February 26th-March 2nd 2012

Restaurant week is a chance for you to get out of your box and try a new restaurant in mpls or St. Paul. I have participated in this food fest over and over again and I have never been disappointed. It is a great reason to get together friends that you haven’t seen for awhile to eat a 30 dollar dinner or 15 dollar lunch. A steal for most of the restaurants listed. They want you to enjoy your meal so that you come back.

Your best bet for this restaurant week is: Saffron. Order the Lamb “Cassoulet” 2.0. You can’t go wrong with slow cooked lamb. The curried potato soup looks great as well. Saffron is not skimping on the ingredients with lobster and lamb.  Bring friends with and order all the dishes so you can try them all! There is not a dish on the restaurant week menu that I wouldn’t order. They also offer add on’s and wine pairings. If you have a little extra cash I would go for it.

Unfortunately, most of Saffron’s reservations are full at this point. But, there are other restaurants that always shine as well. I will be attending D’amico Kitchen for lunch sometime this week. Look forward to my posting.

Cafe and Bar Lurcat is a must. I have only heard the best from their restaurant weeks.  The Capital Grill is a great place to have a fancy dinner if you like steak. This would be one to get your husband or boyfriend to go to who wouldn’t normally get caught dead in a fancy restaurant. I wouldn’t order the salmon there but as someone who does not order steak I tried the entire menu last restaurant week and loved them all. You cannot go wrong. They also put out the same menu for restaurant week so if you miss it this time, it will be the same menu next time. I liked it enough to go back again. Also, make sure you don’t order your steak well-done. The Capital Grill knows how to cook this quality meat correctly, he will never want to go to Applebees again. Dress to impress there.

Restaurant week can be a bust though. There are a few restaurants on the list that I would not pay 30 dollars for a dinner at. Their normal menu items are not above that price range so why would I go there to get a more expensive meal? I have discovered a few places that I liked but didn’t end up eating from the restaurant week menu because it seemed silly. Bradstreet Crafthouse was one of those places. I discovered an amazing drink menu and some great appetizers. But, spending the money for the menu was not worth it.

I make wishes every year to see La Belle Vie do Restaurant week again. I am always disappointed when the list comes out without them on it. I am sure they are NOT having a hard time filling tables. But, it would be nice of them to make it more accessible to those mpls residents who currently are not foodies. It would be fun to see a menu with drink pairings with it.  Spill the Wine, Manny’s and Heidi’s would be nice to see on the list as well.

Get out there this week and eat some good food. Tell me about it!

#mnrestaurantweek

@mplsgossipgirl