Queens Restaurant Week Great Time to Visit Water's Edge

The city's recurring "restaurant weeks" are all about getting your money's worth by visiting an establishment that would ordinarily be beyond your reach; there's no sense paying $25 for a prix-fixe at a place that ordinarily charges about that about much or less, which is why the Water's Edge is an ideal choice for Queens Restaurant Week. Situated literally on the edge of the East River in Long Island City, next to Deitch Studios, the three decade-old restaurant could easily be misidentified as a private catering hall—which it is. But it is also an Asian-inflected seafood restaurant with three star ambition, and it re-opened a few weeks ago after an extensive face-lift.

While the Water's Edge might sound like a Crispin Glover movie and look like the sort of the place you'd want your parents to take you when they're paying (the restaurant smartly operates a free ferry service from the east side of Manhattan), it's actually not outrageously priced even outside of Restaurant Week, considering the high quality of the ingredients. On Mondays and Tuesdays, the restaurant offers a five course tasting menu with wine pairings for $50 per person, which begins with Lobster Bisque and proceeds through Duck Confit Spring Rolls, Goat Cheese Ravioli, and Mushroom-Miso Crusted Rack of Lamb, finally concluding with a dessert sampler.

But during Queens Restaurant Week, which ends tomorrow, Chef Rory O’Farrell's $25, three course dinner menu features an entree option that normally costs $32: the Kurobuta Pork Chop with Sweet Potato Hash, Sundried Cranberry Apricot Compote. (The other entree option is the succulent Baby Artichoke Crusted Salmon with Turnip Puree, Spaghetti Squash, Saffron Broth, normally $27.) If you make a reservation, be sure to request a window seat because the view is spectacular. (On weekends there's live piano music, with, mercifully, no singing.) And save room for the bread, which is all made in-house and is phenomenal.