This winter’s Newport Beach Restaurant Week seeks to tempt diners to return in the future, with a special Bounce Back promotion. Diners at select participating restaurants during the run of the event will receive a card good for 20% off their future meal through March 15. There is no limit to the number of Gratuity Cards that can be earned; each person at the table receives one card.
Participating restaurants range from casual to high-end; for many patrons, the weeklong program is a chance to dine at eateries that are otherwise out of their price range.
The First Cabin at the Balboa Bay Club & Resort, for example, is thought to have one of the best meal-with-a-view experiences in the area. A 12-ounce New York steak costs $41; a rack of lamb will set diners back $42.
But the $35 Restaurant Week dinner menu offers a choice of first courses like a Belgian endive salad or Portobello mushroom ravioli; entrees like crab-filled lemon sole or butter-seared filet mignon; and desserts like Grand Marnier bread pudding a la mode or a flourless chocolate torte.
Diners also may choose to be adventurous and try a cuisine with which they’re unfamiliar.
A $25 dinner at Mayur Cuisine of India features courses like mulligatawny soup; rogan josh, a lamb curry; and kulfi, a cardamom-flavored, ice-cream-like dessert.
Sol Cocina is a new kid on the block, but the gourmet Mexican establishment already is drawing praise. Diners can try it out with a $15 lunch that includes choices like spinach verdolagas salad; a carne asada torta; and obleas cookies, addicting shortbread confections filled with dulce de leche and dipped in dark chocolate.
Reservations are encouraged, and are available for many of the restaurants at newportbeachdining.com; walk-ins also are welcome, and no passes or tickets are required to participate.
If You Go
What: Newport Beach Restaurant Week
When: Jan. 22 to 28
Where: Throughout Newport Beach
Cost: Lunch $15 or $20; dinner $20 or $35
