Restaurant Week Does Lunch

With all of the participating eateries guaranteeing that their menus are at least a $55 value, Restaurant Week is finally about what it should have always been about — the food. So, instead of crunching numbers, we spent our time perusing menus to find out which restaurants are serving meals actually worth eating. And this go-round, lunch ($20) is turning out to have some of the best deals in town. Here, lunch spots where you’ll find us running to.

10 Arts
If Jennifer Carroll’s performance on Top Chef tells us anything about the quality of her food, we should all be running to 10 Arts for lunch and dinner this Restaurant Week. On the lunch menu we spied Carroll’s grilled octopus and a tasty-sounding Maine lobster roll that comes with a shot of the restaurant’s addictive heirloom corn chowder. See the Menu

Le Bec-Fin
All you really need to know about Le Bec’s Restaurant Week lunch menu is that the burger’s on it. Well, maybe you’d also like to know that the third course is your pick of the justly praised dessert cart. See the Menu

Zahav
House-baked laffa, hummus, and the daily selection of salads for the table. Your choice of one mezze plate, straight off the regular menu. Your choice of one of the signature skewers. (All the favorites are on offer: the baby eggplant, the house-made merguez, the young chicken.) And dessert. If this sounds like a dinner-size meal, that’s because it is. The only difference between Zahav’s lunch and dinner RW menus (other than the $15 price difference) is the choice of two mezze plates at dinner. Okay, we know we said we were done crunching numbers, but it seems like lunch here is an insane deal. See the Menu

Lacroix
“Seafood Tajine, Moroccan Flavors.” This dish alone has us placing Lacroix on our can’t-miss lunch places this Restaurant Week. When done right, these traditional Moroccan stews pack serious flavor and boast some seriously tender meats. And we just know chef Jason Cichonski will do it right. See the Menu

The Palm
Steak before sunset can be a slippery slope (napping at our desk is frowned upon), but we’ll make time for this crazy/awesome lunch deal at The Palm. Lunch starts with a soup or salad and ends with a slice of cheesecake or key lime pie, but it’s what’s in between that has us drooling: get a steak salad, twin tenderloins, burger (there’s also chicken and fish), and the half-and-half (half cottage fries, half fried onions) to share. See the Menu

Los Catrines & Tequilas
This three-course lunch is filled with vegetarian options, but you could also go the totally all-out route and start with nachos or chicken flautas, follow it up with beef or chicken enchiladas, and have churros for dessert. Although, we can never resist one of the best tortilla soups in the city. See the Menu