In addition to a stop on the L train, Grand Street in East Williamsburg is also an unofficial restaurant row. Starting Feb. 18, the Sixth Annual Grand Street Restaurant Week offers diners special prix fixe menus at 15 restaurants, with lunch and dinner options.
Unlike the larger (and pricier) New York City Restaurant Week with its $42 dinners, Grand Street Restaurant week has a variety of price ranges and lasts for two weeks. Lunch menus start at $9.95 and dinner ranges from $12 Indian food to three-course meals for $35 at restaurants like AmmazzaCaffe, known for its homemade pasta, and Thompson Brooke, a new seafood restaurant and wine bar with special menu items just for restaurant week.
Reservations are recommended but not required, especially at lunch, and many of the restaurants are casual, especially on weekdays.
The Winter Grand Street Restaurant Week goes until March 3 and there is a second restaurant week in the summer.
The Grand Street Business Improvement District (BID), which runs Restaurant Week, is excited to launch the sixth year of the event. Executive Director Erin Piscopink told Bushwick Daily, “Since our first restaurant week, we have added more restaurants, host an additional Restaurant Week in the summer, and have extended the length of the restaurant weeks. The events are a really good way for people to try new Grand Street restaurants or try new items at old favorites.”
All restaurants in the BID (which covers Grand Street between Union Avenue and Bushwick Avenue) are eligible to participate.
Bushwick Daily recommends visiting Le Barricou, a French restaurant with a cozy back room made for lingering over a glass of wine. Their $35 restaurant week menu includes moules frites and coq a vin, the famous French chicken cooked in wine.
For old school Italian, Desy’s Clam Bar has fried calamari and chicken or eggplant parm on their $30 dinner menu.
There are two great Mexican options, Los Tacos McOndo and Grand Morelos, both serving lunch and dinner. With two weeks to take advantage, you could visit both. At Tacos McOndo, try a cemita after your starter of mini nachos and order a margarita from the bar.
The variety is a major part of the appeal for Piscopink, who couldn’t possibly choose a favorite participating restaurant. “I would encourage people to visit multiple restaurants to get a full sense of Grand Street,” he said. “There are restaurants like Bahia and Grand Morelos that have been neighborhood mainstays for years but might feel like hidden gems to newcomers. Then there are places like Ammazzacafe that has a great, specialized menu for Restaurant Week; Le Barricou which is so cozy; and Masha and the Bear with delicious Russian food and house-infused vodka.”
The BID is running an Instagram giveaway for a $50 gift certificate to a Grand Street Restaurant. Diners can enter by posting a restaurant week meal, tagging @GrandStreetBID and using #DineOnGrand. That’s enough for dinner for two at some of the venues, or two lovely lunches.
The restaurants are all a short walk from the Grand Street L stop or a nice bike ride away from Bushwick. After your meal, you can grab a drink at nearby bars like The Huckleberry, known for its cocktails, or Bushwick Country Club, said to be the best first bar to serve picklebacks.
Cover photo courtesy of Le Barricou.