My experience with NYC Restaurant Week 2010 was lukewarm. In retrospect, I should have tried more restaurants, but I only found out about it on my second day of my four day trip to NYC.

Every year, NYC holds “Restaurant Week”, where fine dining establishments offer a prix fixe menu at an affordable rate. This gives the budget conscious NYC foodies a chance to indulge their palettes while remaining true to their pocketbooks.

I tried only two restaurants this week and both of them, quite unimaginatively, were in Times Square. Now I know what you’re thinking– with all the restaurants to choose from, why did I choose to dine in the largest tourist trap of a district? Honestly, it was sheer convenience. I was staying at a hotel nearby and the night that I chose to partake in Restaurant Week, I had already made plans within Times Square for the day.

For lunch dining, I chose a restaurant called Blue Fin. The prix fixe menu looked very good and I decided to give it a try. Besides, the restaurant overlooked the TKTS booth, which opened for business at precisely 2 pm, selling discount Broadway tickets (more about that in another blog post).

As an appetizer, I ordered the Tuna Poke Summer Roll. Although the server forgot to place my order, the staff was extremely apologetic. The Summer Roll was excellent– and I know a thing or two about what a Summer Roll should taste like, living among San Francisco’s numerous and notable Vietnamese and Thai restaurants.

For the main course, I enjoyed a cold Sautéed Stiped Sea Bass. Once again, I was not disappointed–it was excellent. For dessert, I chose the Watermelon & Strawberries, since the weather was brutally hot.

While lunch was a great experience, I cannot say the same about my dinner experience at Ruby Foo’s, also in Times Square. After lunch, I stood in line at the TKTS booth for discount tickets to Westside Story. I had to keep my dinner reservations relatively close to The Palace Theater, so I chose Ruby Foo’s. To be frank, I didn’t even bother photographing the food for my blog, since I found the presentation unimaginative. The Chicken Curry Spring Rolls were bland and tasked like a bad samosa. And I should have figured that Kimchi Fried Rice would taste exactly as it sounded– like Kimchi Fried Rice (note to self: pickled things do not work well when stir-fried into rice).

In all, Restaurant Week 2010 probably had some choices that I overlooked. Blue Fin was excellent but I was thoroughly disappointed with Ruby Foo’s.

Related Readings

Post to Twitter