First-Rate Dining at Third-Rate Prices

The cruel paradox of living in the restaurant capital of the United States is that the vast majority of those restaurants are far too expensive for most New Yorkers to enjoy. Few of us can afford to drop a hundred dollars or more on a tasting menu. That’s why, twice a year, New York’s aspiring yet penniless foodies rejoice at the arrival of NYC Restaurant Week.

Restaurant Week actually takes place for two weeks, from Jan. 21 to 25, and Jan. 28 to Feb. 1. During this time, a dazzling menagerie of restaurants, including some of the most splendid in the city, offer special prix fixe menus of $24.07 for lunch and $35 for dinner—drinks, tax and gratuity not included. It’s an extraordinary opportunity for students to sample something beyond the usual Morningside Heights dreck for not much more than the price of a lunch and a dinner in John Jay. Terrace in the Sky, a pricey, high profile restaurant on West 119th Street, is participating, for those who do not wish to venture downtown.

The common assumption about Restaurant Week is that these prix fixe menus are nothing more than chefs cynically cleaning out their walk-in refrigerators and foisting reheated kitchen scraps on the plebs. The truth is quite the reverse: Restaurant Week is as much an opportunity for restaurants as it is for customers. Christmas is the boom season for the New York hospitality industry, but in midwinter, business bottoms out. Restaurants use these weeks as a jump-start for business, hoping to attract new customers. Restaurant Week recurs in summer for the same reason.

It is in the best interest of the participating restaurants to put their best foot forward, so while they may not be showering us in white truffles and kobe beef carpaccio, their prix fixe menus are superb. They save money by buying in bulk and keeping the menus limited, with two or three choices for each of two or three courses, depending on the restaurant. There is nothing skimpy about those courses, though. One inevitably walks away from a Restaurant Week meal a bit heavier in the belly, but not too much lighter in the wallet.

It should be mentioned that some of the jewels of the New York scene do $25-or-under weekday lunches year-round, including Tribeca Grill, Asiate, the Carlyle, Vong and most importantly, the four-star Jean Georges (most of Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s restaurants, in fact). But none of these, with the exception of Vong, offer such a remarkable bargain for dinner, so jump on the opportunity this week and next week.

Spectator recommends: Asiate, Gramercy Tavern, 21 Club, Aureole, Union Square Cafe, Del Posto, and Eleven Madison Park. And be sure to get a reservation soon, because slots are filling fast.

Visit the Web site and make reservations at www.nycvisit.com/RestaurantWeek.