FOR New York diners, the game is easy: try to snag reservations during Summer Restaurant Week and hope for glimmers of brilliance or, at the very least, honest tastes of each restaurant's strengths at prices that can be half their norm.
For the 201 participating restaurants, it is much harder: carefully weigh factors as nuanced as portion size and table turning while trying to wow diners with the artistry and value of their $20.12 lunches and $35 dinners. It's a blood sport that not every restaurant wants to play.
"There are a million ways a restaurant can approach it," said Danny Meyer, whose establishments, like Union Square Cafe and Tabla, are known for their Restaurant Week alacrity. His strategy includes courtesy calls to regular customers, postshift massages for the wait staff, $20 gift certificates for returning customers and a license for chefs to toss food costs out the window.
Since the first Restaurant Week, which coincided with the Democratic National Convention in 1992, the goal has been to attract new customers during a sluggish summer period. Over the years, it has stretched from one week to two, spawned a winter version and, at some places, extended to dinner.
This year it is Monday to June 24 and June 27 to July 1. NYC & Company, the city's official tourism marketing arm, manages the program. The lunch price this year trumpets New York's bid for the 2012 Olympics. Participating restaurants are listed at http://www.nycvisit.com/.
A committee of industry leaders including Mr. Meyer advises NYC & Company and selects the restaurants, which pay $2,500 to be included. Tim Zagat, a co-founder of the promotion and a committee member, said a high rating in the Zagat survey of New York City restaurants is the main criterion. But popularity plays a part, too, and the 20 new participants include Bond 45 and Bistro du Vent.
The $20.12 menus are supposed to capture the essence of the restaurants, offering at least three choices (many get away with two) and highlighting signature dishes. This year you will find Nobu's black cod, Fleur de Sel's veal breast confit, Aquavit's herring plate and L'Impero's homemade spaghetti, to name a few.
But few diners will get out the door for even close to $20.12, which does not include drinks, tax or tip. Jean-Georges Vongerichten's molten chocolate cake, one of the most recognizable signatures of the 1990's, will cost you $6 more at Nougatine, the dining room adjacent to Jean Georges. And the menu at Dos Caminos does not include guacamole, which is like going to Disney World and skipping Space Mountain. Of course, diners are encouraged to order it.
"Once they're in the door, they spend more," Mr. Zagat said of diners. "They go à la carte."
Some supplements steer diners toward more fully realized meals. At Tocqueville, near Union Square, the $15 three-glass wine flight, paired with courses like house-cured bacalao, is a worthy addition (so long as you can nap afterward).
The pressure to veer from the $20.12 menu becomes more palpable at high-end places like Nougatine at Jean Georges, Café Boulud and Chanterelle. There are only two choices per course, making it harder to ignore the more imaginative à la carte dishes flirting from the sideline.
David Waltuck, the chef and an owner of Chanterelle, said he uses ingredients that are "maybe a little less expensive" like chicken or salmon during the Restaurant Week lunch rush. "I wouldn't do calves' liver or tripe or a strong fish," he said.
But Akhtar Nawab, the chef at CraftBar, might. "We kind of try to show off that week," he said, offering dishes plucked from the regular menu, like orzo in rendered bone marrow and sea urchin tagliatelle. Portions, he said, are slightly smaller.
Other chefs do not change the portion size but may skimp on costly ingredients. "It may be the amount of fresh morels," said Kerry Heffernan, chef at Eleven Madison Park, referring to his signature English pea flan, one of five appetizer options.
Devi, the new Indian restaurant in Chelsea, may be too young to know any better, but dinner customers can pick any three dishes from its lengthy menu, including Jamison Farms' tandoor lamb chops, which usually cost $29.
Some chefs say it is worth the financial blow if participating customers return, and research compiled by NYC & Company says two-thirds of them do.
"When I called my fish guy last year and told him I wanted to do halibut for Restaurant Week, he told me to put down my crack pipe," said Alexandra Guarnaschelli, chef at Butter on Lafayette Street. But her grilled halibut with squash emulsion flew out of the kitchen and became a house favorite.
In fact, the first week of the winter promotion buoyed lunch and dinner business 71 percent higher than the previous week's. This year 82 restaurants will extend their offer through Labor Day, and many, like Nougatine and Tocqueville, run it year-round. But some chefs do not see its value. In fact, 10 percent of the restaurants that were asked to participate in the summer promotion declined. In the winter, 19 percent of them declined.
"Twenty dollars doesn't cover what it costs us for one dish to produce," said Eric Ripert of Le Bernardin.
"Unfortunately, we're not going to get Per Se or Masa, because they put themselves at a price point that $20.12 would cover a lettuce leaf," said Tracy Nieporent, the chairman of NYC & Company's restaurant committee.
Jimmy Bradley said the Harrison, his restaurant in TriBeCa, did not attract new customers when it participated a few years ago; it sold the same dishes to regulars for less money. "Unless you're in Midtown," he said, "they're not doing what they set out to do."
Restaurant Week can stress even the smoothest running restaurant. Jo-Ann Makovitzky of Tocqueville described tides of last-minute cancellations washing out half of her business. And a former Union Square Cafe server, sending an e-mail message on condition of anonymity, said she worked twice as hard for half the money because check averages and tips were substantially lower.
But, she added, as servers "we all knew Restaurant Week was important, not so much for us but for all the other restaurants that weren't as busy as we were."
And since empty dining rooms are depressing, opentable.com, a table booking service, allows restaurant hounds to search participating restaurants that use the service (about half do). As of yesterday, CraftBar and Café Boulud were fully booked, but it was still possible to score seats at Kittichai, Eleven Madison Park and Artisanal.
Mr. Nieporent says that after places like Nobu and Gramercy Tavern fill up and new hot spots like Abboccato and Devi sell out, less-known places like Alfama, a Portuguese restaurant, have a chance to shine.
"Just like the Yankees sell out quicker than the Mets," Mr. Nieporent, a Mets fan, said. "If everyone's busy, it doesn't matter."