Summer Restaurant Week is on! Through July 31, out of the 250+ eateries participating, we bring you a crib sheet to our favorites.
Butter
415 Lafayette Street near Astor Place; 212-253-2828; http://www.butterrestaurant.com
Why: It looks like a sleek newfangled lounge, with its mod woodland motif and recessed lighting and glass surfaces, but the goods coming out of this kitchen (at the hand of chef Alexandra Guarnaschelli) are surprisingly homey: Lots of greenmarket-fresh veg, homemade pâtés and the like.
What to order off the RW menu: At lunch, hit up the shrimp-and-summer-pea ravioli with mint or house-made organic sausage, followed by the sautéed Florida grouper or the ricotta, mozzarella, and zucchini tart. For dinner, beeline for Butter’s homemade charcuterie plate (which includes duck mortadella and their popular-since-day-one chicken liver on toast with aged balsamic) to start, and then try the wild spinach and dandelion tortellini with lemon and crème fraîche (or the short ribs). The dessert menu alone will cause crippling indecision: dark chocolate tart with burnt sugar caramel, or crème caramel with roasted strawberries? (See the full menus here.)
During Restaurant Week, lunch at participating establishments is $24.07, dinner $35.00. Reserve early.
See our previous Restaurant Week picks.
