If you're visiting NY through the end of February or just live here and like to eat well, this may interest you:

http://nycgo.com/restaurantweek

imo, the lunches are the best deal.

CPG, Can you give me the low down on this NYC restaurant week thing? I'd so appreciate it.

Thanks, Theresa in Detroit.

If you know some places you would like to eat you should check their websites before you come. Restaurants are struggling here, too and many places are offering this price or other deals all the time. Other years if you didn't make your reservation for RW immediately you would not get a table. Now even during RW they are not filling up.

Hi Theresa - Restaurant Week is a promotion where participating restaurants offer prix fixe lunch/and or dinner at a very good price considering the quality of the restaurants. The 3 course lunch is about $24 and dinner is $35. It gets considerable publicity and in the past, there were some amazing deals. I have found that in the last few years, the dinners offered are not so great (it is tough for an upscale restaurant to give three courses for $35), but the lunches can be wonderful. RW is usually held for two weeks in Feb and in June. I would guess that because of the economy, they have extended it for a month.

Mamaw - restaurant week is held in many cities throughout the US, though not the same week though. In Boston, it also happens twice a year, one in winter and one in summer. In dallas I think it was just once a year.

Hi Centralparkgirl; and to add to your post if any diner is participating this year I would carefully select the restaurant (there was another thread recently on this topic).

I have had some poor lunches @ some of the higher-end restos w/a 'special' menu created for this week. Caveat emptor!

Hi Rhea - you're so very right. I only did a lunch a few weeks ago at Park Avenue Winter - it was excellent and good value. But they're not all good. As an aside, the NYT has an interesting article in today's dining section about how hard hit upscale restaurants are and how they're dealing with it.

There are a lot of specials in good restaurants. I always do restaurant week and this time around I'm just not feeling like it's a great bargain. I usually check the restaurant's website to see if they have the special menu posted - I don't like bad surprises. If they don't, I pick another place. Sometimes I look at menupages too to see if someone has reviewed from the last time and mentioned how good the menu was.

Among the better restaurant week offerings in the past include:

Nougatine
Cafe Buloud
Gramercy
Capsouto Freres
Acquavit

The very worst
Aurole

Very Ordianry
Artisinal

Wow, Thanks CPG and hey, thanks for those restaurant suggestions adu!

I love the Blue Water Grill. They always have a nice RW menu and also reduce 2 different bottles of wine.

Blue Water Grill was just closed in Chicago. BR Guests restaurant group is feeling the recession and let go 400 workers - 20% of their US workforce.

Theresa, I recommed Vice Versa, Cafe des Artistes, Lever House (with its Walk of Shame to the dining room), Periyali, and Payard to you. Payard has wonderful pastries.

My good friend worked in a top-tier restaurant in Manhattan and she was let go after Christmas because of lack of business. She is now working at the Olive Garden in Times Square!

Thin