New York's Food Experts Digest Restaurant Week So You Don't Have To

Ah, Restaurant Week is here again. And yes, on one hand it sucks and there are plenty of reasons to hate this multitudinous collection of dumbed-down prix fixes. On the other hand, those unwilling to blow a paycheck on lunch or dinner get to experience Michelin-endorsed places like Café Boulud and A Voce -- provided you don't jack the bill up on booze or regular menu items. So to help weight the dice and prevent you from getting screwed this time around, we asked some of New York's biggest food authorities their thoughts on and/or recommendations for Restaurant Week. Here's what they said.

Danyelle Freeman, founder of food blog Restaurant Girl and restaurant critic for the Daily News: Restaurant week is tricky. Most restaurants tend to put their least exciting and most inexpensive dishes on their "special" restaurant week menus. Ordering off the "restaurant week" menu can make you feel like a second-class citizen. It's had the reverse effect of ordering the "tasting menu," where restaurants often pamper you (for a price of course). On the other hand, Restaurant Week is a great opportunity to experience some of the city's finest restaurants at affordable prices. Café Boulud, Eleven Madison Park, Anthos and Asiate would be my top picks. I would also try One if By Land just to take a sneak peek at what chef Craig Hopson's done with the menu.

Robyn Lee, contributor to Serious Eats and author of food blog The Girl Who Ate Everything: This year I'm going to Cafe Boulud for no other reason besides that Tina (of The Wandering Eater) recommended it and I entrust all my fooding plans with her gastronomically selective brain. Of course, I'm excited to try a Daniel Boulud restaurant (never have before), but I wouldn't be able to choose it on my own.

Ben Leventhal, editor of food blog Eater: I don't really go in much for Restaurant Week. There are good tables to be had, but they're scarce and get booked very quickly, i.e. they're gone as of this posting. The rest of the pack offer partial menus, non-marquee dishes, and a stage set for up-charging. Wine, coffee, dessert, some Brussels sprouts on the side, tax, and tip: all extra. We like the idea of Restaurant Week -- to generate interest in eating out, especially at places that are, perhaps, less on one's radar. But, if you think you got out of a Restaurant Week meal for less than $60 a head, you were drunk and are not remembering correctly.

Ed Levine, New York Times contributor and founder of food blog community Serious Eats recommends lunch at such spots as A Voce, Anthos, Del Posto, L'Impero, and Tabla. But as far as his top choice: "I would say my favorite is Chinatown Brasserie for a dim sum and Chinese barbecue lunch or dinner (skip the side order of potential attitude)."

Peter Meehan, food critic for the New York Times: Can I answer that I'll be going to Dumpling House or New York Noodle Town or Oriental Garden? Because it's Restaurant Week every week in Chinatown. The one year I tried to go to Craft for Restaurant Week I ended up spend $125 at lunch and needed to cook pasta for the rest of the week to make up for it.

Andrea Strong, author and creator of food blog The Strong Buzz: I haven't actually gone to Restaurant Week in many years, but that's primarily because I eat out for a living and am constantly visiting new restaurants. When possible I use my daytime meals for lettuce and water so as not to balloon into some doppelganger of Fat Albert. That being said, I think Restaurant Week is a great way to catch up on new places you've been dying to check out or old favorites you've been neglecting, without breaking the bank. (If I were making your reservations, I'd go for A Voce, 11 Madison, Del Posto, Park Avenue Winter, and Primehouse.) Restaurant Week also tends to be a time when it's socially acceptable to take long lunches and make a more formal respite from the grind of the beloved office cubicle. I know some detractors complain that the choices on the $24.07 menus are not as good as the a la carte selections, but of the Restaurant Week menus I've seen, I can't say that I agree. Restaurants want to put their best foot forward with these menus because it's their chance to snag your attention and lure you in again when they're not following the $24.07 format. My advice is to free yourself from the chains of your desk and get out there and eat.

Tina Wong, founder of food blog The Wandering Eater: From my many Restaurant Week experiences, I don't really assume to get the best food from any particular restaurant since they're charging a low price and the menu is limited to two or three choices per course. I do anticipate service would be a bit lacking since everyone would be jumping the boat to eat out at this time of the year and the wait staff is bombarded with a booked place. I coordinated to eat out with a few friends at Cafe Boulud since we've never tried it -- it's really classy French fare and normally expensive. Other places I'm trying out are: Devi Anthos and the Bread Bar at Tabla.