Winter Restaurant Week in New York

We’re about to enter the second week of the Winter Restaurant Week in New York, and Alan and I sampled one of the restaurants we haven’t tried yet last night, BRASSERIE RUHLMANN.  I had written previously about the Midyear Restaurant Week last year where I gave my recommendations, and I urge you to try any of those restaurants as well as this latest addition to my favorites.

When Alan and I go for Restaurant Week, we try to look specifically at the more high end restaurants where we can go for a sampling without splurging on a fancy meal.  The way Restaurant week works, participating restaurants serve lunch for $24.07 and dinner for $35.00.  It still comes out pricey if you take into account that the meal does not include beverages and taxes, (last night’s bill came to almost $120.00 which saw Alan drinking two glasses of Cotes du Rhone, an espresso, and my two diet cokes.  But the meal was definitely more than worth it. 

It helps that Open Table lists the restaurants by name, neighborhood, cuisine, price in dollar signs ($$ to $$$$) and whether the restaurant participates for Lunch, Dinner or both.  Most of the pricier restaurants, however, participate only for lunch, presumably because they want to reserve their inventory for dinner for full paying customers, but if you are ever in the neighborhood during Restaurant Week, all the participating restaurants are well worth a try.

Alan and I did one of two choices for the appetizer and dessert, but for the entree, I went for the Tarragon Vinegar Chicken Fricasee and Alan had the Beef Hamburger.  It was a great meal, the ambience as expected was warm, cozy and romantic even — and the service superb, quick and efficient.

We’ll try to do another one before Restaurant Week is done — but if not, I’m all excited about our Valentine date this year. =)