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January is a slow time for Broadway (check out Broadway Week!), hotels and many of our favorite restaurants. Enter Restaurant Week and its return for winter 2020, running from January 21st through February 9th. The bi-annual event features hundreds of restaurants across all five boroughs and is a great way to try some of New York’s fine dining destinations. We’ve selected some of our favorite spots where you can sample an array of dishes and have fun doing so. At all of the following spots, you can expect limited-time, pre-fixe menus that give you plenty of wiggle room for experimentation. Reservations will be taken starting January 8th.
At all the following participating restaurants, deals run as follows:
Mon-Fri: Lunch - $26
Mon-Fri: Dinner - $42
Sun: Brunch/Lunch - $26
Sun: Dinner - $42
Red Rooster
Cuisine: Southern
Why go: Celebrated chef Marcus Samuelsson’s homage to Harlem with hearty comfort foods.
Menu highlights: Deviled eggs with black eyed peas mayo, a Junteenth-inspired noodle soup and the yardbird with succotash and gravy.
Barbounia
Cuisine: Mediterranean
Why go: A warm environment outfitted with ivy, throw pillows and candlelight near Union Square.
Menu highlights: Lamb shoulder shawarma, wild salmon ceviche and roasted beet hummus.
Junoon
Cuisine: Indian
Why go: Experimental Indian dishes that get cooked in a fire pit, on stone and in cast-iron.
Menu highlights: Lobster tandoori, Cornish hen with pomegranate and lamb shoulder with papaya juice.
MIFUNE New York
Cuisine: Japanese
Why go: This isn’t your typical ramen joint or corner sushi restaurant. Executive chefs Yuu Shimano and Tomohiro Shimano come from a fine-dining background and their menu shows it: the Restaurant Week lunch options include duck leg partmentier and stewed beef curry. For dinner, there’s cauliflower potage soup and even hojicha blanc-mange for dessert.
Menu highlights: Chirashi sushi and sashimi box, housemade mushroom tofu, matcha crème brulée
Antica Pesa
Cuisine: Italian
Why go: A look at modern Roman food in Williamsburg.
Menu highlights: The crispy fava bean salad, roast beef with red wine demi glacé and tiramisu.
Elea
Cuisine: Greek
Why go: This softly-lit restaurant could easily make you feel as if you’ve been transported to Greece with dishes you’d find from various islands. You’ll find plenty of seafood options and dips that have thinking about how good the food is than the popularity of the so-called Mediterranean diet.
Menu highlights: Salmon tartare, lamb chops, lavraki (filet of Mediterranean sea bass)
Fish Cheeks
Cuisine: Thai
Why go: Some of the city’s most exciting seafood isn’t freshly-shucked oysters or crab rolls. At this colorful and pleasant spot on historic cobblestoned Bond Street you can get a taste of coastal seafood in a procession of comforting Thai dishes. (And we liked it enough to include it as one of the vendors at Time Out Market New York!)
Menu highlights: Their sensational crab curry
Benoit Restaurant & Wine Bar
Cuisine: French
Why go: Executive chef Laetitia Rouabah gives classic French cooking a seasonal twist while sticking to tradition.
Menu highlights: Deviled egg mimosa, roasted pork belly, hazelnut-almond millefeuille.
Riverpark
Cuisine: Modern American
Why go: Tom Colicchio’s waterfront restaurant takes the farm-to-table trend to another level: there’s an urban farm (about the size of a 15,000-square-foot office building) next to the restaurant. You’ll find popular dishes from the nearly decade-old eatery to newer dishs from executive chef Andrew Smith.
Menu highlights: Maple Brook Farm burratini, Zucca (housemade pasta with pumpkin ragu), smoked brisket
Buttermilk Channel
Cuisine: Southern
Why go: The cozy bistro vibes here make the space feel like every season is cuffing season. But the comfort food with some upscale touches makes the restaurant a worthy destination for any number of occasions.
Menu highlights: Buttermilk fried chicken, duck meatloaf, whole grilled fish