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Where To Eat At During Newport Beach Restaurant Week 2017

More than 60 Newport-based restaurants will take part in this year's Newport Beach Restaurant Week. The annual event will run from Monday, January 16 to Sunday, January 29, celebrating the local culinary scene for nearly two weeks. Participating restaurants will offer prix-fixe menus that showcase their own culinary style and flavors, with lunch menus available for $10, $15, $20 or $25 and dinner menus priced at $20, $30, $40 or $50. While this is a great way for the city to spread the word about its dining scene, it's also a great way for locals to try some new spots and widen their knowledge of nearby cuisine.
 
Below are just a few of the dishes being offered during Newport Beach Restaurant Week. For a list of all of the participating restaurants or to take a look at the menus, visit Dine Newport Beach.
 
Dates
Dates: January 16 – 29, 2017
back-bay-bistro - verified ashley
(Credit: Back Bay Bistro)

Back Bay Bistro
1131 Back Bay Drive
Newport Beach, CA 92660
(949) 729-1144
backbaybistronewportbeach.com

Back Bay Bistro lies right on the waterfront so it's no surprise that they serve a variety of fresh American seafood. During Newport Beach Restaurant Week, they will offer a $20 lunch menu and a $40 dinner menu. For lunch, start with a cup of soup—seafood chowder or the Soup of the Day—or a salad—bistro or Caesar. It also comes with a glass of wine or draft beer as well as a entrée, which guests can choose from the regular lunch menu. Dinner is much of the same, except that you choose from the dinner menu. For dinner, guests can also choose an appetizer. This restaurant is a great choice because there are so many options available; you're not as limited.

bluewater-grill - verified ashley
(Credit: Bluewater Grill)

Bluewater Grill
631 Lido Park Drive
Newport Beach, CA 92663
(949) 675-3474
www.bluewatergrill.com

Bluewater Grill has definitive seafood options on their Restaurant Week lunch and dinner menus, making it easier for those who have a tough time narrowing it down. Their $25 lunch menu features sourdough bread and butter along with a first course of either clam chowder or a garden salad. The entrée options include a grilled salmon sandwich, beer battered fish and chips, an ahi poke bowl, an Angus burger or a shrimp Louie salad (pictured). The $40 dinner menu also includes the pre-meal bread and butter, but has an additional option for your first course: Caesar salad. Then, choose from the following entrees: lemon pepper mahi-mahi, cedar plank salmon, San Francisco cioppino, Prime Top Sirloin and prawn linguine. Dinners also come with cinnamon chocolate bread pudding and vanilla ice cream.

cucina-enoteca - verified ashley
(Credit: CUCINA enoteca)

CUCINA enoteca
951 Newport Center Drive
Newport Beach, CA 92660
(949) 706-1416
www.urbankitchengroup.com

The lunch menu at CUCINA enoteca is pretty standard for the higher-end restaurants. Lunchtime diners will first choose from an arugula and heirloom tomato salad and a warm zuppa soup. Then, for the entrée, the options are polenta and ragu, margherita pizza or two different types of cheesy paninis with French fries. If you visit at night, you'll choose from the $30 or $40 menus, which each offer different dishes. Both have "primo" and "secondo" courses plus a "dolci" dessert option. The $40 menu also features the Lady Capulet cocktail. While the dishes on each dinner menu are vastly different, you'll find items like the pear and gorgonzola pizza and the creamy mascarpone polenta for $30 and dishes like the beet and avocado salad and the seafood risotto for $40.

Fly N Fish Oyster Bar and Grill - verified ashley
(Credit: Fly N Fish Oyster Bar and Grill)

Fly N Fish Oyster Bar and Grill
2304 West Oceanfront
Newport Beach, CA 92663
(949) 673-8400
www.flynfishoysterbar.com

Seafood is obviously a major part of the Newport Beach culinary scene, and Fly N Fish Oyster Bar has definitely made a name for itself in the last few years. Take advantage of their $20 lunch and $40 dinner menus during Restaurant Week. Lunch offers a cup of their New England clam chowder, an organic mixed green salad and your choice of an entrée: either the fish and chips, macadamia-crusted Oregon flatfish or salmon with angel hair pesto pasta. For dinner, they are offering a four-course menu, which consists of the same clam chowder, a field greens salad, and your choice of both an entrée and a dessert. For your meal, choose from the cioppino, wild Mexican seabass and lemon-crusted halibut. For dessert, its either classic cheesecake or warm banana chocolate bread pudding. Yum!

gratitude-newport-beach - verified ashley
(Credit: Gratitude Newport Beach)

Cafe Gratitude
1617 Westcliff Drive
Newport Beach, CA 92660
(949) 386-8100
www.cafegratitude.com

This chic café is filled with stunning natural light and a mostly-vegetarian menu, making it a great option for those wishing to participate in the event that don't eat meat. Their prix-fixe lunch menu, which is set at $20, includes your choice of appetizer and entrée. First, select a starter: the buffalo cauliflower cooked with buffalo sauce, the maple miso Brussels sprouts or the autumn bruschetta. The vegetarian lunch entrees listed on the menu are stuffed phyllo, blackened tempeh Bolognese and enchiladas crafted with mushrooms and squash. The $30 dinner menu includes the same appetizers and entrees, but it also includes macaroons with ice cream for dessert and your choice of a skinny margarita, a cola with bourbon or an Elevated cocktail—rose water lemonade with agave and sparkling water.

juliette-kitchen-bar - verified ashley
(Credit: Juliette Kitchen + Bar)

Juliette Kitchen + Bar
1000 Bristol Street
Newport Beach, CA 92660
(949) 752-5854
www.juliettenb.com

Located near the John Wayne airport, Juliette Kitchen + Bar is an American bistro with innovative fare. Visiting at lunch, you'll find a three-course menu for $25. Choose first between kabocha squash soup and a mixed green salad, then between seared trout and roasted chicken. For dessert, the restaurant offers brioche bread pudding or chocolate terrine. At double the price of their lunch menu, the $50 dinner menu is one of the more expensive on our list. You'll start out with crispy pork belly before choosing between the same kabocha squash soup and a persimmon and radicchio appetizer. The main course includes either the fish stew or braised short ribs. The desserts are the same as those on the lunch menu.

Mr G's Bistro - verified ashley
(Credit: Mr G's Bistro)

Mr G's Bistro
305 Marine Avenue
Newport Beach, CA 92662
(949) 675-6193
www.mrgsbistro.com

One of the newest restaurants in Newport Beach, Mr. G's Bistro is one place you must try during this year's Newport Beach Restaurant Week. Their food perfectly blends Italian fare with coastal California flair. The $25 lunch menu includes two courses, with options like celery root soup, meatballs or Caesar salad for the first round. Then, choose between fried chicken, a bistro burger and cacio e pepe, a cheese and pepper pasta dish. Dessert can be added on for an additional $8. For dinner, the $40 menu offers the same options for the first course. Entrees, however, include cacio e pepe as well as cappelletti, chicken roulade and striped bass. Dessert is also included; choose from apple crisp with vanilla gelato and chocolate pot de crème with cherries and toasted hazelnut.

provenance  - verified ashley
(Credit: Provenance)

Provenance
2531 Eastbluff Drive
Newport Beach, CA 92660
(949) 718-0477
www.provenanceoc.com

The popular restaurant Provenance has prix-fixe menus filled with many options for Restaurant Week, set at $20 for lunch and $40 for dinner. Lunch includes a starter, a main dish and a dessert. First, choose from chicken tortilla soup or a garden salad, then select one of six main dishes, which include things like a short rib grilled cheese sandwich, chicken tacos and a vegan vegetable platter. For dessert, it's either s'mores in a jar or moist pumpkin cake. Dinner kicks off with warm yogurt biscuits and honey butter for all. Then you'll choose a first and second course as well as dessert. First courses are French onion soup and a garden salad while second courses include turkey meatloaf, a rib eye steak and honey balsamic lamb chops. The dessert options are the lunchtime pumpkin cake, apple pie a la mode and dark chocolate crème brûlée with raspberry coulis.

winery_shrimp_and_scallops - The Winery Restaurant & Wine Bar - verified from Examiner writer
(credit: The Winery Restaurant & Wine Bar)

The Winery
3131 West Coast Highway
Newport Beach, CA 92663
(949) 999-6622
www.thewinerynewport.com

The Winery is the only restaurant on our list only offering a dinner menu as part of the event. The luxurious restaurant will present dishes like the Brandt Cajun flatiron steak, jumbo Maine scallops with wild white shrimp and the Zinfandel braised Angus beef short rib as their main courses. These are proceeded by your choice of a house salad, prosciutto-wrapped shrimp or seared ahi tuna. The $50 dinner menu also includes a couple of dessert choices: warm vanilla beignets with dark chocolate sauce and Tahitian vanilla bean crème brûlée.

zinque - verified ashley
(Credit: Zinque)

Zinqué
3446 Via Oporto
Newport Beach, CA 92663
(949) 612-7259
www.lezinque.com

Ringing in at $15 for lunch and $30 for dinner, Zinqué is one of the cheaper options on our list, but it is definitely worth checking out. The lunch specials include two courses, starting with salami toasts, a tomato mozzarella salad or broccoli, spinach and green curry soup. Then, choose from six dishes, which include a grass-fed burger and a bowl filled with brown rice, veggies and an egg white frittata. Dinner includes two courses plus dessert. First up, you'll select a caprese salad, one of two different flatbreads or the aforementioned curry soup. Then choose from a few different entrees, like lasagna, quiche or various vegetable-based dishes. Dessert consists of either flourless chocolate cake or seasonal fruit crumble, both of which come with a scoop of ice cream.

Ashley Ryan is an Orange County native that loves traveling, live music and photography. She blogs at Pure Wander and freelances for a variety of publications including Newport Beach Magazine and Laguna Beach Magazine.
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