For the cheapskate-gourmet, it’s better than Christmas: Restaurant Week, when some of the best — and priciest — tables offer a three-course prix fixe lunch.
As a New Yorker, I look forward to this event each year, during which I can enjoy an all-star chef-prepared $25 lunch and/or a three-course dinner for $38. NYC Restaurant Week, with 300+ participating restaurants, has been in inception since 1992. This year’s winter session has already finished up, but there’s still another summer session coming up in mid to late summer.
If you’re not close enough to take a delicious bite out of the Big Apple, more than 30 cities throughout the United States have similar promotions, too, with many still to come in 2016. Here are a few to look forward to this spring, summer, and fall:
- Jersey Shore Restaurant Week runs April 15 – 24 this year.
- Cape Cod Restaurant Week is from May 9 – May 15, featuring the best restaurants from Falmouth to Provincetown. Three- and four-course exhibition menus go for $25, $30 or $35.
- Las Vegas Restaurant Week goes from June 6 – 17.
- Baton Rouge invites patrons to try 48 of its best restaurants at a discount during the week of July 11-16
- Green Bay Restaurant Week is from July 14-21, 2016
- Dine Out Lauderdale runs for six weeks at some of South Florida’s top restaurants beginning September 1
- Miami Spice runs from August 1 – September 30, with restaurants offering three-course meals (lunch: $23, dinner: $39)
To find out if there are any other restaurant week events happening near you, check out Findrestaurantweeks.com database, or explore your city’s travel and tourism website.
If you’re lucky enough to dine out during a discounted restaurant week, here are some tips to get the most of the promotion:
* Book early. The most in-demand restaurants tend to fill up quickly. While the online reservation system is quick and easy, if you can’t get the reservation you want, do things the old-fashioned way — just call the restaurant directly.
* Be adventurous. Use the opportunity to try out a new cuisine, or check out a new hot spot you heard about.
* Keep your party small, and arrive early. You’ll have more luck getting seated if you only need a table for two, and if you go on the earlier side of dinner hours.
