If you're like me, you spend a lot of time ogling restaurant reviews. Usually, the most creative, exciting food is at places where dinner costs the budget of a small nation. They're strictly aspirational restaurants, where for most, the delicate flavors and imaginative presentations can only be enjoyed in your daydreams.
But there are a few weeks during winter and summer when the food of the gods becomes available to mere mortals. Here in New York, for the past decade we've had the biannual Restaurant Week, where the city's top chefs offer up prix-fixe meals for prices fixed at lower levels than usual. It's been such a success here that many other cities have followed with restaurant weeks of their own.
This summer, we found six restaurant "weeks" and a food-themed street festival scattered throughout North America. (During the winter, cities such as San Francisco and Washington take their turns.) Here are some of the best places to eat like a king for yeoman prices during the sunny months:
New York (10 days)
Our top five picks for New York bargains during this restaurant week are (click on the name for our independent review):
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Chanterelle: (lunch only) our "best dining bet" for service and best French food
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Nobu: (lunch only), our favorite Japanese restaurant
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Café Boulud: (lunch only), one of our favorite restaurants for vegetarians
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One if By Land/Two if by Sea: (dinner only) a perennial Zagat favorite
- The Sea Grill: one of our favorite New York seafood restaurants
Chicago (10 days)
Not a restaurant week per se, the annual Taste of Chicago festival (June 27-July 6) is one of the Windy City's top attractions and brings 65 restaurants' wares to a massive street party featuring big-name entertainment, carnival rides and cooking demonstrations. The food is mostly picnic stuff, although each day at the Gourmet Pavilion, one of Chicago's top-notch restaurants serves up lunch. The culinary joy here is in the collision of dozens of cultures, and in enjoying the food during what will hopefully be some gloriously sunny days in Grant Park.
Musical performers at Taste of Chicago include india.arie, Elvis Costello, Sheryl Crow, and Kenny Rogers, and there will be a fireworks spectacular (hopefully, not in your stomach) on July 3. For full details, schedules and maps of the festival, see www.ci.chi.il.us/SpecialEvents/Festivals/Taste2003.
Toronto (7 days)
If you needed an excuse to take a discounted train trip to Toronto (link), more than 60 of the city's finest restaurants are offering cut-price meals during the Queen City's "Summerlicious" promotion, from July 4-10. The prices are a little more complex than other cities' promotions: lunches are either $10 or $20, and dinners are either $10, $20 or $30 (all Canadian dollars, of course.) Find a full restaurant and price list by clicking here.
Restaurants on the list that Frommer's recommends include:
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Epic: at the Royal York hotel, a place of "unabashed luxury"
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Lai Wah Heen: the fabulous Chinese bistro at the Metropolitan Hotel
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The Rivoli: it's usually cheap but is even cheaper with a $10 lunch deal
- Tundra: nouveau-Canadian at the Hilton
Atlanta (7 days)
Boston (5 days)
Boston's third annual Restaurant Week, from August 18-22, brings together more than 70 restaurants in Boston and Cambridge for $20.03 lunches and $30.03 dinners. The lineup for this one is terrific, including many of Boston's most celebrated temples of gourmet cuisine. You can only make advance reservations if you have an American Express Card. Find the full list of restaurants by clicking here.
Restaurants we recommend for this week include:
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Aujourd'hui: Boston's most beautiful restaurant, where a $20.03 lunch is an amazing discount (they're only offering lunches on the Restaurant Week program)
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Davio's: in Back Bay, a top-notch Italian place
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Icarus: possibly Boston's most romantic restaurant
- Rialto: (dinner only), our guidebook writer's single favorite Boston restaurant
Dallas (7 days)
Benefiting the North Texas Food Bank, Dallas' Restaurant Week was still being planned while we were writing this column. We do know it'll be from August 18-24 and involve $30 prix-fixe dinners at chichi restaurants in the Big D. Check www.ntxfoodbank.org for more details later this summer.
Miami (1 month)
To help Floridians survive the sweltering summer, Miami's serving up a whole month of restaurant-themed events in August. The biggest is Miami Spice Restaurant Month (www.miamirestaurantmonth.com), where 41 of Miami's top restaurants (so far, with possibly more to come) are offering $29.99 dinners and/or $19.99 lunches throughout August. It's very difficult to pick from the Miami Spice list, which includes most of our guidebook writer's favorite Miami restaurants, but here are a few choices. (Remember, reservations will be even more difficult to get than usual.)
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Azul: a "tour de force of international cuisine"
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Baleen: with delectable seafood in a spectacular waterfront setting in Coconut Grove
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China Grill: where the stars hang out on South Beach
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Norman's: according to Gourmet Magazine the best restaurant in South Florida
- Wish: with its amazing French-Brazilian fusion cuisine
Do you know about a restaurant week we haven't mentioned here? Let us know on our Message Boards. Get started by clicking here.
