I don’t know about you, but I try to experience as many restaurants as I can when it’s restaurant week – enjoying the reasonably priced price-fix menus. In New Haven, many of my friends quickly book a table for each day and then call friends to fill each of their reservations. If you don’t book once the dates are announced, you often find it difficult to get a table.

In New York City, it’s the same. Restaurant week ran from January 25 to February 7 this winter.Sophie's Chopped Salad I was lucky to book early at Mesa Grill, as when I got there the place was bustling with every table filled and many folks waiting to enjoy the three-course $24.07 meal. (I learned that the price was set to reflect that NYC is open 24/7.)

We began with Sophie’s Chopped Salad, a blend of garbanzo and kidney beans, cheese chunks, romaine, Salmon Tartaretomatoes and blue and yellow corn chips in a lightly spicy dressing. Our other dish — a spicy Salmon Tartare atop a crispy hominy cake, topped with avocado and a delicate hot sauce — was the favorite of the two.

We chose a Sauvignon Blanc Tiara, Limari Valley Chile,2009 ($35) to accompany our meal, as it was one of the restaurant week wine specials selected by Mesa Grill’s sommelier to compliment the price-fix menu offerings.

For entrees we indulged in a cornmeal crusted Chile Relleno filled with roasted eggplant and manchego cheese, served over a sweet red pepper sauce. The piece of the crust Chile RellenoI sampled was bland — that is until I tried it with the chile relleno. I found it perfectly seasoned for the flavor explosion of the dish.

Our favorite, though, was the smoked chicken and black bean quesadilla, topped with avocado, toasted garlic slivers and a crème fraiche (fresh cream). One bite stopped the conversation as a burst of flavor from the Quesadilla smoky chicken hit my tongue. Delightful. (So good, in fact, that I directed an email to Bobby Flay suggesting he put this incredible dish on his regular menu.)

Definitely worth the visit — whether it had been restaurant week or not.

– bonnie

Mesa Grill
www.mesagrill.com
102 5th Avenue
New York, NY 10011
212-807-7400

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