The restaurant scene in Portsmouth just keeps getting better. Whether you are looking for a Game of Thrones inspired menu (yes, you read that right) or a New England-influenced Mexican spread from a James Beard nominated chef, the city has you covered.
Find these delicacies and so much more during the Spring 2019 Restaurant Week, Portsmouth & the Seacoast. From March 28 to April 6, more than 40 restaurants are offering special three-course prix-fixe menus at just $16.95 for lunch or $29.95 for dinner per person.
“Portsmouth restaurant week is always something to look forward to,” says David Vargas, chef/owner of Vida Cantina and semifinalist for the 2019 James Beard Awards in the best chef in the Northeast category. “It seems each season we have more chefs and restaurants coming to town and opening up amazing restaurants. Diversity in the kitchen and on the plate is great for the community.”
Selections on Vargas’s menu for the week, inspired by Mexican Chef James Beard semifinalists around the country, include a salad of hibiscus and beets and lamb Barbacoa tacos.
Vargas isn’t the only Beard nominee on the menu for restaurant week – this is the fifth semifinal nomination for Evan Mallett at Black Trumpet, where guests can choose from items like cider-poached mussels, pot roast steak, and finish with a warm sticky toffee pudding for dessert.
Want to mark the last season of Game of Thrones? Check out Matt Louis’ menu at Moxy (he’s no stranger to Beard nominations himself, with nods in 2015 and 2016). The menu includes the “House Greyjoy, ruler of the ocean” offering of pan roasted cod and squid ink-braised cabbages, and the “House Baratheon, lush” entrée of drunken boar bangers and mash and red wine and anise boar sausage. Themed cocktails include the Dragon’s Blood, with Barr Hill Gin and smoked tea.
At Cava, there are four courses on the menu, with a sweet finish of Kristen’s Famous Churros (pictured above).
More than 40 restaurants around the Seacoast – in Portsmouth, Durham, Hampton, New Castle, Rye, Exeter, and Kittery, Maine – are participating over these ten days, but reservations are recommended, as space fills up fast.
For the full list of participating restaurants and menus, visit http://www.goportsmouthnh.com/where-to-eat/restaurant-week/.