Monday, January 14, 2013

Staycation Restaurants: Le Colonial & Rouge Tomate

If you are looking to make a special weekend in NYC, there are a lot of restaurants to help you. And if you are in the city after the holiday season, Restaurant Week (which is really more of a month) is a great way to enjoy some of the best restaurants without breaking the bank.

When we made our plans to embrace a weekend in Manhattan, our highest priority was figuring out where we wanted to eat. With so many choices, it can be a bit overwhelming. Of course, picking restaurants depending on how interesting the wine menu sounds helps narrow it down a bit.

Our first pick for our staycation was Le Colonial. With our goal of a decadent vacation in our home city, the idea of embracing the opulence of Vietnamese food mixed with French colonialism seemed to fit the bill. The space was big and inviting. The service was stellar, almost as if we were colonial masters ourselves. The food was an intriguing mixture of Vietnamese and French, lending a very unique feel to the meal. And the wine menu was superb, populated with amazing French wines, at prices better than the American wines on the menu.


Rouge Tomate was a different beast entirely. There, the menu was focused on modern American food, with an emphasis on local and seasonal ingredients. The space matches the focus on modern, with the main dining room overlooking a semi-private party space below. The wine menu was huge and international, but the staff was more than willing to help with some knowledgeable recommendations.


Both restaurants were a great fit for our staycation. Not only did we have delicious food, we gained a lot of great memories at these special restaurants to help us reminisce on our "trip" when we are stuck at home.

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