Restaurant Week

One of our viewers emailed about "what's the deal with Restaurant Week" in a Seinfeld-ian voice. First off for those who do not know, Restaurant Week is actually 2 weeks where 200 NYC restaurants charge $24.07 for a 3 course lunch or $35 for a 3 course dinner. I thinks it's a great concept and definitely good for the city, but I usually do not partake.

Reasons:
1) Most of the interesting restaurants to me are only available for lunch Mon-Fri - e.g. A Voce, Aureole, etc.
2) This week is difficult to get reservations at any of these places for lunch. I remember they used to be booked 3 weeks in advance.
3) The restaurant week menu is usually not a great representation of the real restaurant. They gotta make money, so you might be getting second grade stuff.
4) There are great deals available all year round - you just gotta look for them.
Examples:
-Jean Georges - lunch menu same as the dinner menu, 2 courses $28
-Nougatine (connected to Jean Georges) - 3 course lunch $24
-Sushi Yasuda - $21 pre-fixe dinner

If I had to recommend "restaurant week" places for dinner, here they are based on places I want to try or places I've been...

• Anthos (Greek)
  
• Alfama (Portugese)
• Aquavit Cafe (Scandanavian)
• Chinatown Brasserie (Chinese)
• Compass (New American)
• En Japanese Brasserie (Japanese - decent place, but cheap enough where you don't need a deal)
• I Trulli (Italian)
• Mai House (Vietnamese)
• Megu (Japanese)
• Payard (French)
• Perry Street (New American)