Restaurant Week

For all my Boston buds... just because I'm not there, doesn't mean you have to miss out on Boston's Winter Restaurant Week... March 4th to March 9th! Make your reservations for lunch or dinner and make me proud!

Because... Restaurant Week in NYC was the last 2 weeks here and I went to 3 places! One all by myself... and Boston gets such a better deal - 3 course prix fixe lunch here is $24.07 and dinner is $35 - Boston is still a deal for lunch at $20.07 and dinner (prices went up slightly) at $33.07!

The places I went...

Artisanal, two Tuesdays ago for dinner with me, myself & I, before my wine class at school... All I remember about that meal was how upset my stomach was pretty much immediately after I walked out and how dry the beef bourguignonne was (hello!?! this is a braised dish - meaning a moist cooking method... the beef should be juicy and I shouldn't have to cut through tough pieces of fat), and, oh yeah, the cheese that the customer behind me ordered that made the whole area smell like manure... so my recommendation... don't eat there unless you'd like to lose about 5 lbs in 30 seconds or really love the smell of stanky cheese.

Craftbar for lunch, last Thursday, with 4 of my classmates & instructor from Culinary Management. Such an awesome meal!!! They weren't stingy with the menu either - I'd guess that nearly all their appetizers were on the prix fix menu (about 16), they had 9 different entrees and 6 different desserts. I had these succulent little fried oysters as my app, a pork belly with beet choucroute as my entree and a crispy warm chocolate cake with pistachio ice cream. You know what made the chocolate cake crispy? It was wrapped in one small square of phyllo and baked like that. It was a really cool idea and delicious too!

The Rocking Horse Cafe for dinner, last Thursday, with 5 of my classmates from Baking & Pastry. The company was better than the food, and after 2 margaritas, tax, tip and a shared $10 guacamole, my portion of the bill quickly soared to $70!!! I should have reconsidered ordering from the prix fixe menu when I was only excited about the app I was ordering - a tasty black bean tamale with a cabrales (I think) cheese cream sauce. But my bad... I ordered a full 3 mediocre at best courses and regretted it later. I could have at least had 3 margaritas and only one app (or a $16 burrito!?!? ) for less!

So get out there and experience Restaurant Week in your area... and at the very least, bring people you enjoy being with so that even if the food is shitty, at least you have fun conversations!!!