The director of Visit Carmel readies for the first Carmel Culinary Week.

For Amy Herzog, the idea of a Carmel Culinary Week makes perfect sense. The executive director of Visit Carmel – a nonprofit marketing organization for the city – points out that food is one of the top drivers when it comes to travel decisions and adds, “Carmel has a high concentration of quality restaurants in a small area.” The inaugural Carmel Culinary Week takes place Jan. 19-26.

Weekly: Have you managed to eat at every restaurant in Carmel?

Herzog: I’ve eaten at almost all of them, with the notable exception of Aubergine. It sounds like it’s an experience – a combination of food, experience and art. Aubergine is one of the reasons we decided to call it Culinary Week instead of Restaurant Week. Aubergine is a symbol of what’s happening in Carmel. For a small town, we have a culinary story to tell.

Is it difficult to pull such a big event together?

We have a restaurant management committee with a lot of good people on it – high-profile, forward-thinking people. This event is their vision. The state recognized January as California Restaurant Month. How can Carmel not be a part of restaurant month? Let’s create an event that reflects Carmel’s culinary brand. Their involvement really helped.

What do you expect?

We’re feeling really positive about it. One cool component is that people will download a mobile passport. You present the passport and the server checks you in. It enters you into a grand prize drawing each time. We have 527 people entered [as of Jan. 10].

Is marketing Carmel as easy as it seems?

Visit Carmel is lucky. Carmel has so much going for it. But tourism marketing in California is extremely competitive. We need to market smart and thoughtful and maintain consistency. We have a wonderful product, but it takes strategic planning and funding.