New York City Restaurant Week is back and better than ever with over 600 participating restaurants — 62 of them in Brooklyn.
Beginning Jan. 16 and running through Feb. 4, NYC Restaurant Week bills itself as an opportunity to explore new dining experiences as well as return to some familiar favorites. Participating restaurants offer two-course lunches and three-course prix-fixe dinners at $30, $45 and $60 — an inviting price point for those looking to try something new and perhaps more exotic, or those looking to indulge in a more robust dining experience than usual.
Beginning in 1992, Restaurant Week was started by Tim Zagat and Joe Baum as a one-week, lunch-only promotional program to encourage those who were in town for that year’s Democratic National Convention to engage with local businesses. Restaurant Week is now bi-annual and has seen numerous cities across the country participate in similar events.
Some of the dozens of venues in Brooklyn that are a part of this year’s NYC Restaurant Week include Palestinian and Middle Eastern restaurant Tanoreen in Bay Ridge, which boasts delicious dishes like Musakhan and Fattoush, Caribbean dining spot Kokomo with its tasty flatbreads and quality meats, and SoulKofa Vegan Healthfood in Bedford-Stuyvesant.
Other popular spots participating are legendary Brooklyn barbecue spot Morgan’s BBQ and Tiny’s Cantina, both owned by Peter and Penny Glazier, and their son, Mathew.
“We’re trying to offer some exciting things to Restaurant Week customers, particularly because a lot of them are, you know, new to our restaurant and any number of the hundreds of restaurants that participate [in Restaurant Week],” Penny Glazier told Brooklyn Paper on Thursday. “Restaurant Week started as a way to encourage people who were coming to the city for the convention to try our restaurants and [it] just kept growing and growing.”
At Morgan’s, guests can sample scrumptious starters like the smoked chicken wings tossed with a mango habeñero sauce or the Texas chili bowl, then enjoy main course meals like the fried chicken sandwich or saucy pork ribs before finishing with a delicious dessert like the classic chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream or Morgan’s beloved banana bread pudding.
The three-course meal starts at $30, but guests looking to up the ante can also order supplemental menu items like the smoked prime rib for an additional $10.
“Barbecue is just a fun place to go and people like to come together and have a good time, enjoy the food, enjoy the booze and watch the game,” said Glazier.
As for Tiny’s — a restaurant Glazier said lives up to its name — it’s all about big flavor this Restaurant Week.
“And at Tiny’s — which, you know is tiny, it only seats 40 people — it’s the same thing,” she told Brooklyn Paper. “I’m amazed at how much people love the tequila and even the mezcal and [chef Cenobio Canalizo’s] menu really took a lot of flavors from his childhood in Puebla and a lot of memories of his mother and grandmother cooking, and came up with a really great Mexican menu and he tried to plate his favorites for Restaurant Week.”
At Tiny’s, starters include shrimp cocktail with cucumber, avocado and red onions as well as maple-glazed roasted bacon with blue cheese and arugula. For mains, guests can try the taco trio with pork carnitas, fried red snapper and carne asada, the chicken paillard with rice and beans or the pork belly pozole — perfect for a chilly winter day.
For dessert, there’s either the classic creamy caramel flan or churros cajeta. Supplemental drinks are also available, like the flight of the three amigos, which samples Casamigos’ reposado, añejo and silver tequila.
“I hope that guests who haven’t already dined at either one of the restaurants will feel the spirit of hospitality that exists in both restaurants,” Glazier said. “We want people to feel comfortable, to enjoy the food, enjoy the community of both restaurants. And that’s really what it amounts to, especially when groups come in and sit together, you can just feel the energy in the room. People are enjoying the food and we always have great music on.”
To learn more about NYC Restaurant Week, click the link here.
