Restaurant Week

Restaurant Week is held twice a year in summer and winter. Approximately 200 restaurants offer Lunch at $24.07 and Dinner at $35.00. Traditionally, restaurants offered the same meals as other times in cooperation with the Visitors Bureau (NYC & Co). However, more recently, many have begun to offer a “special” menu for this price.

This year, for the first time, we decided to try lunch at a couple of well regarded restaurants we had never been to. We wanted to try both the restaurants and Restaurant Week. Our experience was favorable and we decided that we would try this again in the future.

Lupa

170 Thompson St. (bet. Bleecker & W. Houston Sts.)
212-982-5089

Lupa is a small, modest restaurant in Greenwich Village from the Batali/Bastianich team of Babbo fame. We were particularly interested in trying it because we have never had the patience to get into Babbo.

Appetizer

• Tuna terrine with Peppers and Onions
• Salad (radicchio, arugula)

Both appetizers were good but not exceptional. The tuna terrine was very unusual but lacked any distinguishing character. Chris thought her salad was too salty.

Pasta

• Gnocchi with sausage and tomato sauce
• Tiny Penne with garlic and olive oil

We both LOVED the pasta course. Chris kept moaning about “little clouds” as she ate the gnocchi. The waiter seemed to just try to ignore her. I don’t know what he thought was going on. My penne “alio olio” was just like I like it firm with a little more than a hint of garlic and fragrant with ground black pepper.

Entrée

• Grilled “pousssin” with mushrooms and olive oil and garlic
• Mahi-Mahi with lentils

Both main courses were quite good. I love baby chicken (actually, all well prepared chicken served “on the bone”). It was tender and juicy – but maybe a little boring. Chris loved her fish, but thought the lentils were lack luster.

Dessert

• Espresso
• Biscotti

The coffee was good (that’s important to us) and the biscotti were just right.

Tribeca Grill
375 Greenwich St. (Franklin St.)
212-941-3900

Tribeca Grill is a large restaurant in a converted factory building. It’s quite attractive with a nice bar and comfortable seating. This restaurant is part of the Drew Pieporent empire that includes Montrachet and the Nobus. The draw is the comfortable ambience and celebrity sightings more than the food, which is acceptable. Our waiter was very knowledgeable about the menu and wines and recommended a very nice, and reasonably priced, Austrian White wine to go with the fish. (Hiedler, ‘Gruner Veltliner’, Kamptal, Austria, 2004)

Appetizer

• Mushroom soup
• Shaved fennel and goat cheese salad

Both appetizers were OK but had clearly been made much earlier.

Entrée

• Grilled bass atop a mixture of sweet potato, corn and scallion
• Cheeseburger with Bacon

I opted to go for the burger when I saw one delivered to the next table. It was exceptional. It came with lightly fried onion rings. The fish was pretty good and the veggie combination unusual.

Dessert

• Espresso
• Strawberry mezzofredo

The frozen mousse was interesting.