Did someone say “Restaurant Week”? Woo-hoo! We’re all over it. Sign us up!
The City of Homes is holding its first Restaurant Week, April 23 through May 2. The event, organized by the Springfield Young Professional Citizens Committee, gives restaurants a chance to showcase their chow for cheap. Bold move, Springfield. Sharing the city’s downtown food scene is a very good thing, especially since the 18 participating restaurants range from steakhouse to Indian restaurant to Southern-fried soul kitchen.
For the event, each restaurant will feature a special menu: a prix fixe two-course (or, in some cases, three-course) dinner for $20.15. We plan to enjoy a bunch of good eats during this promotion, but here are a handful of tantalizing items we’re particularly looking forward to sampling:
APPETIZERS
Sausage and gorgonzola stuffed mushrooms, Adolfo’s Ristorante
Oven-roasted Italian sausage and pungent Italian cheese inside a warm chewy bite of mushroom makes our taste buds go “Mmmm… umami!”
Duck wings with bourbon barbecue sauce, 350 Grill Steak House
If we were ducks, and we had to give up our delicious selves to a good cause, we’d want to do it for a steakhouse that knows what it’s doing. Going down covered in bourbon and spices ain’t a raw deal either.
ENTREES
Chicken Roulade, Picks Restaurant
If a piece of chicken pounded flat and rolled up seems like it might not be worth dining on, just wait until it’s stuffed with pilaf, chorizo sausage, Spanish manchego cheese, pureed tomato, and — lord help us — bacon apple jam. Now who’s hungry?
Lamb Vindaloo, Panjabi Tadka
If you ask us, the litmus test for a good Indian restaurant is the vindaloo. Be warned: this super-spicy hot dish is not for the faint of heart. But if you enjoy feeling your pores open up and your tongue do battle with a mighty strong curry, try this one on for size.
DESSERTS
Classic New Orleans Bread Pudding, Chef Wayne’s Big Mamou
The atmosphere in Chef Wayne Hooker’s Cajun eatery is warm and sweet. We’re hoping the bread pudding there is the same way. Given how rich and flavorful the rest of the menu is, we certainly have our hopes up.
Funni Bone, Plan B Burger
We don’t understand the name of this dessert, but that hardly matters when you realize what it is: double chocolate cake filled with peanut butter mousse and topped with chocolate ganache. Let us summarize. That’s chocolate, chocolate, peanut butter, and chocolate — our four favorite food groups.•
