Restaurant Week - February 23-28

I am happy to announce that Minneapolis/St. Paul's first restaurant week of the year is fast approaching!  If you have not participated in this joyous event or don't even know what it is, I would be happy to inform you.

You know those restaurants that are just too expensive to justify spending the money on?  Well they are precisely why you should participate in restaurant week.  Here's the deal:  some of the top, upscale restaurants in the Metro create an abbreviated menu and offer their amazing food at affordable prices.  Lunches range from $10-20 and dinners range from $15-$30.  This is usually a deep discount from their normal prices.  Included in the price is an appetizer, entree, and dessert to choose from.  This is a great way to check out the restaurant and enjoy the food without breaking the bank.

The first restaurant week experience I had was at Oceanaire.  I would probably not eat here under normal circumstances due to the price, but we decided to check it out during restaurant week last year.  I got the crab cakes for my appetizer, the swordfish for my entree, and the peach cobbler for my dessert.  Everything was completely amazing.  The restaurants generally have 2-4 items in each category to choose from.  You can also order anything else you want from the menu, but the appetizer, entree, and dessert are generally big enough portions to fill you up.

I highly recommend participating in restaurant week.  And I highly recommend getting reservations well in advance of when you want to go out.  These places fill up super quick and it's tough to get in even with a week's notice.  Check out the list of participating restaurants at this link. http://mspmag.com/Contests-And-Promotions/Folder/Restaurant-Week/ As it gets closer to restaurant week, the restaurants will start posting their menus to help you decide which ones to target.  But like I said, you might not want to wait that long to make a reservation.  I suppose you can always make a few reservations and cancel once you see the posted menus and decide on one, though.  

Again, I love this event and it's a must-do for me and my husband.

Bon apetit!