Foodies, Get Your Forks Ready! It’s Restaurant Week (er, Restaurant Month) Again in New York City through February 12

This year 515 restaurants are giving foodies a chance to enjoy some deep discounts while tucking into wonderful chef creations. Offering two-course lunch (starter and main, or main and dessert) and three course dinner (appetizer, entrée, dessert) prix fixe menus priced at $30, $45 and $60 with some variations, these New York City eateries invite you to sample their culinary wizardry without breaking the bank. Fortunately, the “week” lasts until mid-February so you have time to choose. Check the details as some meals are only offered on certain days. And, no worries, none of these will give you an experience like the one “enjoyed” by invited guests at Le Menu — you can still order a hamburger at some, no strings attached.

Here are 23 exceptional choices for your consideration for Winter Restaurant Week 2023.

David Burke Tavern’s three-course Restaurant Week dinner is priced low at $45, offered Tuesday through Sunday. You’ll be able to try Burke’s signature entrees like DB brined and roasted chicken with toasted faro, wild mushrooms and kale; and wild mushroom ravioli with its intriguing combination flavor profile of parmesan, sage, pomegranate and chocolate balsamic. All can be complemented by a selection from the special Restaurant Week $40 wine list. Three sides are also being offered for a reduced price of $15. The restaurant offers a $30 two-course lunch Restaurant Week menu as well.

New York City has recently announced the arrival of the Tin Building, the sprawling culinary marketplace at The Seaport brought to life by Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. Weekly lunch specials can be found at four of the building’s new restaurants: T. Brasserie, a French brasserie; The Frenchman’s Dough, where freshly made pizzas and pastas are served daily; House of the Red Pearl, a sexy fine dining restaurant serving Chinese-inspired dishes; and Seeds and Weeds, a sustainable and artisanal plant-based eatery focusing on using the fresh ingredients of the day. Seeds and Weeds also offers a Restaurant Week dinner.

Nearby, set in the heart of the Seaport with stunning river views, The Fulton serves up Restaurant Week lunch and dinner menus featuring the celebratory-feeling petit seafood plateau of oysters, shrimp cocktail and sashimi; and mains such as ume sesame crusted salmon. And, here’s where you can order a French take on a hamburger, Fulton’s Gruyère cheeseburger au jus.

How about a movie with your specially priced dinner?  Mercado Little Spain from superstar chef Jose Andres is hosting Monday Movie Nights on the big screen at Spanish Diner, extending beyond the end of Restaurant Week until February 27. Grab some complimentary popcorn and settle in to watch a selection of Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar movies while munching on Spanish Diner’s beloved huevos rotos (broken eggs) and fricando de ternera (traditional Catalan beef stew). Movies are shown at 7:30pm with a lineup of Bad Education, Volver, Parallel Mothers, All About My Mother, Julieta and Matador. Come prepared to read subtitles and have a great time. Not enough evening entertainment? On Thursday evenings from 6-8pm, Mercado Little Spain is bringing in street performers who will roam the market space.

You can’t find a prettier place to dine at than Tavern on the Green. Tavern’s $45 lunch includes a choice of appetizers such as Tavern black bean soup, baby spinach salad and grilled portobello mushroom flatbread. Entrées include pan-roasted medallions of monkfish and Angus skirt steak. For just $15 more, you can enjoy a lovely dinner including additional appetizer choices like caramelized garlic shrimp and a three-leaf salad. Dinner offerings include hearth-baked Chatham codfish and mustard-crusted organic chicken breast. For dessert, there’s New York cheesecake, warm apple crisp and carrot cake.

Who doesn’t want to enjoy a cocktail tasting with their Restaurant Week special? Piggyback, sibling to the Lower East Side’s Pig and Khao by Chef Leah Cohen, is an Asian-inspired gastropub in Chelsea. Tuesday through Friday, diners can enjoy a three-course lunch prix fixe menu for $28 or a three-course dinner experience for $60 from Tuesday through Saturday. In addition, a vegetarian prix fixe dinner option is offered for $50 per person. Highlights include lumpia Shanghai, Malaysian fried chicken and sticky toffee cake. For those not observing Dry January or if you’re dining in February, Piggyback also offers a cocktail tasting for $32 per person.

Whisky drinkers can add a flight of spirits to their meal at The Grid at Great Jones Distilling Co. At this restaurant within Manhattan’s first whiskey distillery since Prohibition, you’ll enjoy a three-course prix fixe menu along with a Great Jones Distilling Co. whiskey flight of three signature whiskies, all for only $45. The menu takes advantage of the season with mushrooms in their porcini mushroom veloute appetizer and the forest mushroom fusilli. Dessert is a fabulous sticky toffee pudding that blends perfectly with a whiskey. This is also the home of another delicious NYC burger, served with Great Jones bourbon and bacon jam. There’s no way to lose here!

Baar Baar, a modern Indian gastro pub located in the East Village, offers a well-priced opportunity to sample Chef Sarkar’s homage to regional Indian cuisine. For Restaurant Week, the restaurant has put together a three-course dinner for $45, Monday through Friday and Sunday. There are many exotic choices to tempt you to be adventurous including pork belly or lamb keema Hyderabadi to start, beef short rib curry or bronzini Paturi with Bengal mustard cream for mains, and carrot halwa cake with phirni mousse and saffron-pistachio ice cream for dessert. As a bonus, you also get a canape and choice of side.

Inspired by the rich culinary traditions of the Mediterranean, talented Chef John Fraser explores the cuisine of the Aegean at IRIS, drawing upon his Greek heritage and admiration for Turkish cuisine. The special menus include the likes of delicata squash flatbread or grilled octopus with candied citrus to start, moussaka and branzino fillet entrees, and fig sorbet and pistachio baklava for dessert. The restaurant’s wine program covers Turkey and Greece offering an extensive e selection of vintages from the two countries as well as from other areas of the world. IRIS is perfectly located for those planning to attend a performance at Carnegie Hall or a Broadway play.

Moving from the Mediterranean to France, La Marchande is Chef Fraser’s modernized take on the French brasserie in a FiDi location convenient for those working in the Wall Street area. Signature dishes show off Fraser’s global dexterity with French onion dumplings in mushroom consommé, hanger steak with shiso chimichurri sauce, and apple tarte tatin for dessert.

Brooklyn’s Fandi Mata is a bi-level, industrial space featuring a Mediterranean-inspired menu. Specials here are a $60 three-course menu and $30 bottle of wine. The menu features appetizers such as spice-crusted tuna topped with ginger Champagne sauce and tahini, and burrata and heirloom tomato salad with spiced date jam, mint, pistachio and pea sprouts. For your mains, creative dishes include ribeye with bone marrow with black pepper sauce, lamb tagine, branzino en papillote, or one of Fandi Mata’s signature pizzas. Dessert is a surprise – it’s the chef’s selection.

Have you been dying to see the inside of the new David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center? Here’s the perfect restaurant for your pre-concert or post-concert dinner. Onsite Lincoln Ristorante presents an authentic Italian feast for $60. Choose among burrata, frito misto, or a romaine salad with anchovy-garlic dressing to start your meal. For your entree, order the gnocco alla romana with oxtail and shitakes. You can also opt for spaghetti cacio e pepe served with shaved cured egg yolk. Finish with a sweet warm pear and raisin crostata with grappa caramel or pinola al chocolate.

If Mexican is your preference, you won’t be lacking for choices at IXTA, the Mexican Cocina and Mezcal Bar on the Bowery. The restaurant offer an elevated twist on the traditional flavors of Oaxacan cuisine for $60. Choices include guacamole and flautas dorados to begin, followed by half organic roasted chicken with housemade mole poblano and sesame, braised short ribs, or enchiladas divorciadas. For dessert, you’d be remiss if you didn’t order the restaurant’s fabulous tres leche cake.

For some delicious fun in Times Square, The Mermaid Oyster Bar is participating with Chef Michael Cressotti’s well-priced, $35 lunch menu and $45 dinner menu. First-course choices include fried Point Judith calamari with hot peppers, lemon and Old Bay aioli; “Dressed” Naked Cowboy oysters (every visitor to Times Square knows him!) with ponzu sesame and nori; or smoked salmon “Niçoise” with haricot vert, cooked egg and cured olive vinaigrette. Entrees include blackened fish tacos with pico de gallo, cilantro crème and slaw; and mussels Fra Diavolo with crushed tomatoes, Calabrian chili and arugula. Add a sweet finish to your meal with a Key Lime tart or salted caramel soft-serve ice cream.

Über-prolific Chef Shaun Hergatt offers an elegant take on Restaurant Week at his Michelin-starred restaurant, Vestry, with a three-course dinner menu for $60, Monday through Friday. Starters include Carnaroli rice risotto with saffron, tomato confit and pine nuts; or celeriac soup with hot panna cotta, parmesan tuile and extra virgin olive oil. Entree options such as potato gnocchi with wild mushrooms, vin jaune and chives; and Wagyu beef with shitake mushrooms, potato purée and miso-mustard are offered. Dessert choices include Guanaja chocolate with passionfruit and cacao nibs, and homemade cheesecake with honey crisp apple.

Beloved midtown Japanese MIFUNE will be offering a three-course dinner for Restaurant Week. Also a Michelin-starred restaurant, MIFUNE focuses on Neo-Washoku cooking, with the chefs’ signature style an infusion of French culinary techniques and flavors into Japanese cuisine. The typically omakase menu changes for each seating but is sure to be a standout.

Notch the class quotient up at Dowling’s at The Carlyle with special lunch and dinner menus. Chef Sylvain Delpique’s menus include choices such as carrot-coconut soup with pumpkin seeds, mint and basil oil; and tuna tartare with avocado, lemon cream and taro chips. Vegetarian s can choose roasted acorn squash with curried pepper sauce for their main course while omnivores can pick from Faroe Island poached salmon with horseradish cream and asparagus, chicken paillard or lobster Caesar salad. This is where you can also have an exquisite burger, Carlyle style. At dinner, the entrees shine with Peking duck and Steak Diane flambéed with cognac. For a sweet finish, don’t miss the restaurant’s lovely crepes Suzette served tableside or their raspberry soufflé for dinner. That’s true class.

One of my favorite “finds,” Harlem’s Archer & Goat draws culinary inspiration from the husband-wife owners’ Latin American and South Asian heritages with a menu built around flavors and ingredients from Puerto Rico, Ecuador and Bangladesh. Their three-course $30 dinner is a true bargain and is available Thursday, Friday and Sunday. Try the elaborately prepared crispy Brussel sprouts with cilantro chimichurri and pickled chilis; roasted carrots with tamarind chutney, sesame seeds and dill; arugula salad with spicy chickpeas, tomatoes, cucumbers, and pickled red onions for starters. Follow with Goan shrimp curry or vegetable curry with turmeric rice, zucchini and cabbage slaw; chicken Vindaloo arepas with cucumber raita and cotija cheese; or vegetarian-friendly portobello mushroom arepas with cilantro chimichurri. For dessert, the “chef-wouldn’t-give-me-the-recipe” flan de Celeste with rose whipped cream is a knockout.

Steak lovers aren’t left out. Benjamin Steakhouse serves a $45 weekday lunch menu items including, wedge salad classic Caesar salad, junior New York sirloin, grilled Norwegian salmon, New York cheesecake and more. On weekdays also, the restaurant’s special dinner menu, priced at $60, lets you choose from more steakhouse favorites like fried calamari, sizzling Canadian bacon, filet mignon, chicken parmesan and carrot cake.

Making sure there’s something for everyone, clubby Merchants Cigar Bar on the Upper East Side is participating in Restaurant Week at their midcentury-styled lounge. To celebrate, in addition to their every day menu, the cigar bar presents a special dinner for $60 including deviled eggs, chicken lollipops, short rib pumpkin ravioli, garlic-ginger prawns, strip steak, lava chocolate cake and more.

The full list of restaurants can be found at nycgo.com.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 23rd, 2023 at 1:18 pm and is filed under Stuff to Do. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.