Long Island Restaurant Week is back on the calendar. The fall edition runs Sunday, November 1 through Sunday, November 8, with participating restaurants across Nassau and Suffolk offering three-course prix fixe dinner menus at one of three set prices: $30, $40 or $48 per person.

A lunch option returns as well. Restaurants that choose to offer it serve a two-course lunch for $25, a lower-commitment way into a kitchen a diner has been meaning to try.

How the week works

Each restaurant picks its own price tier and builds its own menu, so the list rewards a little browsing. The promotion's site lists more than 180 participating restaurants along with their menus, with restaurants participating across both counties and across cuisines.

The deal runs all night on every night of the week except one. On Saturday, the prix fixe is offered until 7 p.m., after which restaurants return to their regular menus for the busiest seating of the week. Every other evening, including both Sundays, the restaurant week menu is available for the full service.

There are no tickets or passes involved. Diners book a table the way they always would, directly with the restaurant, and order from the restaurant week menu when they sit down. Reservations are not required by the promotion, though the busier rooms fill up during the week, and booking ahead is the practical move for Friday and Saturday.

A fall fixture since 2006

Long Island Restaurant Week is presented by the Long Island Restaurant and Hospitality Group and has run as a fall promotion since 2006, with the program since growing into a tri-annual event with spring and winter editions. The structure has stayed stable for years: set price tiers, a full week, and menus published in advance, which lets diners comparison-shop in a way regular dining out never quite allows.

For restaurants, the week lands in a useful spot on the calendar. The first week of November sits between the end of the fall weekend crowds and the start of holiday party season, a stretch when dining rooms have seats to fill and kitchens have time to put some effort into a showcase menu.

For diners, a planning week

The practical advice is to treat the week like a menu release. The participating list and each restaurant's prix fixe are posted on the promotion's website ahead of the start date, searchable by town and cuisine. A diner who scans the list this month can book the first-choice table before the week begins rather than settling for what is left on November 5.

Long Island Restaurant Week runs November 1 through November 8 at participating restaurants across Long Island. Menus, prices and the full restaurant list are at longislandrestaurantweek.com.

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