No need to ride the train into New York City to take advantage of top-notch, highly ranked restaurant discounts during the anticipated NYC restaurant week. Now to experience the satisfaction of restaurant week, all you need is your limited college student budget and a ride into town on the StagBus, which will be running every half hour from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. this week instead of the usual 45 minute increment.
The town of Fairfield is hosting its first ever restaurant week, featuring over 30 restaurants with price-fixed discounted $10 and $15 lunches and $20 and $30 dinners, among other discounted items on their menus. Restaurant week started on Sunday, Oct. 14, and will continue through Saturday, Oct. 20.
This is the time to take out that limited student cash flow and put it toward a meal other than Barone, the Stag or Angelo’s turnovers.
Several of the restaurants featured are well-known and visited by Fairfield students, such as Colony Grill, Archie Moore’s, Centro and Wild Rice. But there is a new twist to these student frequented hot spots, such as a $10 dinner at Archie’s and two pizzas and two Heineken drafts for $20 at Colony Grill.
“It is nice to be a part of it,” said Mike Swezey, manager of Colony Grill. “Restaurant week helps the town bring in more people and excitement.”
While some students may choose to stick with their familiar eateries, others may take advantage of the restaurants that are usually beyond their college budget, such as 55 Wine Bar & Restaurant, Osianna, Bonda and Old Post Tavern.
“It’s a great opportunity for a great meal on a college budget,” said restaurant week participant Gabriel Garcia ’13.
Zagat, a food, décor, service and money reviewer of restaurants worldwide from New York to Beijing, rates these categories on a scale from zero to 30 and provides an estimated price per person. Bonda received a 27 overall for food, 22 for décor, 25 for service and $55 per person, while Osianna received a 25 overall for food, 21 for décor, 23 for service and $44 per person.
And for this week only, one could indulge in a $30 price-fixed, three course meal at Bonda, offering dishes such as pan-roasted arctic char and fettuccine with a three-meat and porcini ragu. Osianna’s restaurant week menu has dishes such as beef skirt steak and fettuccine with ossobuco.
“As a college student trying to save money, I get to experience finer dining that I might not get to enjoy otherwise,” said Kathryn Staudt, a student at Iona College who was visiting Fairfield for the weekend.
With its wide range in cultural cuisines, Fairfield is bringing together its diversified palette, ready to show visitors its true culinary chops.
“It’s a great way to bring in different people from different towns to a beautiful town,” said the manager of Old Post Tavern, who believes restaurant week is a good deal and a way to try different foods.
Old Post Tavern is offering a $15 three-course lunch and $30 three-course dinner, featuring dishes such as pumpkin ravioli, organic salmon and jumbo lump crab cake.
Resident of Fairfield and Operations Assistant at Fairfield University Susan Victor is very excited about Restaurant Week and her upcoming $20 dinner at Quattro Pazzi, which features a “price-fixed menu that is very alluring.”
“It’s an affordable way to get together with friends,” says Victor. For people who haven’t been able to eat at some of these restaurants, Victor finds the Restaurant Week prices to be a great incentive.
Restaurant Week also features a passport promotion, which is available at participating restaurants. The passports will be stamped at each restaurant visited, and once the passport has been stamped from two or more places, the holder is eligible for a raffle drawing with the top prize of a night’s stay with deluxe accommodations at Southport Delamar.
More information about the passport program, participating restaurants and various lunch and dinner menus are available online at www.fairfieldct.org/rw.
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