MANHATTAN — Hungry patrons will be salivating in Manhattan's top eateries starting Monday as famous foodies like restaurateur Danny Meyer and Top Chef's Manuel Trevino heat things up for the city's 20th annual Restaurant Week.
Three-course prix fix lunches for $24.07 and dinners priced at $35 await at more than 300 restaurants during the annual gourmet food showcase which actually lasts more than a week, ending on February 10.
The extended run is in celebration of the 20th anniversary, and gives diners nearly a month to discover new favorites in the city.
“Maialino is excited to participate in Restaurant Week which provides us with a wonderful opportunity to meet new guests and make new friends - many of whom haven't yet experienced our restaurant," said superstar restaurateur Danny Meyer about his new Gramercy Park-based eatery.
"Our team will be working hard to delight them with the aim of turning first-timers into regulars.”
This is Maialino's second year sharing their Roman Italian cookery, hand-crafted by executive chef Nick Anderer using fresh, seasonal produce from the nearby Union Square Greenmarket.
This year, Anderer aims to show off more of the eatery's four-star gastronomy, a mouth-watering mix of freshly made pastas, roast suckling pig charcuterie dishes and market-fresh salads.
"Each time we do Restaurant Week the menu gets bigger," Anderer said, boasting about a new selection that provides eight entree choices. "We can show off a little bit more, because we have more offerings and we're bigger than ever before."
For Top Chef alum and executive chef Manuel Trevino, Restaurant Week is about promoting his new role at Marble Lane, the eatery that opened over the summer in the Dream Downtown Hotel. Trevino says that he looks forward to sharing the dishes’ design and artistry as much as their flavor.
“When the clients see the dishes they say, ‘Wow.’ We want that effect,” Trevino said. “During Restaurant Week, people will get to know what we're doing in here."
For their first Restaurant Week menu, Trevino will serve some of the restaurant’s signature dishes, including olive crusted salmon and peekytoe crabcakes, made with pretzels and potato chips.
Marble Lane isn't the only hot spot new to Restaurant Week this year. The Gansevoort Park Hotel's new restaurant Asellina also aims to bring attention to innovative recipes.
Its first Restaurant Week menu, created by executive Chef Marco Porceddu, includes signature herb-based dishes, including basil-infused goat cheese ravioli and sun-dried tomato sorbet.
"The key ingredient is love. For everything we do here," chef Chris Hartnett said after cooking items from Porceddu's Restaurant Week menu.
Asellina and other new restaurants are as excited about the business end of Restaurant Week as they are about making their best dishes. According to OpenTable.com, more than 200,000 diners were seated during the 2011 promotion.
"I think it's a great concept, in this neighborhood particularly," Hartnett added about Restaurant Week at the Kips Bay-located restaurant. "It's not as high-powering as the other neighborhoods in the city, but I really think that Restaurant Week will pack the house."
While a lot of restaurants aim to dress up their dishes for the new clientele, chef Stan Matusevich of Fish Tag aims to show off the down-to-earth, experimental atmosphere and raw bar seafood that the restaurant has built its reputation with.
Fish Tag was opened by Anthos' executive chef Michael Psilakis last November.
Some of the dishes Matusevich enjoys producing include bronzino stuffed with pig's head cheese and just-caught-fresh diver scallop ceviche, garnished with pomella, a grapefruit-like citrus.
"People love the experience here," executive chef Matuseich said. "Our food can be really quirky, but it's always really good."
Click here see a complete list of restaurants participating in Restaurant Week this year.
