nyc restaurant week begins today

January and February are a great time to visit New York City. Not because of the weather, mind you, but once the holidays are over, it suddenly becomes a lot easier to get theater tickets to that blockbuster Broadway show.  The city's world-class museums are far less crowded. And if you're a foodie, January brings Restaurant Week--the best fortnight of affordable dining that you'll find anytime, anywhere.

NYC Restaurant week is actually almost three weeks, where scads of restaurants in Manhattan offer prix-fixe three-course tasting menus at a value price. Lunches are $29, and dinner is only $42. Some restaurants don't participate in dinner, and Saturday nights are excluded, but still--if you can snag a lunch reservation at Nobu or Gotham Bar and Grill and have a three-course meal for $29, you'd be a fool not to jump on that.

For making reservations, I really like the ease and convenience of OpenTable. They've organized all of the participating restaurants with available reservations on this page. You can log in, and line up all of your reservations for lunch and dinner for the next two weeks!  If you've always wanted to try an iconic New York City restaurant like 21 Club, Delmonico's or Tavern on the Green--this could be your best chance to hit all of those landmark restaurants without breaking the bank!

photo licensed via creative commons