Restaurant Week: Weak or Worth it?

In the 17 years since Restaurant Week began in New York City as a perk for the delegates to the 1992 Democratic national convention and then became a semi-annual event, I had never eaten a Restaurant Week meal…until this week. Jonathan Tisch helped convince me.

Restaurant Week (which was expanded to three weeks this summer, from July 12 to July 31st) offers “a dining experience” at “a bargain price” according to Tisch, the head of the multibillion dollar Loew’s Corporation, writing in The Huffington Post. Tisch pointed out that it contributes to the economy, and even helps feed the hungry, since a portion of proceeds go to City Harvest. “It’s the Power of We at work,” he wrote, which made no sense to me until I learned that was the title of a book he wrote.

It’s an idea that has clearly taken off. There are now Restaurant Weeks, at more or less the same time, in both Baltimore and Bethesda/Chevy Chase, Maryland as well as Houston, downtown Atlanta, Dayton, Ohio, Miami, Florida and, August 24th to August 30th, Washington D.C., in addition to many other locations.

The price of a Restaurant Week lunch at any of the more than 250 participating restaurants in New York City this year is set at $24.07. This price (which does not include drinks, tax or tip) is largely but not completely arbitrary; it is not based on anything like a cost-benefit analysis but on being cute. In 1992, it was $19.92; when they were trying to promote New York as the site of the 2012 Olympics, it was $20.12. This year, it is $24.07, because New York City is open 24/7. For dinner it is $35. (Tisch didn’t say what 35 represents).

This might not seem like such a bargain given the tough times. (An appropriate bargain would be to make the price $9.50, to match the unemployment rate.) But as we’ve seen, there is a price to be paid when we turn the basic necessities of life – food, clothing and shelter – into the fickle urban fads of fashion, real estate and the culinary arts. The promise of Restaurant Week is that the cost of the meal is less than it would otherwise be, and that the special Restaurant Week three-course menus make it a particular value.

Besides, there are a few added incentives – you get a $15 credit if you charge three Restaurant Week meals on your American Express card; if you make your reservations using OpenTable.com (not just during Restaurant Week) you get reward points which eventually lead to “dining cheques.”

I decided for my first Restaurant Week meal, I would try SushiSamba, because I had passed this restaurant on my way home nearly every day for the past ten years without once entering the place. I’m not sure why this is so, except that it advertises itself as both Japanese and Brazilian, and one of my culinary rules of thumb ever since I got sick after eating at a Cuban-Chinese diner has been to avoid any restaurant that offers two different national cuisines.

I made the reservation at OpenTable (100 reward points) and, as instructed, reported to the maitre d’, who greeted me cheerily by name! I was less astonished when I realized there were only two other people in the restaurant. I asked for the Restaurant Week menu, which included three choices of appetizers, three choices of entrée, and two choices of dessert. Maybe I just picked wrong, but the Tuna Tiradito was swimming unpleasantly in citrus, the salmon was fatty and drenched in (barbecue?) sauce, the potatoes were extra greasy. But the dessert was memorable: Choco Duo, they called it, with the smoothness of dark and white chocolate custard layered atop the crunchiness of hazelnut croquant. I thought that maybe I should just have forgotten about the Restaurant Week menu when I saw that the regular menu had a bento box lunch special for $14. Zagat’s rates the food at SushiSamba a 22, which is relatively high, so what do I know?

I decided I didn’t know enough, and enlisted the help of a friend who is a professional foodie. Diane Iocolano grew up in her father’s restaurant in New Jersey (she still makes manicotti for him on Fridays), is now a chef in Manhattan, and diligently follows all the best food blogs, both local (such as Eater, Grub Street and the Strong Buzz by Andrea Strong) and national (Epicurious and Serious Eats), as well as all the top food magazines (Gourmet, Bon Appetit, Food and Wine, Saveur, Fine Cooking). She also finds time to eat out regularly and knowledgeably.

A commentator on an Eater post recently said that the worst thing about Restaurant Week “are the idiots it brings out” who don’t belong because they tip poorly, are rude to the wait-staff and are “expecting perfection at $24.07.” I read this and thought we were on a different planet, though I wasn’t sure which of us inhabits Planet Earth. In any case, I was glad that Diane agreed to come along.

She looked at the list and offered 13 suggestions, along with various reasons for each (10 Downing “because it’s new and hot and my 22-year-old client told me yesterday it’s a place her friends hang out, though that’s probably a reason not to go.”) We couldn’t get reservations for several of them until after Restaurant Week. We eventually landed on A Voce, “because I use to like it but the chef left – he’s now at Locanda Verde – and I haven’t been there since the new chef started.”

There were again three choices of appetizers, three of entrée, two for dessert. I tried the gnocchi and nervously offered my opinion. “It’s buttery,” I said. “I was just going to say that,” she said, and I beamed.

“Is that good or bad?” I asked.

“Well, it tastes good.”

“It’s salty too,” I added.

“I know.”

“Is that good or bad?”

“I like salty,” she said. “The gnocchi is very light,” she observed approvingly, made from ricotta rather than potato.

Even better was the grilled calamari, resting on a bed of summer beans mixed with lemon and almonds. “I love the summer beans, especially the almonds,” she said. “These are decent-sized starters too.” The entrees, duck and sea bass, were successful, and so was the dessert, especially the torta di polenta, a polenta cake with peaches.

It did seem to be a value, especially since the cheapest item I remember seeing on the regular menu was plain spaghetti for $19. “You don’t know what the regular portion sizes are, though,” she said. But we both agreed this was a satisfying meal, and it came to about half the price of A Voce’s regular lunch.

Diane had never had a Restaurant Week meal before. “I don’t want to be restricted just to what they’re offering.” Still, a few days later she, her husband Mark and I checked out Anthos. We wanted to see if a Restaurant Week dinner is also worth it. The food was good, an innovative take on Greek cuisine. Everybody from maitre d’ to busboy was friendly; they added some free appetizers (“We want you back.”) They also politely pushed “$10 supplements” from their a la carte menu and wine and cocktails. The check came to more than $180. I am glad I went to Restaurant Week this year. I’m not crushed it occurs only twice a year; more than that, I’m not sure I could afford.