Have you heard anything about 251 Lex?
No, although itās the same owner as 273Kitchen, and they got a Good in the NYT. And how often do you see goat on a restaurant week menu?
Campagna posted their menu on their website ā http://www.campagna-bedford.com/#campagna_menus. Reminder that they are only doing Monday-Thursday, although the Valley Table site still incorrectly says that theyāre doing Sunday.
Doesnāt look bad, no fish but they do have a steak. And no supplements.
Have you ever been there? We went once and the pasta was fantastic but the entrees were not. I wrote it up on CH back in the day!
I havenāt. They just got a Very Good in the NYT today (well, I guess tomorrow).
Northās menu is posted on the HVRW page. I canāt say that I am thrilled with it, but their chicken is always good, so weāll go. Kind of odd that they donāt have a fish entree like they normally have.
Cafe of Loveās menu posted on their Facebook page
So how have your meals been, Mr. Bill?
Soā¦ we went to Campagna Thursday night. It was amazing! My wife and I had the arugula salad with fennel and radish, my daughter had the bean soup. Both very good. I had been planning to get the chicken, and our waiter actually recommended it, but I decided to get a pasta since everyone (not just here) had said āif you go to Campagna, get pastaā. I had the garganelli that normally comes with prosciutto, but I donāt eat that so I got it vegetarian and it was excellent. My wife and daughter both got the steak and loved it. For dessert, we were all going to get the bombolini, but the waiter said that the mango panna cotta was really good, and I had been thinking of getting it, so I ordered the panna cotta and he made sure that my wife and daughter got an extra donut so they could share with me. The panna cotta came with coconut gelato and both were excellent. The bombolini were also great. And the waiter actually brought us an extra dessert, the caramel bar. We were so full we didnāt get to eat much of it but took it home and will have it tonight. It did have a very tasty caramel on the plate and the cardamom gelato was excellent.
Oh, and the waiter also offered to bring us gluten free bread even though we are not GF, so we took him up on it. They were served warm, really unlike anything Iād ever had, very moist and chewy inside. A tall blonde guy who I assume was the general manager stopped by and spoke to us and I mentioned how much I liked the GF roll. he said it was based on something that Thomas Keller had done. Anyway, I highly recommend asking for it. The regular bread (thick pieces of sourdough) was OK, but would have been better warmed (my only real complaint of the evening). Strangely, when it came time to get the check, their computer system was down! So the waiter comped us capuccino to encourage us to wait. In the end, it still hadnāt come up and we wanted to leave, so I had to leave my credit card information with them. Iāve never had this happen at a restaurant before.
Anyway, I highly recommend hitting Campagna for HVRW. They only do it Monday thru Thursday evenings (the HVRW website says Sundays as well but Iāve been told that is wrong). Iād even go back at regular price, and just get a couple of pastas and dessert. It was that good.
Glad you enjoyed it. When we went, and not for restaurant week, we loved the pasta but the mains fell quite short. The place is gorgeous, and I was blinded by the large diamond rings at the table next to us!!
We werenāt really close enough to other people to see their bling. We had a table under the overhang, without a lot of light (my wife and daughter werenāt happy because I needed to use the flash to take my requisite food porn photos).
We had lunch at American Bounty at the CIA today. Really great deal, since they didnāt have any surcharges for lunch and the portions were very large. Iām always confused about reviews I read on Opentable complaining about small portions here, because Iāve never experienced it. Hopefully I wonāt run into it when we go back for dinner next Saturday.
I started with the duck confit salad with honeycrisp apples and arugula. My wife had the mac and cheese with mushrooms and chicken. Both were great and very ample portions. I had the lamb chops, and it was 3 huge pieces (the server told me it was half a rack, which I thought was 4, but I guess they lost a bone). It was closer to rare than medium-rare but still excellent (and now when I reheat the leftovers they wonāt be overcooked) My wife had the short ribs which were served with tiny vegetables on top that Iād never seen before. Tiny brussel sprouts, carrots and (we think) turnips, complete with the greens on top. For dessert, my wife had the cheesecake with white chocolate, I got the ganache and pomegranate mousse. We were seated in the space right across from the open kitchen, so I spent my entire meal up until it was time to order dessert watching the pastry chefs preparing desserts to order and had an idea what everything looked like. It ruined the surprise but it did help me to decide what to order.
Service was OK, when we got there they could not find my reservation, which was odd since theyād called me yesterday to confirm. This actually mirrored a complaint I had read in a review on Opentable, apparently in that personās case they did not find it and seated them, and then got a phone call 45 minutes into their meal asking why they hadnāt shown up. In my case the hostess found the reservation on a different page, or some such. In any event, the food was excellent and it was an amazing bargain at $20.95!
The dinner menu is completely different from lunch (different instructors) with the exception of dessert. There are some surcharges, but they seem to be lower than last year (when I think they were charging an extra $12 for steak). This year itās $5 extra for the steak, $6 for lobster, $3 for foie gras, $3 for venison, no surcharge for the duck breast. I donāt like surcharges on RW menus, but if theyāre giving you their entire regular menu (as they do at the CIA), I can live with it. People who say āRestaurant Week Sucksā really need to check out this place. Of course, they probably also donāt like the CIA because it can be hit-or-miss, especially with the service. Iāve rarely had a bad experience there.
Tomorrow night, The Cookery. Then weāre doing Winstonās (I decided to try them instead of Kittle House) and Cafe of Love during the week.
The food at Winstonās is good, and restaurant week is the only time to go. We found the food to be good but not good enough to warrant the prices, which were high. I do love the dog pix though.
Soā¦ we ate at Winstonās last night. First, they tried to seat us at a table right in front of the window, crammed between that and a large party. I asked if they had anything upstairs and they took us to a table up there, much nicer. As for the food, the appetizers were excellent, I would rate them an A or even A+. I had the burrata and was shocked when it came out as a full uncut burrata. It came with surprisingly good tomato slices, red pepper, sliced onion and arugula. The burrata was excellent and I was thrilled to get a full burrata ā it reminded me of the RW meal we had at Rivermarket where I ordered it and got a quarter of one! My wife had the crabcake and shrimp spring roll combo. She said that the crab cake had plenty of crab and the spring roll was excelent. Also a very nice size portion. Things tailed off after that, especially portion size. I had the salmon. I ordered it medium-rare and was optimistic when the waiter didnāt look at me like I was speaking a foreign language (as they do when I ask for it like that at lesser restaurants) but it came out more cooked that I would have liked. I didnāt bother sending it back since it was still good and had taken a while to arrive. The portion size was relatively small and was sitting on assorted vegetables that were pretty good. My wife had the short rib. Oddly, it came out as 4 thin (and small) slices of steak (the people next to us had warned us about that) and a large (bigger than the steak/short rib) of kimchi fried rice. She said it was good, but obviously small. For dessert, we had the two desserts, the Dirty Winston Bar and the Duo of Creme Brulee. I had noticed that the normal menu had a Trio of Creme Brulee, so clearly they had cut back on that for the RW menu. I cannot find any photos of it online, but I would not be surprised if the Dirty Winston Bar portion was also smaller than normal, since it was just a relatively small square with a small-ish scoop of sorbet. It was OK, although the chocolate topping which I think was supposed to be ganache had an oddly gummy texture to it. Service was friendly but slow. Bottom line, weād go back for the appetizers but not the rest of the stuff (and yes, I do agree with your comment about it not being worth going for non-RW).
Weāre doing Cafe of Love on Thursday, then back to American Bounty for Saturday dinner and Restaurant X on Sunday (if it doesnāt snow!).
Nice report, Mr. Bill! You really do up restaurant week, itās great. Now, what is this about the s word on Sunday? It canāt! Itās my birthday and weāre going to the National. And itās spring!!!
I had a nice meal at Kittle House last night. We were going to go tomorrow night but since we are hitting up Fortina (non-RW) on Saturday (yay!) I thought it prudent to spread out our meals out this week.
We each ordered a drink well before we ordered to slow down the pace. I had a really delicious Moscow Mule, which the menu states is made with housemade ginger beer. My husband picked the pasta with tomato, ricotta and eggplant (I think). It was good but I liked my mushroom leek soup better. It was vegan but still very rich tasting from the mushroom. It, along with my entree, was a tad undersalted for my taste. We enjoyed our entrees as well. I had the lamb shank, which inexplicably came with a root vegetable instead of polenta. As I said, the seasoning was a tad mild for me but combined with the acid and salt from the escarole it was still quite good. My husbandās duck was delicious-- though it could have been a bit hotter but since they really pick up the speed with pacing during RW they may have fired it too early. (Iām a slow eater and I hate being rushed. The people behind us who arrived later than us were eating their entrees while we were still eating our appetizers. I understand the need to turn tables to make up for the lower bill per table, but the restaurant was half empty the entire time we were there so I didnāt feel guilty not wanting to choke my food down.) My ricotta cheesecake for dessert was the clear winner. It was served with a berry compote on the side but it was so delicious it didnāt need anything. My husband liked his chocolate terrine but it was too sweet for me.
Service was quite good, probably because it was a weeknight and not crowded at all. We did opt for the tap room, which I prefer, and there was a guy playing guitar. He played a lot of late 90s stuff that we liked. Heās there every Wednesday.
All in all an enjoyable RW meal!
Iām glad the service was better. We had the guitar player when we went last as well. We were sitting right behind him - it was awful. The piano player cracks me up. Last time he was there he actually played Stairway to Heaven - cocktail music style!
I like the piano player too although it can get loud in there with the weekend crowds and the music. The guitar music didnāt seem as loud, although we were situated about as far away from it as possible.
Yes, that was part of the problem the last time we went. They seated us in one of those awful little tables right behind the music and they would not budge when we complained. I doubt Iāll get my husband there again - he was very upset by that evening.
Ouch. Youāre a better man than I, Gunga Din.
I would have gotten up and left.
Fortunately, the food was very good. I love the sliders - they are so tasty! But that was in November and we have not been back.
Thanks! We went to Cafe of Love on Thursday night. I will admit that I had low expectations for my meal because the menu did not appeal to me (I donāt do beef/pork/shellfish), but my wife and daughter liked it and my daughter loves the bread pudding dessert. I ended up with a choice of the Vietnamese salad, fennel soup or goat cheese to start and the cod or root vegetable cassoulet as an entree. I like fish but cod isnāt my favorite and while the preparation sounded good (it was on the regular menu with branzino) the waiter recommended the cassoulet, as well as the soup over the salad, so thatās what I ordered. The soup was good, the cassoulet not so much, it was basically a vegetable soup with small cubed vegetables. It was better reheated as a leftover, maybe they should have cooked longer. My wife and daughter both had the goat cheese appetizer and cuban steak entree and loved both and had the almond croissant bread pudding for dessert, which was excellent as usual. For dessert I had a banana and nutella crepe and it was very good. The good news was I had a 1000 point reservation on Opentable, so between that and the 1000 point reservation from Campagna last week, I had enough for a $20 gift certificate to use at American Bounty tomorrow night.
Iām not optimistic that weāll get to Restaurant X on Sunday for dinner. I realized too late that I should have just tried to move it to tonight. Iām going to see if there are any places that do RW lunch on Sundays in my area (Northern Westchester). Thatās a possibility if I canāt get to dinner.
