A bit of advice: Don’t look at the website for Kansas City Restaurant Week on an empty stomach. Your hunger pangs will intensify until the thought of a nice duck confit and pan-seared shrimp will become more of a torment than a temptation. It’s also not a good idea to view it right after eating, either — as I did after a tasty burger and truffle tots at the downtown BRGR — or you’ll find yourself too full to savor the event’s possibilities.

KC Restaurant Week kicks off with lunch on Friday, Jan. 16, and ends with dinner on Sunday, Jan. 25, and diners can sample plates at the city’s finest restaurants at fixed prices. Lunch menus are $15, and dinners are $33, with most of them including an appetizer, entree and dessert from among several options in each category. In most cases, drinks are not included.

This year, over 150 restaurants are taking part (up from 125 from last year), and because they want to make a strong impression, you’ll get to sample signature dishes from the area’s most innovative chefs. Donations to benefit several Kansas City-area charities will also be accepted during the week.

Because of the popularity of the event, it’s a good idea to make advance reservations using OpenTable.com. Below are a few recommendations to get you started. You can find the full list at kcrestaurantweek.com, or download the mobile app.

Enchiladas de Pollo at Port Fonda

S'mores torte at Jax Fish House and Oyster Bar

Grilled hanger steak with wasabi mashed potatoes, cilantro chimichurri and tempura asparagus, at Blue Moose

The plucky Grand Street Cafe (4740 Grand Ave.), tucked behind the Winstead’s on the Plaza near Brush Creek, is a perennial favorite. Lunch and dinner include a beet salad, pistachio-encrusted ruby red trout, and a decadent phyllo brownie for dessert.

Cafe Sebastienne, located in the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art (4420 Warwick Blvd.), is renowned for its modern American cuisine. The museum itself is free, and houses an impressive collection of mostly 20th century art.

At Grünauer, the Hungarian beef gulasch, a slow-braised beef in a spicy paprika sauce and served with spätzle, is a standout dish among the foodies I polled for this column. Wash it all down with a Hofbräu Dunkel. Grünauer’s is at 101 W. 22nd St. in the Freight House building.

Port Fonda (4141 Pennsylvania Ave.) takes Mexican food to special places, especially during Restaurant Week. In addition to enchiladas, tamales, roasted chili-chicken broth and other specialities, Port Fonda is offering its signature chilaquiles (tortilla chips, salsa de molcajete, chorizo verde, fried farm egg, crema, cilantro, lime) on its dinner menu.

Jax Fish House & Oyster Bar is a great place to sample a variety of seafood, including chicken and crawfish gumbo and blackened catfish. Top it off with a s’mores torte for dessert. Jax is at 4814 Roanoke Parkway on the Plaza.

Dinner at Le Fou Frog, just east of the River Market at 400 E. Fifth St., would normally well exceed the $33 Restaurant Week price, so don’t miss the chance to grab delicacies like salmon, smoked duck salad or quail stuffed with brioche and foie gras sauce perigoudine. The third course is all about dessert.

The Blue Moose, with several locations in Prairie Village, Lenexa and Overland Park, is a down-to-earth affair where you get a lot of quality food for your money. Specials dishes this week include shrimp and grits, seared sea scallops, hanger steak, duck pappardelle pasta and tart apple cobbler.

There’s no time like the present to sample the new Char Bar Smoked Meats and Amusements (at 4050 Pennsylvania in the old Beaumont Club space), where burnt ends are abundant and even the veggie dishes are smoked. The standout dish here might be chef Jeremy Tawney’s “Velvet Elvis,” a dessert that includes a banana bread-peanut butter ice cream sandwich, spiced walnuts, bananas, cracker jacks, hot fudge, whipped cream and a bourbon-soaked cherry on top.

Pierpont’s in Union Station is a classy, can’t-miss destination where dinner plates include butternut squash risotto, 12-hour short ribs, and a salmon dish with braised pork belly and ginger-soy reduction sauce.

Affäre (1911 Main St.) is not your stereotypical German fare, with dishes including braunschweiger liver pate, southern German lentil soup, bison sauerbraten and red beet chocolate cake. For $15 more you get a wine pairing of a German red or white wine.

Bon appetit, and see you next week!

— Lucas Wetzel is a writer and editor from Kansas City, Mo. Know of an upcoming event in Kansas City you’d like to see featured in Kansas City Connection? Email us about it at kcconnection@ljworld.com.