Thirty-three downtown restaurants and a contest for a pair of tickets to The Police’s July 19 concert at the Usana Amphitheater highlight the second annual Spring Dine O’ Round event. Participating restaurants will offer two-course lunch deals at $10 and three-course dinners at $15 or $30 from May 2 to May 17. The event is sponsored by the Salt Lake Downtown Alliance.

There are the usual strong anchors: Takashi’s, Bambara, The Metropolitan, Martine, Settebello’s, and the Gastronomy group. Four new entries are Trofi, Lazy Dog Pizzeria, I Love Sushi and Baxter’s American Restaurant.

Each restaurant also will have contest entry forms for the concert ticket package which includes dinner for two and an overnight stay at a downtown hotel.

The event, in its fall and spring incarnations, has been popular, according to Andrew Wallace, marketing and development director for the organization. “Most restaurants have seen an added increase in patrons,” he says. “All restaurants like it because they are able to introduce their restaurants to a new customer base.”

Downtown restaurants are an indispensable part of the district’s retail activity. Restaurants powered the record surge in total downtown retail sales last year, which reached more than $555 million, according to statistics from the Bureau of Economic and Business Research at the University of Utah. Downtown eateries accounted for nearly half of the total. Restaurant sales — $271 million in 2007 — have increased more than two and a half-times since 2000, when they were $108 million or just 37 percent of all downtown retail sales.

Some restaurants will offer event specials during dinner service. However, slightly more than half also will participate in the lunch portion of the event including Acme Burger Company, Al Forno’s Ristorante, Caffe Molise, Cannella’s, Cedars of Lebanon, Christopher’s (Peery Hotel), Faustina, Lamb’s Grill, Market Street Grill, McGrath’s Fish House, New Yorker, Settebello Pizzeria Napoletana, Spencer’s for Steaks and Chops, Squatter’s Pub Brewery, The Tin Angel Cafe, Trofi, and Vienna Bistro.

Please note the event is not available on Mother’s Day (Sunday, May 11).