NYC Restaurant Week lunch is a far better deal than dinner

Skate Wing with Chickpea Puree, Roasted Vegetables and Arugula at Fulton, a Manhattan restaurant owned by Citarella.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Fulton -- named after the famous fish market of the same name -- is a restaurant from Citarella, known for upscale markets selling pristine seafood, meat and produce.

The Upper East Side restaurant also is one of hundreds offering three-course lunches for $25 and three-course dinners for $38 during the city's semi-annual Restaurant Week, which ends Aug. 15.

Lunch is a far better value, as I discovered at dinner on Wednesday at Fulton, where the two fixed-price menus are virtually identical.

I enjoyed my meal: An appetizer of the tenderest octopus I have ever had, a generous portion of skate wing with roasted vegetables and two kinds of sorbet to finish.

The restaurant is just around the corner from a Citarella market on Third Avenue.

An appetizer of Grilled Octopus with Potato, Chermoula and Cured Lemon. The waiter said the octopus is tenderized for three hours in boiling water, and it showed. 

Moroccan marinade, stacked skate 

The octopus was marinated in chermoula, a Moroccan seafood sauce made with cilantro, parsley, garlic and other ingredients. 

Two pieces of local skate wing were stacked with chickpea puree and roasted vegetables.

Skate is normally tender, which this one was, but some of it was annoyingly chewy and stringy.

I left a 15% tip, and took advantage of an American Express promotion during Restaurant Week by registering my card and using it to pay for the meal, giving me a statement credit of $5.

That brought the cost of dinner down to $33, plus tip and tax. As I was leaving, the hostess handed me two cookies.

Still, I plan to stick with lunch during the rest of Summer Restaurant Week.

Mango and raspberry sorbet with fresh mint leaves. Fulton's Restaurant Week dinner menu offers tiramisu, but I asked the waiter for something lighter and to tell the kitchen not to cook my food with butter. 

Bread service: Crusty rolls and extra-virgin olive oil.

You can't tell from the dining room, but Fulton was busy on Wednesday evening, with most customers sitting at outside tables, enjoying $1 oysters and $6 glasses of prosecco during Happy Hour, below.

Happy Hour menu.

Fulton Restaurant, 205 E. 75th St., New York, N.Y.; 1-212-288-6600. 

Web site: Citarella's seafood restaurant