What NON-Restaurant Week restaurants would you dine at this week?

[aperitif]

are there some of these non-RW restaurants that you favor more than others? What are the non-RW standouts that are otherwise hard to book for a reservation, that we should jump on knowing that traffic will be slower this week?

[rosie17]

I'm heading to Rendezvous with friends - they are having a prix-fix (sorry if I'm butchering the spelling) for $38, only $5 more than RW prices and I had no trouble getting a reservation, whereas a party of 4 at most of the usual suspects only had 9:30 on a weekday. I have read good things overall on these boards, hoping that they will deliver.

[donjay]

All good ideas. I have been to Neptune and Prezza this week (RW week 1). I avoid RW at all costs

[limster]

To be honest, I think traffic will only slow for a small fraction of the the non-RW restaurants. It might ease for the the places that fall into the "mainstream" French/Italian paradigm, but there's a whole world of chow out there -- 99% of the restaurants in the greater area don't do RW. If my schedule allows, I'm hoping to check out a few places/dishes I've never been to, maybe sample the pollo a la brasa at Victor's, retry Macchu Picchu, get some Flemish Waterzooi at the Publick House, peek into Zon's for "comfort" food or hit the Cantab for their burgers.

[pollystyrene]

Although I'm not a huge fan, it might be a good time to hit Oleana; maybe even the patio seating would be more accessible.

[kohlrabi]

Might be, but I've seen lines out the door depending on the day/time. Tried to go to brunch the other day at East Coast Grill, had to stand in line to get in at 11am! Yikes, are there lines like this in Boston, besides Fenway (hehe!)...

[Gabatta]

We had dinner at ECG last night. There was no wait for a table at 7:30p, and half the seats at the bar were empty. The current Fresh Catch of the Day (striper) is excellent, as is the Farmers Plate (crispy eggplant).

The best thing about RW are non-RW restaurants IMO.

[MC Slim JB]

I guess I don't monitor the "tough tables" question broadly enough to know who would be easier than normal to book a table at during RW. It would help if Boston had something like Eater.com's feature where they call hot Manhattan restaurants' reservations lines, then report how many rings it takes them to pick up and what kind of table/time they can get on short notice on a Friday night. It's one measure of "hotness" (or in some cases, "fake exclusivity", where slow restaurants pretend they have nothing available.)

During RW, I tend to hit old standbys that don't participate: Trattoria Toscana, Peach Farm, Don Ricardo, Dok Bua, Cafe Polonia, Brookline Family. I'd planned to hit The Dish tonight, but they closed a little early, which they often do on Mondays in the summer.

[bowmore36]

this would also beg the question, "what are bostons best of the best"?
what are the best of bostons high end establishments such as #9, clio/uni, l'espalier, radius, troquet, au jour d'hui etc????

[aperitif]

agreed, Bowmore36, as was my original question. still searching for a response...as far as best of boston, having dined at no. 9 (awesome at the bar. love cat and her wine), radius (props to patrick for presentation+texture), aujoud'hui ( fine for a birthday, but not stunning); nothing here takes my breath away the way I've experienced dining at places like l'atelier du joel robuchon in Paris, or at kitchen table in Torre Bormida. Besides clio/uni (overall excellence, minus stellar/interesting wine), my NY experiences are still notches above the Boston scene. What gives???

[MC Slim JB]

Our high-end Japanese has gotten better with the recent addition of O Ya and Oishii Boston (South End). But I think Boston's top-tier restaurants (you mention most of them) don't approach NYC's: they'd only be considered medium-high places in Manhattan.

If anything, Boston's fortunes as a dining destintation have been slipping lately: the big idea of late seems to be to open another luxury steakhouse. Rather than risk something bold on a provincial audience that's fairly unadventurous, investors are giving us a second Morton's location. I guess you could say that one hopeful sign is that some of the new venues of this type (KO Prime, Moooo..., Boston Public) aren't outlets of national chains, but that's faint comfort to folks looking to be dazzled with world-class dining. We're not even in San Francisco's league, let alone NYC's.

I suspect the big step down is mostly a function of Boston's size (600,000 to NYC's 8M). Fortunately, New York is pretty close by.

[gramercyfoodie]

Don't want to get into the NY v. Boston conversation, but as a recent NYC transplant (and life long eater/resident), I have to give Boston props for doing a great job feeding a city of 600,000. Yes, there are not Gramercy Tavern's on every corner, but we've been really pleased on the quality of the food for a much smaller population...

[MC Slim JB]

That is very nice to hear!

Lest anyone mistake my post there: I have my gripes about the Boston restaurant scene, holes here and there that bug me, but as someone who likes to dine out a lot, I feel lucky to live here overall. Pity the poor folks living not far away in the US with far more benighted restaurant scenes. Lack of Michelin three-star destinations isn't really a big problem for me: I don't have to do business entertaining at that level, let alone dine that way myself, more than once every year or two. But a certain class of visiting diner is sometimes surprised at the fine-dining ceiling here.

[pollystyrene]

Gramercy, I remember when you first landed in town and asked for recommendations. I'm gald you've found some good chow. Can I ask what some of your favorites have been so far?

[gramercyfoodie]

you are so kind for remembering :) Our favorites so far (and we are still eating) are: Neptune Oyster, EVOO, Franklin Cafe, Sam Lagrassa's, Toro, The Clam Box. For fancier we liked Mistral...want to try the cafe at #9 Park...we weren't balled over with the restaurant menu...maybe our expectations were too high...but I'm still learning everyday on 'hound.

[pollystyrene]

I sounds like you've been eating well, and have even managed to tip me off about a place I didn't know of: Sam Lagrassa's. I'm not in that part of town much, but if I ever find myself there and craving a good sandwich, I'll know where to go.

I hope you don't mind if I check in from time to time about your eating adventures. It's interesting to get the perspective of someone for whom everything is new, and who is doing a lot of comparing in a short amount of time, as opposed to someone like me who's been here all their life. (You're lucky you didn't move here 20 years ago. You would have gone hungry.)

[gramercyfoodie]

absolutely! would be honored to keep you posted.

[bowmore36]

i think o-ya and oishii are fair but i always leave both of them wondering why i didn't just go to my standby UNI.. o-ya has some interesting items as well as oishii but there really isnt much else going on at either spot. sake selections are pretty bad at oishii, and the service just exists. a place that serves this kind of food at that price point really needs an engaging staff. not so much at either place.

i hate to say it but it's the clientelle, not the restaurants. it seems as though a lot of places succumb to the demands of the average diner and don't stick to the original focus. thus, dumbing down the concept and the excecution. a lot of them have assimilated into the same restaurant.
for example, the masses tend to complain and ask why restaurants don't do things a certain way... i.e. "why dont you have cakebread chardonnay on your wine list?" the natural reaction from the restaurants perspective is to put the cakebread chardonnay on their wine list. so what we end up seeing is cakebread chardonnay on a ton of wine lists.
a restaurant that really sticks to its guns and does not succumb to the pressures of the common diner keeps it exciting.
there is no sacrificing the concept at the #9 restaurants, oleana, clio/uni and a few others.
i tend to stay away from a lot of others for the simple fact that i have stated above...

[limster]

I think it's still not easy to find food anywhere that is better than the best from their native territory; that's just a fact of life. It's not restricted to the high-end places (I'm not expecting the kind of NC BBQ like Allen & Son or Wilber's) or specific cuisines (certainly nothing close in SF, NY or here to Sabai for refined Thai food). However, there are places where one can drink world class wines -- see for example http://www.chowhound.com/topics/410417 or http://www.chowhound.com/topics/376119