Despite the economy, local restaurants fare quite well during San Diego Restaurant Week. San Diego’s culinary showcase returns for its fifth installment Sunday, Sept. 13 to Friday, Sept. 18. More than 180 participating restaurants, a record for the event, across the county will offer $20, $30 and $40 three-course, prix-fix menus, allowing diners to enjoy fine food on fixed funds.    “Everyone realizes it’s tough economic times. You have to offer even more value,” said Lehn Goetz, owner of Café Coyote and president of the San Diego chapter of the California Restaurant Association. Goetz said that San Diego has come to have one of the top restaurant week promotions in the nation, attracting an estimated 200,000 diners over the six-day event. Goetz said he believes that San Diego restaurants have not been hit as hard by the recession as other markets such as Las Vegas, but he added that events that promote eating out are still greatly beneficial. This year, Restaurant Week has been held as a biannual event, with another having been held in January.  The face of this year’s restaurant week is San Diego’s Sam the Cooking Guy, Sam Zien. “I’m all about people cooking for themselves,” said Zien, who was asked to serve as the spokesman for Restaurant Week and hosts the cooking show of the same name. “But I’m also the first to say there’s stuff you don’t want to make or can’t take the time to make but you still want to try. (Restaurant Week) is giving you a reason to do it.” Zien has also shot a series of vignettes for the show’s website on how to eat like a pro and to be more adventurous in your food and an etiquette short on being kind to your server. Participants include casual eateries such as Point Loma’s Corvette diner and Nick’s at the Pier in Ocean Beach and more formal establishments such as La Jolla’s Marine Room and Nine-Ten restaurant as well as beach-area favorites such as JRDN restaurant and the Fishery.    “While the pricier restaurants sell out very fast because there’s an impression of greater value,” said Zien, “I think you should go eat out where you want to.” San Diego Restaurant Week is sponsored by the California Restaurant Association’s San Diego chapter, a group of 1,500 local restaurants that meet to promote the business, share information on practices and raise money for charity.  Not only does Restaurant Week serve to highlight the city’s finest restaurants. In the past, it’s been very good for business, packing out eateries during slower weeknights (events run Sundays through Fridays), in a slower time of the year, at the end of tourist season.  Event organizers have also launched a new website that allows visitors to select a restaurant according to price, location or variety. The site also gives complete menu listings and brief restaurant profiles, and when you sign up for the newsletter, you are entered in a contest to win dinner out every weekend for a year. No special tickets or passes are required. However, reservations are strongly recommended and can be made by calling the restaurants directly or by visiting www.sandiego-restaurantweek.com.