NYC hound in town next weekend - Restaurant Week worth it?

[chowcito]

Visiting Mom and sis in Boston next weekend which coincides with your resto week (http://www.bostonusa.com/RW06/indexRW...) anything on here worth trying. Looks like it'd have to be Sunday dinner. I took them to Grotto last go-round per Boston hounds suggestions and we loved it. Anything else we should try? Should we ditch the restaurant week idea altogether?

[ypeopleeat]

I recommend going to any of the Hound favorites but go a bit early and sit at the bar. The rush should begin after 7:00 at the bar during the week so if you are there prior you should be all set. If being in the dining room is part of the experience you seek then you may be out of luck except at 5:30 and after 9:00. I would not use Open Table at this point, nothing beats a phone call.

[limster]

I would recommend using the opportunity to go to off-the-beaten path places that don't do restaurant week. Ate beautifully recently at La Brace, a new Italian place in Salem Street with excellent cooking. I would also consider Trattoria Toscana near Fenway; (it's fairly well known but great) you'll spend around $30 for dinner anyway. Or consider a whole array of Turkish meze at Brookline Family Turkish Restaurant in Brookline, a ton of deliciousness that's also going to be under $30.

[Chocolate Mousse]

I was really pleased with Lumiere in Newton during the Winter 2006 restaurant week. They also have a regular prix fixe option- which probably explains the generous portions.

[Angel Food]

Try Rendezvous in Central Square. Not listed as a RW restaurant, but they are doing $36 prix fixe for all of August, and they usually have a $30 prix fixe menu on Sun nights, plus related wine specials.

[DoubleMan]

I'd recommend going to one of the good non-RW places just for the sake of the service being less rushed. Ten Tables in Jamaica Plain and East Coast Grill in Inman Square come to mind, but there are tons of others.

[Ali G]

I'm not sure if they have an opening, but I had a nice Restaurant Week experience at Taranta in the North End. Unlike reports on other places, the service was great and so was the food. They do have a special menu, but I believe they had about 2-3 choices for each course. They were responsible for getting my picky girlfriend to love mussels. In my opinion, they, like Grotto captured the true meaning of Restaurant Week. That is, they combined great service with great food at a low cost that made me want to come back and try their regular menu at full price.

[Bostonbob3]

Well, Restaurant Week has its pros and cons. The pro is obviously the price. The con is that most of the restaurants don't serve their regular meals at that price. They construct a "special" Restaurant Week menu that allows them to make a least a small profit.

Of course, you can always just order off the reular menu. But then the $30.06 price goes out the wndow.

As for restaurants to try, I've fallen in love with a new place in my neighborhood, La Galleria 33 on Salem Street in the North End. However, I don't believe they're taking part in the Restaurant Week pricing.

[emilief]

Your question may be academic. I just spent 1/2 hour trying to get a reservation for restaurant week on Open Table. Most places say no reservations available. Worth a try but be prepared for disappointment.

[Allstonian]

You should try calling the places you're interested in - we had no trouble at all getting a reservation at Sage (about 2 weeks ago...) although Open Table said they had nothing available for the entire duration of RW.