CHEAP EATS WEEK

Goodbye Elaine’s, hello Marco Polo.



In an announcement sure to have Manhattanites reaching for their
subway maps, Borough President Marty Markowitz unveiled "Dine
In Brooklyn," his answer to the city’s semiannual restaurant
week.



During the week of April 15-22, diners will have a chance to
nosh on three-course, prix fixe meals from 93 restaurants in
20 Brooklyn neighborhoods. Aside from 38 Zagat-rated eateries,
including Planet Thailand in Williamsburg and Patois on Smith
Street, the list extends to classics like Tatiana in Brighton
Beach and one of Markowitz’s favorites, Junior’s.



"Trust me," said Markowitz, well-known as a devotee
of the borough’s culinary delights, "when any of these restaurants
see me coming in they have a smile on their face – and that’s
not because I’m the borough president, if you know what I mean."



Markowitz boasted that the $18.98 price, inspired by the year
Brooklyn joined New York City, is $11 cheaper than what’s demanded
for dinners during Manhattan’s restaurant weeks [lunches went
for $20.04 this year]. The price is the same for either lunch
or dinner, at restaurants offering the special on both menus.




"Manhattanites and many others have been crossing their
own bridge and ours for years," said Markowitz, "but
the truth is, they’ve been coming to Brooklyn for years because
of our restaurants."



Perusing plates of pork filet Wellington from Court Street’s
Marco Polo Ristorante, mini-hamburgers from Union Street’s Schnak
and sushi from Blue Ribbon Sushi on Fifth Avenue, Markowitz couldn’t
resist biting into a jumbo-sized chocolate devil’s food cupcake
made lovingly by Fran Sippel of Downtown Atlantic, in Boerum
Hill. Chris Sippel, Fran’s cousin and general manager of the
restaurant at 364 Atlantic Ave., said the borough president had
asked that he stow away one of the 24 cupcakes, which he correctly
presumed would disappear soon after their unveiling.



"Marty came over to us right away and asked us to save him
one," Chris Sippel said of the cupcakes.



Conspicuously missing from the lineup are the 118-year-old Peter
Luger Steak House in Williamsburg and the River Cafe at Fulton
Ferry Landing, whose dinner menus nearly quadruple the $18 prix
fixe.



"We can’t offer it at this time due to the high cost of
our ingredients," said Scott Stamford, a manager at River
Cafe.



Joe Chirico, who last month closed his historic Gage & Tollner
restaurant in Downtown Brooklyn, stopped by the unveiling at
Borough Hall on Thursday to show off a few entrees from Marco
Polo, his Italian fine dining establishment in Carroll Gardens.




"Anything to promote Brooklyn," said Chirico, who displayed
a mango, chicken and spinach entree for reporters.



In contrast to Manhattan’s event, which charges a fee to participating
restaurants, all of the eateries in Brooklyn were allowed to
participate for free, said Markowitz spokeswoman Sharon Toomer.



Toomer urged diners to call ahead for reservations, but she didn’t
know whether restaurateurs would be accepting them this far in
advance.