Cleveland Restaurant Week leads our Picks of the Weekend

Every Friday, Scene calendar editor Cris Glaser provides a random but reliable sampling of things to do this weekend. For more options, log onto entertainment.clevescene.com. And check back Monday for C-Notes' Picks of the Week. Friday: If you’re kinda cheap and totally ADD, we’ve got a play for you: See 11 plays for the price of one at the Fine Arts Association’s 12th annual Hot From the Oven à la Carte. The fest of one-act shows includes entries from as far as Australia, like Alex Broun’s Blog, about the debate over freedom of speech versus public-forum opinions. Gerry Sheriden’s Vacation is about going on an adventure with a spouse. And Cleveland’s own Steve Maistros has scripted The Process, about a playwright who asks for help from his characters to help him write the dialogue. The best part is that none of the plays lasts more than 10 minutes. The festival starts at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays through Saturday, March 8, at Fine Arts’ complex, 38660 Mentor Avenue in Willoughby. Tickets cost $18 and $20; call 440-951-7500. Saturday: The country’s most ornery bovines stampede the Q for the annual World’s Toughest Bulls and Broncs tour. The competition is broken down into four categories: bareback riding, bullriding, saddlebronc, and ladies’ barrel-racing. Look for Oklahoma’s Bobby Griswold to defend his title in the saddlebronc division. The action starts at 7:30 p.m. at Quicken Loans Arena www.theqarena.com, 100 Gateway Plaza. Tickets cost between $17 and $39, available by calling 216-241-2121. Sunday: Pull up a seat and tuck in your napkin. This is the start of Cleveland’s first-ever Restaurant Week, with 43 downtown dining hotspots plating up three-course meals for as little as $20 each through Sunday, March 1. For each dinner you order, you’ll be entered in a drawing to score 12 restaurant gift certificates, a personal cooking class with one of Cleveland’s foremost chefs, and an overnight stay at either the Crowne Plaza or Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Call Downtown Cleveland Alliance at 216-736-7799 or visit www.cleveland.com/restaurantweek for a list of restaurants taking part in the deal.