The official Bethesda Restaurant Week happened earlier this summer, but Bethesda Row, the glossy new street mall of upscale shops and restaurants, is putting on a promotion of its own. Today through Sunday, September 27, nine restaurants—including Redwood, Assaggi, and Lebanese Taverna—will offer two-course lunches for $12 and three-course dinners for $30. The menus aren’t as generous as the ones you’ll find during the official Restaurant Week (you could eat your way through plenty of house salads)—but check out the menus below.
• Assaggi
The rustic, regionally inspired plates here are evocative of the trattorias of Italy.
Lunch main courses: Agnolli pasta filled with broccoli rabe and served with butter-and-sage sauce; trout filet with asparagus, calamari, and baby tomatoes.
Lunch dessert: Seasonal-fruit cake with vanilla sauce; tiramisu.
Dinner appetizers: Iceberg-lettuce salad with walnuts, cherry tomatoes, Gorgonzola cheese, and lemon vinaigrette; soup of the day; pan-seared Italian sausage with braised lentils.
Dinner main courses: Veal stew with polenta; pan-seared sea bass with braised escarole.
Dinner desserts: Fig cake; tiramisu.
• Delhi Dhaba
The dinner menus at this Indian chainlet include a free glass of house wine.
Lunch appetizers: Soup of the day; house salad; chicken tikka masala.
Lunch main courses: Soup of the day; house salad; lamb curry.
Dinner menu one: Samosa or chicken tikka; fish curry; gulab jamun.
Dinner menu two: Samosa or chicken tikka; lamb boti kabob; rasmadi.
• Lebanese Taverna
The latest outpost of this Middle Eastern eatery (7141 Arlington Rd.) is serving an array of lunchtime sandwiches.
Lunch appetizer: House salad.
Lunch main courses: Choice of any sandwich platter—shawarma; chicken shawarma; falafel; kafta (ground-beef-and-lamb patties); maanek (beef-and-lamb sausages with lemon butter); samak (grilled marinated fish); sujok (beef-and-lamb sausages with spicy tomato).
• Le Pain Quotidien
This Belgian boulangerie chain is offering a choice of its tartines (a.k.a. sandwiches).
Lunch appetizers: Gazpacho; soup of the day.
Lunch second courses: Mesclun salad; vegetable ceviche.
Lunch main courses: Roasted-turkey tartine with herb dressing; aged-Gruyère tartine with trio of mustards.
• Mon Ami Gabi
This French-bistro chain (7239 Woodmont Ave.) throws in a free dessert at lunch.
Lunch appetizers: Soup of the day; house salad.
Lunch main courses: Cod sandwich on brioche with frites; croque monsieur; spinach-and-Brie crepe.
Lunch dessert: Profiterole.
Dinner appetizers: Boston-lettuce salad; baked cheese and tomato; country-style pâté; soup of the day.
Dinner main courses: Trout grenobloise; steak frites; chicken paillard.
Dinner desserts: White-chocolate bread pudding with caramel sauce and ice cream; warm flourless chocolate cake; profiteroles.
• Raku
The dinner choices at this shoebox-size pan-Asian place are wide.
Lunch menu one: Seaweed salad or grilled-chicken salad; sushi assortment.
Lunch menu two: Mesclun salad or Gorgonzola salad; soft-shell-crab tempura with seafood gumbo.
Dinner: Choice of three courses from the dinner menu.
• Redwood
This market-inspired restaurant throws in a free dessert at lunch.
Lunch and dinner appetizers: Market lettuce salad; soup of the day.
Lunch main courses: Rotisserie-chicken-salad sandwich; pasta of the day; pizza of the day.
Lunch dessert: Daily dessert surprise.
Dinner main courses: Wood-grilled hanger steak; market fish selection.
Dinner desserts: Chocolate bread pudding; cream-cheese/apple/walnut crumble.
• Tara Thai
A few Thai standards show up on the lunch menu at this local chain (4828 Bethesda Ave.).
Lunch appetizers: Chicken curry puff; Thai shrimp-and-cellophane-noodle soup.
Lunch main courses: Green-papaya salad; shrimp-and-chicken fried rice.
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Ann Limpert joined Washingtonian in late 2003. She was previously an editorial assistant at Entertainment Weekly and a cook in New York restaurant kitchens, and she is a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education. She lives in Petworth.
