New York City’s 29th prix fixe dining event, NYC Restaurant Week, should really be called NYC Restaurant Month. This year, in deference to the evolving outdoor dining, indoor dining and takeout/delivery situation, the newly renamed NYC Restaurant Week® To Go has been extended through the end of February. You still have plenty of time to try out some of the fascinating cuisines featured in neighborhoods all over the city without ever leaving your home, all for the low price of $20.21 per meal.
No Passport Needed: Around the World
If you’ve been lamenting not dining at Union Square Hospitality Group’s popular restaurants, you’ll be happy that Union Square Café, Blue Smoke, Marta and Gramercy Tavern have all ponied up for Restaurant Week® To Go. Happily, now-closed Blue Smoke has two of their signature BBQ items available: pulled pork and Texas beef brisket. Grab them while you can.
Simple but decidedly Brooklyn in inspo, Concord Hill brings you Chef Guy Kairi’s locally sourced, wild caught fish with a side of truffled fingerling potatoes. Ask for one of the New American restaurant’s signature cocktail infusions to go.
Midtown East’s glamorous and kosher UN Plaza Grill is a popular stop for UN delegates as well as neighborhood residents. Diners can choose either the Plaza Burger with homemade BBQ sauce or chicken paillard with a Mediterranean couscous chopped salad. Please note, the restaurant is closed on Friday and Saturday until dinner.
Chef Amanda’s Cohens plant-powered burger restaurant, Lekka Burger, has just what you need for settling in with your boo on a snowy evening. Curated from the TriBeCa restaurant’s menu favorites, you’ll get a signature Lekka burger, broccolini Caesar salad, French fries and a milkshake in your choice of flavor.
CS DAK by Cuisine Solutions, New York’s first Dark Assembly Kitchen showcasing sous vide cuisine, is partnering with City Harvest for Restaurant Week® to Go. Under the direction of Chef Sean Wheaton, the team will donate a meal to City Harvest for every meal sold, helping to support the organization’s work rescuing food for New Yorkers in need. CS DAK is very generous to you as well, offering a culinary trip around the world with five chef-curated choices including roasted cod, petit beef tender, chicken breast, Mexican-style tamarind glazed pork ribs and Berkshire pork belly, all with a range of creative sides.
I’m in the Mood for Italian
Mario’s Restaurant on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx is as Italian as you can get. The 102-year-old Belmont fave serves up chicken cutlet parmigiana, chicken Francese, veal cutlet parmigiana, veal marsala, linguini with white or red clam sauce, ravioli, or fillet of sole Napoletana or oreganata, all with appropriate sides or salad. Ask for a bottle of Chianti to accompany.
Leonelli Restaurant & Bar will keep you cozy with cuisine from Michelin-starred chef Jonathan Benno’s (Lincoln Ristorante) trattoria in the Evelyn Hotel. A polenta baguette, eggplant parmesan or lasagna verde Bolognese, and almond biscotti make a great spread while you tune into another season of The Crown. Or with this, you might want to consider re-watching The Sopranos.
Tribeca’s Gran Morsi is offering one of the most extensive Italian selections for Restaurant Week with pizza, nine pastas and many contorni. Try the unusual busiate cacio e pepe or the spaghetti limone for something you might not find elsewhere. For your side, polpette or truffle arancini are a must.
So Many Asian Cuisines
Chef Christine Lau’s new Japanese-Italian fusion restaurant, Kimika, offers a Menchi Katsu version of a burger combining 30-day dry aged beef, fried mozzarella, shaved cabbage and pickled onion, served with a side of duck fat-fried potatoes. Pretend you’re sipping at the NoLita bar with innovative alcoholic and zero-proof cocktails like “Not a Rum and Coke” with rum, amaro, sherry and Prosecco; or the zero-proof “Basil Cobbler,” a combo of Seedlip Spice, basil, cranberry and other flavors.
Tiger Lily Kitchen highlights Michelle Morgan’s health-conscious, gluten-free Asian dishes. The soon-to-be-permanent restaurant features appetizers including vegetable summer rolls, Japanese kabocha squash soup, or tofu bites with chili-spiced garlic chips. Mains offer a choice of lemongrass roast chicken, grilled Koji marinated salmon or vegetarian coconut curry with tofu.
As close as you can be to Japan now, Tokyo export Torien in NoHo is offering a range of yakitori bento boxes including Yakitori- Soboro Bento with sauteed minced chicken, nori seaweed and egg; an all-veggie Yaki-Yasai Bento with Torien’s custom spice blend; or a Grilled Vegan Vegetables Box. Sides are a choice of toridashi chicken soup or vegetable broth. The yakitori counter’s skewers are prepared over a custom grill uskng charcoal imported from Japan.
From Long Island City, Little Chef Little Café’s three-course meal includes a starter beverage choice of housemade iced ginger tea, basil lemonade or rosemary limeade. Highlights on Chef Diana Manalang’s Filipino menu are the adventurous Sinigang, a Filipino tamarind-based soup with tomatoes, potatoes, tofu, green beans and bok choy; or a rice bowl with garlic fried rice and topped with chicken adobo, pork adobo or vegan Ginataang (vegetables sauteed in coconut milk and topped with spicy pickled pineapple). Dessert is a traditional Filipino comfort treat, Biko, a coconut rice cake.
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