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Best bets for Restaurant Week
The list of restaurants participating is vast, but we managed to pare it down to the twelve we think are most worthwhile.
Best bets for Restaurant Week
The best part about Center City Restaurant Week is reading all the grumpy tweets from some of our favorite chefs around the city who hate Restaurant Week. But the second-best thing about Restaurant Week (which starts this Sunday, September 30th) is the opportunity to score a genuinely good deal, and we mean to help you do just that.
We combed through the list with the following criteria in mind: Who’s offering serious variety? Who’s refusing to dumb down their menu, opting instead to give diners options like goat and escargots and foie, just like every other week of the year? Where will we actually save money at places we’d want to visit anyway?
If you’re looking for a full run-down of your CCRW options, we suggest taking a look at the guide the good people at Foobooz already put so much work into. Then, once you realize that there are over 130 restaurants on that totally overwhelming list, come check out our much more manageable list of crit picks!
Here are our top choices, in alphabetical order:
Barbuzzo: Chef Turney’s menu gives an excellent taste of the restaurant’s standard menu, and even adds a few freebies from the chef to the requisite three courses. And, of course, the salted caramel budino made the RW menu cut.
Farmicia: This Old City spot earns its slot on our list for sheer variety, with plenty of options for different tastes and dietary requirements on both the lunch and dinner menus. They also won a more surprising contest: in a sea of steakhouses offering precious little actual steak at this price point, Farmicia snuck a 10-ounce rib eye onto their dinner menu.
anything Garces: Chifa, Amada, and Garces Trading Co. are all participating, and they all do a good job of cutting you a deal on their menu without limiting your options to the point that you’ll leave feeling like you still haven’t gotten the true Garces experience. These chefs are serving up long lists of charcuterie and small plates, plus entrees that go above and beyond the typical salmon-and-chicken set to include ingredients like goat and mussels.
Melograno: We already love Melograno’s simple approach to Italian fare, and many of our favorite options from their regular menu have made the jump to the special prix fixe deal. The BYOB factor here only sweetens the pot.
Meritage: Again, the RW menu here is pretty expansive, including items like mussels, quail, and skate—and if you’ve been eyeing up dishes like foie gras ravioli from their regular menu, you’ll actually get the opportunity to include them in your prix fixe.
Oyster House: Seafood is just one of those things that becomes suddenly scarce at many restaurants when the price is fixed. Not so at Oyster House: they’re doing what they do in grand style, giving diners raw bar options and seafood galore. Oh, and they’re doing four courses rather than the required three.
Percy St. BBQ: Fans of Percy St. know that the BBQ joint’s regular menu always includes “the Lockhart,” which is a particularly ample sampler at $24 a head. So their RW menu, which has the same starter and dessert options as the Lockhart plus 2 half-pound orders of meat and 3 sides, might raise some eyebrows at $35. However, it’s worth noting that the RW menu has some additional choices and that the Lockhart has a minimum party requirement of 4 people, so this is a good chance to sample the menu with a smaller party.
Pumpkin: Another great BYOB option, Pumpkin’s RW menu is just like their regular menu: concise but compelling. Dishes of escargots and Long Island duck sound just as delicious as their always-awesome desserts. While this place is always a pretty good deal, RW is a bit like having their Sunday prix fixe at your fingertips for 12 additional days—sounds good to us!
Twenty Manning: The special menu here has plenty of dishes that caught our eye, edging out Audrey Claire’s eponymous spot by including a few more surprises in its array of 9 starters and 9 entrees. Extra credit for putting a dessert sampler on the menu rather than making us choose.
Zahav: A Restaurant Week mainstay, Mike Solo’s flagship spot includes plenty of options in their prix fixe and even throws in some extra goodies for the table. Predictable a choice though it may seem, Zahav makes the cut for us by offering dependably great eats and making dining with a varied crowd as easy as can be.
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