Newport Restaurant Week starts Nov. 1 with 10 days of fixed price lunch and dinner menus and other discounts at a whopping 65 restaurants in Newport, Middletown, Portsmouth, Jamestown, Barrington, Bristol and Warren. So many deals, so little time.
Here’s a sampling of offerings for every palate and budget.
For the highbrows among you, $60 dinners are in the offing at toney spots like Flora, whose three-course menu is autumn heavy. Appetizers like chorizo and Shitake croquetas, wild mushroom soup and cinnamon pumpkin salad are the lead-in options to a choice of chicken paillard with mixed greens, plancha blackened salmon with arugula salad, and grilled lemon, shitake and garlic rigatoni with Pecorino. Basque style cheesecake, sticky toffee pudding or house made ice creams are the finishers.
At Midtown Oyster Bar, fresh fish and seafood are the stars for every season, and a $60 three-course RW dinner offers tuna tartare, a mini raw bar sampler or cod chowder to start, pan seared Halibut with Israeli couscous and Ahi tuna Poke as on-theme entrees, and a landlubbers option of red wine-braised short ribs with garlic mashed potatoes. Key lime pie or chocolate mousse served with Baileys Chantilly cream are what’s for dessert.
The Café at Chanler is so fancy, you’ll get just two courses for your $60, but more choices. Entree options include Atlantic swordfish loin with kale, apples, pumpkin and pepitas, a roasted half Green Circle chicken with spinach, parsnip and jus, and beef tenderloin served with a green salad, house fries and natural jus, along with two vegetarian options and their Chanler burger.
Speakeasy may have one of the best deals of the dozens in Newport. You can choose your $45, two-course deal from the entirety of their menu. Baked oysters au gratin is a decadent and luscious starter among many, and with choices like pan roasted duck breast and leg confit with truffle demi-glace, grilled filet mignon with Stilton cheese butter and port wine sauce, and a double-thick grilled pork loin chop with caramelized Balsamic onions and bacon among the many tasty options for entrées, it’s hard to beat.
Fig and goat cheese or bacon and caramelized onion crostini are two of the appetizers being offered at Malt, along with a pear and beet salad or clam chowder, followed by grilled Atlantic salmon, Smithwick’s battered fish and chips, braised Angus short ribs or butternut squash ravioli. For dessert, Tiramisu or sorbet round out the $45 menu.
Pasta Fagioli, mussels in white wine, osso bucco, pumpkin ravioli and more are part of the Sardella’s $45 menu, but you’ll only pay $30 for Vieste’s two-courser of mussels, mozzarella-stuffed arancini, bruschetta, or Caesar salad followed by gnocchi pomodoro, penne Bolognese, chicken piccata over spaghetti, or the fresh catch of the day.
Lively Diegos Barrio Cantina in Middletown includes an adult beverage, with a choice of a freshly mixed margarita, spicy Paloma, white peach sangria, select beer or wine, or a mocktail or soda with its three-course, $45 meal of Mexican specialties.
If you can sneak out at midday, The Quencher, the Wharf Southern Kitchen and the very Irish Busker’s have $20 two-course, stick-to-your-ribs lunch menus, while Mother Pizzeria has a salad and pizza lunch for two for $30.
RW is a great way for food fans to save some cash before the holidays hit. Make a rezzie and enjoy.
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