Unknown must visit restaurants in your city

[XXXNoahXXX]

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restaurant weeks are often not nearly as good a deal as they seem.

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Here in D.C., I really hate restaurant week. I'll grant that these are good opportunities for some people, but mostly we're talking about people who don't eat out that often and may not realize the disparity in quality. And that's fine and good and well, and I don't mean to insult those people.

But the quality of service and food that shows up during restaurant week is consistently weaker than it would be otherwise. Servers know they're going to be faced with an onslaught of couples and groups spending $30 each, plus maybe a glass of wine. This should not affect their attitude, but hey, stuff happens.

The kitchens are marking off steaks by the hundreds to re-finish later. Standard practice anyway at some places, but it definitely gets stepped up. The menus are limited. Food quality falls.

There are always great experiences to be had and restaurants that do it well. But if you really want to try a restaurant and see what they are capable of, try a random Wednesday or Thursday instead of restaurant week. Because often, it really isn't -that- big of a financial savings. Some places here in D.C. get on the list that I swear would normally cost less than the RW price.

But the week is there for some people. It becomes an ocassion for some people. And that's fine - all I'm saying is that if you really enjoy food and dining, RW isn't the time to try a new place.

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I agree with a lot of what you say, since I've been to the same place during and not during restaurant week and the difference in price for two was $80 -> $120. Which I guess is a big % more, but that much more in terms of real money.

However, with 50 places offering it, you can find some great meals.

[Hoya]

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restaurant weeks are often not nearly as good a deal as they seem.

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Here in D.C., I really hate restaurant week.

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While this is true in principle, if you do a little research before hand about which places offer full menus and actually give a [censored] during RW, you can try a new place for a significant savings.

Now, if you are loaded and price is irrelevant, then ignore RW. But otherwise there are a number of places that are worth the trip - at least in DC.

[4 High]

Front Street Station in Greenport NY

Amazing food. Instead of going to Montauk head out to Orient Point and Greenport. Excellent food and better overall town.

[NajdorfDefense]

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I like yama a lot, but ushiwakamura is imo much better and around the same cost. it was in time out recently as an alternative to the soho yama actually.

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Soho Yama =teh suck. Irving Sq ftw.

[NajdorfDefense]

I lived around the corner from Les halles for 7 years and Boudrain was never executive chef there, iirc.

[Tron]

I'm not sure how well-known it is because I don't kick it in Hollywood too much (but I do know that no one around USC knows of it), but Bossa Nova is one of my favorite restaurants in the entire Los Angeles area. Apparently it's Brazilian, but they have all sorts of delicious pasta and pizza. They stay open until 4am and it's very cheap, but extraordinarily good. Seriously, wow, I love this place.

[RiDiK]

Columbus

Nancy's Home Cooking (A ton of great home cooking for less than $5)

Thurman's (Best burger place I've ever been to)

Taj Palace (high quality indian food for very good prices)

[chopstick]

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J's Metro Detroit Restaurant Guide-
Japanese French Fusion- Tribute of Farmington Hills
-J

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This sounds good. Do you know anything about Vincentes which is a Cuban place in Detroit? I'm headed up to Detroit in a few weeks and want an awesome meal somewhere with cool food. The more eclectic/fusion the better.

Many of those tapas look tasty indeed.


Anyone else with Detroit recs, please chime in.

[Taylor Caby]

NYC
burger joint
Le Parker Meridien Hotel

this place really isn't unknown as it's always packed. It's literally a hole in the wall at a really fancy hotel and is a great place to go for lunch if you are looking for a really greasy burger/fries. Be prepared to wait 25+ min but I've never had better food at a dive burger type place. They have Sam Adams on tap, which was a bonus for me too.

Chicago
Mirai
Division/Damen

Very good sushi - prices you would expect at a good sushi place.

Lou Malnati's
Most Chicagoans know it is the best deep dish pizza but there's places that have a better rep. nationally. Get the deep dish sausage pizza and thank me later. You can actually get pizza's shipped anywhere in the country (frozen) at their website, loumalnatis.com. Again, thank me later.

tc

[Reef]

Spokane:
Italian Kitchen