Some of the dishes featured in Saratoga County Restaurant Week 2023. Photos supplied by participating restaurants.
Restaurant weeks are promotional periods during which local establishments offer a special menu at a fixed price to attract more business. To us the fixed price is key. If it’s $35 for dinner, let’s say, I want to see what the restaurant can do for that amount of money. If it’s a special entrée and accompaniments not ordinarily on the menu and the price is appealing, I’ll be there when the door opens.
Saratoga County Restaurant Week 2023, currently underway, introduces a twist: no fixed pricing. Susan Mangini, who moderates a terrific food group on Facebook, clicked on each of the 50 restaurants listed on the website and found pricing from $16 to $50. Restaurants are listed in the order they signed up so it’s not easy to find a given place you’re interested in. (The early bird, Patricia Novo, was “happy to have top billing since I worked my butt off to submit our menu in a timely fashion.” She’s a shrewd marketer as well as a great restauranteur.)
I followed Susan’s lead and found several deals I’m interested in. Eddie F’s will give you a cup of chowder, a clam strip roll with slaw and fries and a cannoli at lunch for $15; this is definitely a deal since the excellent New England style rolls are regularly $15 on their own. I’m also attracted to Fat Paulie’s offer of a sub with porchetta, fresh mozz and arugula for $12; this is a special sub not normally on the menu and they’ll throw in a soda to wash it down. At the other end of the spectrum is that $50 deal from Morton’s Steakhouse; that gets you starter, a 6 oz filet or other entrée, a side and dessert and is a relative bargain considering the 8 oz filet is $53 on its own on the regular menu. (The 8 oz steak is available for a $12 upcharge during restaurant week.)
I’m less interested in places that appear to featuring a regular menu at regular prices with a drink or a cookie thrown in; not naming names but you can find them easily on the Saratoga County Retaurant Week website. And am frustrated by Dunning Street Station, which publishes an appealing Italian menu without a price. I’d jump at the bargain at $25, probably consider it at $35, would pass at $50. That’s the frustration of a restaurant week without price categories.
Tom Thibeault, who has appeared on these pages as the purveyor and installer of our BlueStar stove, replies in Susan’s thread that “These people work so hard to bring us amazing restaurant experiences. Food pricing is at an all time high, inflation is thru the roof and there is labor shortages. Have you seen the rent in Saratoga County? If you need to nickel and dime people to eat out, you probably should re-evaluate your financial choices/short comings, and just stay home. You’re paying for so much more than the food.” All of which may be true but the issue is not the pricing but the difficulty of shopping the selection. A restaurant needs to skate the razor’s edge of attracting business without losing money, and throwing hurdles in the customer’s path doesn’t make it easier.
Do you have restaurant weeks where you live? What are your thoughts?
