Drago Centro charcuterie plate. From Dig Lounge.

Whether you plan on celebrating Valentine’s Day or not — or just haven’t made up your mind yet — here are some special meals that will be happening around Los Angeles.

To Celebrate

Drago Centro: From Feb. 12 to 14, Drago Centro is offering a four-course dinner for $55, with wine pairings for an additional $35. (Limited à la carte menu items will be available, too.) Here are the menu choices:

First course — beef carpaccio, hearts of palm and candied almonds, or antipasto plate

Second course — butternut squash ravioli with lemon brown butter, or shrimp and scallop agnolotti with cioppino foam

Third course — roasted lamb with artichoke hearts, brown butter pomme purée and rapini, or Dover sole, baby vegetable ragoût and lemon beurre blanc

Fourth course — strawberry semifreddo with basil and white chocolate, or chocolate cake, candied Marcona almonds and raspberries

Also, on Feb. 14 the restaurant will be hosting a masquerade carnival with live music, and guests are encouraged to dress up, too.

Cecconi’s: The West Hollywood eatery is offering its full à la carte menu, a tasting menu for $85, and an optional wine pairing for an additional $45. The tasting menu includes wild mushroom cappuccino; dungeness crab, ahi tuna and avocado; winter black truffle and ricotta ravioli; chateaubriand for two, winter root vegetables and a peppercorn sauce; and a layered chocolate cake, kirsh cherries and whipped cream.

Pourtal: The Santa Monica wine bar is offering two-for-one glasses of bubbly on Feb. 14 from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Choose from the featured selection of Marquis de Perlade Blanc de Blanc or a Kir Royale. Cupid will be there to pass out secret Valentines to guests who purchase bubbly or a tasting card; they will receive a free pour ranging from on Pourtal’s Enomatic machines.

Cube: Head over to Cube Marketplace’s cafe on Feb. 13 for a fondue party. Ok, not really, but you can get the fondue special and make it your own party! For $35, you can get prosecco, cheese fondue, roasted farmers market vegetables and fresh fruit, house-baked bread, Meyer lemon coeur a la crème, farmers market berries, citrus cookies — and house-made dark chocolate truffles and confections to take home.

Not To Celebrate

Charlie’s Malibu: On Feb. 13, Charlie’s will host “Bitter, Party of 1” for singles (or as its press release says, “couples welcome, but we may mock them”) with tunes from DJ Kid Wycked from 9:00 p.m. to close. And on both Feb. 13 and 14, the restaurant will offer a four-course chef’s tasting menu for $75, with a $20 wine pairing, along with the regular à la carte and lounge menus. The tasting menu includes dishes such as poached pear with herbed goat cheese and candied walnuts, filet mignon, and lobster tail. You don’t have to eat with a Valentine, you know.

Rush Street: On Feb. 13, the Culver City bar and restaurant will host a Meet Your Valentine party with specialty cocktails and artisanal chocolates. There will be no prix fixe menu. On Feb. 14, diners can enjoy half-off featured wine and champagne all day long.

Akasha: Take home a box of 12 mini cupcakes for $20 from the Culver City restaurant’s bakery to serve at your anti-Vday party — or eat them yourself, I don’t judge. Flavors include chocolate and vanilla cakes with different frosting and icing. The chocolate with Gianduja (that’s a chocolate/hazelnut combo) filling, chocolate glaze and fleur de sel sounds awesome!

In addition to the $10 Brats and Beer special I’ve mentioned before, Rush Street’s brunch showcases breakfast favorites and lunch items. I had the fried egg sandwich ($11) with pancetta, tomato, three kinds of cheese and parmesan-crusted sourdough bread. It was tasty and satisfying, especially since I’ve been on a fried-egg kick lately. I imagine it would make great hangover food. I also enjoyed the tater tots, though the second batch we had were too salty. The seasoning on them is a nice touch, though.

Fried egg sandwich

Truffle asiago fries (top), sweet potato fries (center), tater tots (bottom)

Speaking of good hangover food, Esther of e*starLA‘s breakfast burrito ($10), with scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, tater tots, shredded cheese, pico de gallo, avocado and sour cream, looked like it would make a great day-after cure. So would the bottomless bloody marys ($20), which you can spice to your own taste at the restaurant’s bar.

Breakfast burrito

Bloody mary bar

The baked mac and cheese ($7) was creamy underneath the crunch top, which is welcome given the non-creamy mac and cheeses I’ve been having lately (how this is even possible, I’m not sure). The soup of the day ($6), corn chowder, was definitely one of the highlights as it had a spicy kick to it that I wasn’t expecting.

Mac and cheese. Photo by Elise Thompson for LAist.

Corn chowder

My boyfriend, Rory, had the grilled BBQ chicken pizza ($11), which he enjoyed but noted that the crust was different from when he had it not too long before at a later time in the day. This pizza looked like more of a flat bread than a pizza; maybe they changed it?

Grilled BBQ chicken pizza

We also sampled two desserts: the red velvet cake ($10) and the carrot cake ($10). Both were huge slices — definitely made for sharing. I preferred the carrot cake because it was moister.

Red velvet cake

Carrot cake

All in all, Rush Street is a good choice for brunch with hearty food and a laid-back atmosphere. The restaurant also doubles as a sports bar, with a focus on Chicago-area sports teams. But they’ll turn on any game you want — just ask.

• Friday: Get into the fall spirit with a free 12 oz. pumpkin ice blended or latte from The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Oh, and did I mention it’s free? It’s free. I love free!

• Saturday and Sunday: Nurse that hangover with a Brats and Beer special at Rush Street in Culver City. For $10, you’ll get a brat, fries and a PBR. You’ll even have your choice of truffle fries, sweet potato or seasoned tater tots. And if that PBR isn’t strong enough for you, for $20 you can get bottomless mimosas or Bloody Marys (you can even build your own at the restaurant’s Bloody Mary bar).

• Sunday and Monday: 25 Degrees, home to a very tasty burger, now hosts NFL nights with game-time specials of $2.50 cans of PBR, half-off all other beer (which comes out to $3.50), $8 for half dozen and $12 for a dozen wings (either buffalo or spicy soy BBQ), and $10 for a plate of chili cheese fries. And for the rest of the week, 25 Degrees has happy hour deals every day — yes, you read that correctly — from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. (early, I know) of half-off selected wines and cocktails, beer, milkshakes, and side dishes.

• L.A. Sake Festival: With a karaoke room, how can a sake event be bad? On Sunday, Aug. 16, taste from more than 100 sakes, including some in cocktail form, at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. There’s also an introduction to sake class from a pro so you’ll understand what you’re tasting. Or just chug and sing, whatever.  Entrance fee is $50.

• Gnosh Pit at Verdugo Bar: This is where I’ll be Sunday, Aug. 16. The Glassell Park bar will be home to the vegan culinary stylings of Hot Knives, two former line cooks and current food bloggers who will be serving up “pulled pork” sandwiches, curry seitan bahn mi, homemade potato chips, cole slaw, and beer — yes, beer — popsicles. Get the food for about $4 each from 2:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. [Full disclosure: Evan George, one-half of Hot Knives, is a former colleague of mine. No, we didn't work at a restaurant together; we worked at a newspaper. Nuts, I know. So go to this event and support local journalism at the same time supporting local eats!]

So if you’re attending, you’ll have lots of great (and free!) food, drink and take-home goodies to look forward to, all to be enjoyed in the chic setting of the Andaz’s rooftop with its killer views.

You’ll be enjoying bites from the hotel’s restaurant, RH, and desserts from Polkatots cupcakes and Pure cheesecakes. We’re also giving you our own signature cocktails designed by prom committee member Natalie Bovis-Nelsen, aka The Liquid Muse, using liquor sponsors Pinky vodka and Rosangel tequila. We’ve got Martin Miller’s gin, Newcastle’s brand-new DraughtKegs, and wines provided by Fresh & Easy, too.

While you’re enjoying this food and drink, you’ll be able to live blog, stream and tweet by taking advantage of Verizon’s MiFi wireless technology, which creates a personal WiFi cloud for up to five users. Verizon is also providing HP Mini netbooks for us to use, too. Let the geekery commence!

Some of you will also be taking home some awesome raffle prizes — more than 30 in all, which means with 200 guests there are some pretty good odds you’ll be taking one home yourself. There are restaurant gift certificates, including those from Crustacean, Rush Street and Border Grill; other food and drink items, including those from Charles Chocolates, Coffee Bean and Ty Ku Sake; event tickets, including those to The Groundlings, the Comedy Store and ArcLight; and a bunch of other great products, including hair, clothing and video game items. Here’s a full list of the raffle prizes.

And if you don’t score one of these prizes, don’t fret: everyone is going home with a gift bag chock full o’ goodies, including Hungry Card Decks, Extinguishers candy, Hearos and Pretty in Pink earplugs (great for concerts or snoring significant others), Wet personal lubricant (also great for use with significant others…or whatever, we don’t judge), bottles of Pepsi Natural, Sun Chips in compostable bags, and lots of restaurant coupons. There’s a lot more; check out the full list.

And if you have a little too much fun, the Andaz is offering us bloggers a special room rate and RH restaurant credit.

So if you haven’t picked out that perfect outfit yet, get cracking! See you soon!

• Rush Street: Visit Chicago via Culver City this Independence Day weekend and partake in food and drink specials. Friday has $5 Jack Daniel’s drinks (from 10:00 p.m. to close); Saturday has specials on all domestic beers and hot dogs, lamb lollipops and spicy glazed ribs (all day!); and Sunday has $6 mojitos (from 9:00 p.m. to close).

• Le Merigot Hotel: In the courtyard of this JW Marriott in Santa Monica you’ll find upscale BBQ food, i.e., organic fingerling potato salad, kobe beef hot dogs, sweet white corn on the cob with ancho chili lime butter, etc., on July 4 from 11:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Cost is $35 for adults, $17.50 for kids 12 and under.

• The Resort at Pelican Hill: For a fancy way to celebrate our country’s birth, hit up Pelican Hill in Newport Beach. For $250 (yeah, I know) you can get a round of golf, either breakfast or lunch, and a $25 gift certificate for the resort’s golf shop. Fancy, indeed.