Winter Restaurant Week!?

Winter Restaurant week is here and I’m still not one hundred percent sure that I am excited. As part of the week’s ritual I’m eating at TriBeca Grill and Aquavit Café this week. I’m glad to have dinner with old friends, new friends, and friends I haven’t met yet. But a part of me is disappointed that only during restaurant week do people my age living in New York meet up for dinner at any of the restaurants I would want to go to.


I suppose my problem is not that young people don’t go out to dinner more often, but that so many will only try to eat at a nice restaurant during restaurant week and at no other time (unless of course, they are dining with parents). What attracts them is the supposed bargain prices. And that bothers me. Restaurant week does not really offer the perceived value that many diners think it does.

While there are some places where one can truly find a deal, most of the restaurants that would noticeably be a bargain only offer lunch. In addition, most of the restaurants that are known for being good at hosting restaurant week become completely booked for hours in which dinner seems reasonable shortly after the season’s list is announced. This makes it impossible for me and either my casual diner, or non-committal friends (this more or less encompasses 84 percent of the friends I have) to go to any restaurant where we would truly get a deal or not be able to afford if not for the prix fixe.

We have a reservation for 10 at Aquavit Café this Friday night. My friend basically made the reservation without asking anyone (knowing everyone would say yes because its restaurant week) and then called around to get us to commit once the reservation had been made. My problem with this dinner is that I’m fairly confident that if this reservation had been made for a non-restaurant week Friday, most of the other dinner guests would have thought my friend was crazy (he is a little) to make plans without consultation, and then said no. However, since its restaurant week everyone said yes and is excited about going.

Aquavit Café restaurant week prix fixe= $35.00
Aquavit Café regular prix fixe= $37.00

The two menus are slightly different. More important the herring sampler that aquavit is famous for is not included as part of the restaurant week menu. I even called to see if it could be substituted in and was told that I would have to order it a la carte.

I suppose the combination of being in Stockholm for two weeks and eating herring (and really liking it), not having herring on the restaurant week prix fixe, knowing that I could pay two dollars more for my meal any other week of the year and have herring on the prix fixe, and knowing that I probably could not get nine other people to join me for dinner has caused me to be frustrated with the concept of restaurant week.

I wish that the people that go to restaurant week thinking they are saving money ($35 dollars does sound like a deal) would be more willing to dine out on other occasions. When you count drinks (no deal there) extra drinks ordered because the diner thinks they are saving money, tax and tip, the $60 to $75 dollars spent per person doesn't sound nearly as appetizing as the idea of the $35 dollar meal that gets diners off their couch and out the door.

Still, I am eating at TriBeca Grill and Aquavit Café this Restaurant wee.. and while that sounds like I’m not going to enjoy it (I understand I’m being somewhat snobby) I always enjoy eating with my friends.