Hudson Valley Restaurant Week 2010

I may be a little late, but the list of participating restaurants has been posted for 2010 Hudson Valley Restaurant Week, March 15-28th (enjoy a three-course, prix-fixe lunch for $20 and dinner for $28 at participating restaurants). I’d advise making your reservations now, as this event has risen steadily in popularity over the years—spots fill up quickly, especially Friday evenings at the more well-known restaurants.

What are the more well-known restaurants, you ask? Well, perhaps more important than ‘well-known,’ is finding the restaurant that will give you the best bang for your buck. For instance, everyone’s favorite new restaurant The Cookery is on the list, yet dishes on their current menu are such a great value, a pre-fixe menu could potentially be more money—for less options. No, my game plan each and every Restaurant Week is to test out the places that could make a real dent in my wallet without the discount. Somewhere I’ve been curious to try, but not necessarily curious enough where I would want to deal with the hefty bill that would follow. Here are some “high curiosity” places: 42, The American Bounty at the Culinary Institute of America, Crabtree’s Kittle House, Equus at the Castle on the Hudson, Harvest on Hudson, Iron Horse Grill, La Panetiere, Ruth Chris’s Steak House, and X20 Xaviars on the Hudson.

What’s missing? Would’ve been nice to see Richard Gere’s Bedford Post Inn on the list, as well as Tarry Lodge.

Also, I suppose I should address last Restaurant Week. If you remember my report from last time around, I was admittedly a crankypants. […but rightly so, I still say! Is it wrong to expect the same level of quality and service from a restaurant? Should hidden fees be tacked on only during Restaurant Week to make up for the discounted price? Why bother participating at all in Restaurant Week if that’s your game?] But what’s done is done. I’m putting on my glass-is-half-full cap, and hoping for the best this time around. This girl still loves a good deal, and if she doesn’t get one, she can always complain about it here.

So where am I going? Right now, I’m sitting on reservations at X20 Xaviars on the Hudson and Harvest on Hudson. I’ve been to X20 twice in the past—once for Restaurant Week (nice, but the offered dishes all seemed very similar to one another, and we sat upstairs—just not as fun as downstairs) and the other time was for my friend’s 30th birthday (extraordinary—and our tab was actually less than when our same group did The Melting Pot’s “Big Night Out”). Hopefully, they’ll vary up the menu a bit this time around; also, I requested to sit downstairs.

As for Harvest on Hudson, can you believe I’ve never been? I hear such great things about this restaurant, and I’m looking forward to finally testing it out. The lady on the phone was confused when I said I wanted to make a reservation for Restaurant Week. Apparently, Harvest currently has a pre-fixe $28 menu, which they serve Monday through Friday. So, my reservation actually goes against the whole strategy I shared with you above. We’ll see if it sticks. I’m curious to try La Panetiere, so maybe I’ll swap.

Where are you going? What are you most excited to try?