Five Things: Five Restaurants to Check Out for Newport Restaurant Week

Five Things: Five Restaurants to Check Out for Newport Restaurant Week

With 38 fantastic restaurants from Newport and Bristol counties offering prix fixe menus at $30 per person for dinner (and many $16 for lunch), this year's upcoming Newport Restaurant Week is an embarrassment of riches. You've got one week. Where to begin? Here are the Five Things (and restaurants) you can't afford to miss.

Castle Hill Inn, Newport

First off, let's talk about getting a table in one of the most beautiful rooms in the state and sampling some of the finest cuisine... all for $30 per person. This special prix fixe menu shows that Newport isn't just about seafood... don't miss a tortellini starter that features slow-cooked grass-fed beef and Vermont chevre. I know I won't.

Spiced Pear, Newport

This gorgeous establishment has featured delicious (and expensive) Kobe beef dishes... here's your chance to grab it in a delicious preparation of Kobe Beef Short Rib with a Bordelaise sauce. If beef isn't your thing, you'll love wild local

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mussels revved up with lobster saffron broth and crispy fennel.

Hourglass Brasserie, Bristol

Watch out, Newport. This up and comer that opened in Fall '10 has perhaps the most appealing menu this week going. First: points for both an amuse bouche and a palette cleanser on low check. You've got my interest. Second, everything looks fabulous, from the roasted beet salad with cider vinaigrette all the way down to an intriguing chocolate fondant with chocolate milkshake espuma and mocha macaroons.

Tucker's Bistro, Newport

A wonderful way to get into one of the city's most charming spaces and sample a fun menu that takes a Newport classic like a seared Atlantic Blue Cod and spices it up with an adventurous Piquillo pepper marmalade.

Or step right out onto the wild side with a potted duck-liver mousse served with golden raisin-shallot marmalade on grilled country bread.

Persimmon, Bristol

I'll grab any chance to see what Chef Champe Speidel's doing in his kitchen, and for $30? The challenge will be in what to choose once there. A cassoulet with house-cured bacon and sausage? A braised veal breast with root vegetable and jus? Or a slow-roasted pork leg with red cabbage, apples and maple? Plus, Champe has what is my call for the dessert of this spring: panna cotta. Check it out.

Newport Restaurant Week runs March 25-April 3. For more information on every restaurant participating, plus menus and special events, go here.