62. March 14th, 2011 Picture.

All the girls at BCG [the department where I work] decided to go out to lunch at Eastern Standard during Restaurant Week.  Restaurant Week happens twice a year, for 2 weeks in the middle of March and 2 weeks in the middle of August, which just so happens ALWAYS falls on my birthday!  This time, our choice was between two restaurants within walking distance to our office, and obviously Eastern Standard won for many reasons, mainly because it's awesome.

There were about 7 of us and we were seated in a big round booth, making it really easy for all of us to talk to each other.  There are usually so many of us at lunches that we are stuck at a long table, which inevitably divides the table up into 2 conversations.  Sitting at a big round booth made it easier for all of us to chat together.   

I love restaurant week because you get to go to some pretty nice restaurants, eat some great food, and not break the bank. The prix fixe lunch menu is $20.11, and includes a first course, second course and dessert.  I opted for the arugula salad, followed by gnocchi with spinach and the lemon mousse for dessert.

The salad was your basic baby arugula salad, but it was so yummy.  I love arugula and could pretty much eat it every single day.  Ratty think's I'm nuts but I add a ton of ground pepper to my salads, as if arugula wasn't peppery enough.

The last time I had Eastern Standards gnocchi I was underwhelmed, I thought it was a bit heavy and tasted almost burnt.  Thankfully this time around it was MUCH better, plus it was the perfect portion size.  I didn't need to take a nap under my desk after, a la George Constanza!

As I've gushed before, I love Eastern Standards Bread Pudding, and I was really disappointed it wasn't on their restaurant week menu.  I feel like it's a signature dessert at this point, and should have been on there.  Sadly, the people running the show didn't agree with me, so I opted for the lemon mousse instead.  It was super tart, as expected, but I loved the mousse with the whipped cream and a little bit of the cookie.  I definitely needed something crunchy in there to cut the tart/sweetness, so it was a great mix.  I'd admit that once the cookie was gone, I stopped eating.  If only it was that easy to stop eating every time!

The only thing missing at this lunch was a big Old Cuban in my hand, but maybe next time we'll all have to do a restaurant week dinner instead!