 1159 Locust St., (925) 280-6667
Mi Casa, 2195 N. Broadway937.8800
Original Mel's, 1394 N. Main St.935.6457
Pomegranate Restaurant, 1389 N. Main Street944.9292
Rocco's Ristorante and Pizzeria, 2909 Ygnacio Valley Rd., (925) 947-6105
Sakana Sushi1280 Newell Ave., (925) 938-6050
San Francisco Creamery, 1370 Locust St., (925) 926-0168
Tin's Tea House, 1829 Mt. Diablo Blvd., (925) 287-8288