NYC Restaurant Week: 6 Spots To Visit
One of the best reasons to be in NYC during summer is Restaurant Week. It starts on July 20th and goes on till August 14th. During this period, some of the best restaurants in the city offer 3-course meals for $38, and 2-course meals for $25. By NYC pricing standards, this amounts to an incredible deal that can’t be passed up. In the following feature, the O.N.S Manual spotlights six restaurants you should visit before Restaurant Week is over. They cover a wide range of global cuisines: Italian, Afro-Asian fusion (above), New American, Mediterranean, and more. See our selections below:
LITTLE PARK – TRIBECA
Tribeca is one of the most beautiful (and expensive) areas of Manhattan. It has a distinct serenity and old world charm, and yet, it’s extremely close to ultra-cool downtown spots like the Meatpacking District and ever-trendy Soho. Little Park is a cute, inviting restaurant located inside the Smyth Hotel in Tribeca. This is one place where you can dine on delicious dishes without feeling any guilt at all about “eating healthy.” For Restaurant Week, you can partake in a sumptuous 3-course lunch starting with a Vidalia onion tart appetizer, followed by a spiced swordfish sandwich and finished off with a peach sorbet with spiced candy pecans. Yummy!
For more information, visit the Little Park website here.
THE CECIL – HARLEM
If you haven’t been to The Cecil in Harlem, it’s about time you called an Uber and made your way uptown. The Cecil describes itself as NYC’s first ‘Afro-Asian-American brasserie.” It was started by NYC corporate titan, Richard Parsons (former CEO of Time Warner) and Executive chef Alexander Smalls. The cuisine offered is a global smorgasbord of exotic spices, flavors, and recipes as diverse as the Harlem neighborhood itself. For Restaurant week, the featured 3-course menu includes a grilled Lamb saddle entree with Jollof rice and a delicious black sesame semifreddo with poached pineapple. Sounds absolutely mouthwatering!
For more information about The Cecil Harlem, click here.
EMPELLON COCINA – EAST VILLAGE
Alex Stupak is one of the young superstars of the culinary world. The gifted chef started off as a dessert genius for heralded restaurants like WD-50 and Alinea. Then he surprised many by switching lanes and opening his adventurous Mexican Eatery, Empellon Cocina in 2012. The popular East Village spot is definitely highly recommended for restaurant week. Their 3-course dinner menu has a variety of decadent offerings. Kick your meal off with a Chilaquiles served with a sunny side egg or a sliced mango with peeky toe crab and chile powder. For the main attraction, there are all kinds of amazing tacos to choose from: shredded chicken with toasted pumpkin seeds, goat tacos with savory cajeta & heirloom tomato tacos with quesillo and papalo pesto. For dessert, treat your sweet tooth to a chocolate ganache with Tres leches Ice cream or Arroz con leche.
For more information, visit the Empellon Cocina website here.
SCARPETTA – MEATPACKING DISTRICT
If you’re a regular watcher of The Food Network, you’re already familiar with the name Scott Conant. He’s a regular judge on the show Chopped, and he’s widely considered as a deity in the realm of Italian cuisine. His NYC restaurant Scarpetta has established a reputation in NYC for being the place to go when you’re yearning for Italian cuisine of the very highest order. For Restaurant Week, the Primi course at Scarpetta features choices of a creamy polenta or a Burrata served with heirloom tomato, black garlic and eggplant. The second course is a choice between spaghetti, Branzino or chicken with summer beans and fegato jus. Desserts include coconut panna cotta, nutella mousse and chocolate cake with salted caramel gelato.
For more information, visit the Scarpetta website here.
ZUMA – MURRAY HILL
How come it always happens that the really cool things happen in the UK way before making their way across the pond to us? Some examples: The Beatles, Downton Abbey, Emily Ratajkowski, and the list goes on and on. The Japanese-themed A-List hotspot, Zuma, is the latest British import to make waves stateside. It was originally founded in London in 2002, and has since spread to Hong Kong, Istanbul, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The New York outpost opened this year and Restaurant Week is a great time to check it out. Their 2-course lunch menu includes pleasing dishes of yellow tail sashimi, beef tataki, salmon teriyaki and a refreshing dessert of banana cake served with coconut ice cream and peanut toffee sauce.
For more information, visit the Zuma website here.
BOULUD SUD – UPPER WEST SIDE
French Chef Daniel Boulud is a true icon in the food world. What other chef do you know that has 7 award-winning restauraunts in Manhattan alone? One of his newest places is the Mediterranean culinary haven, Boulud Sud. The restaurant offers cuisine that draws influences from the French Riviera all the way to Turkey and North Africa. For Restaurant Week, Chef Boulud’s capable chefs de cuisine lay out a grand spread indeed. For appetizers, choices include an impressive Andalusian tomato gazpacho and a tender Octopus a la plancha. Main courses include an aromatic Tagine chicken, seared sea bass and Zhug spiced albacore. The dessert course is just as spectacular: Chocolate-espresso mousse, house-made crème glacées, and cannolis with ricotta cream and orange-mascarpone sherbet.
For more information, visit the Boulud Sud website here.
