Recession Is Your Friend

Deal or No Deal: Elettaria’s Three-Course Prix Fixe

Photo: Melissa Hom

Time for our second installment of Deal or No Deal, where we determine whether recession specials are really all that special. This week, we sample Elettaria’s newly added three-course menu to see whether it’s worth the $33. (Also new at Elettaria: Bar items such as crab rangoon, meatballs, and a pork-shoulder-beef-brisket hot dog that’s thin and snappy, like the Gray’s Papaya dog a few doors down, but seasoned with coriander, sweet paprika, and mustard seed and served on homemade bread.)

The Offer: Three-course prix fixe, $33.

What’s Included: The menu changes every week or so, but when we sampled it last week, it featured a starter of scallop ravioli with coconut curry sauce, served over leek fondue; a main of braised pork shoulder with rice and stinging nettles; and a dessert of milk doughnuts with chai gelato.

What You Need to Know: Get the most bang for your buck during the daily happy hour, starting at 5 p.m. (and now extended till 8 p.m.!). Cocktails are $6 and beers start at $3.50.

Color: Our main dish was hearty and required a good deal of labor (the pork is brined for a couple of days, confited, traditionally seasoned, and pressed into two plump medallions overnight), so points for that. As with all meals at Elettaria, you get naan with your order, which lessens the likelihood that you’ll walk away hungry enough to want to grab a Papaya dog next door. The clincher: The option to add two pours (six ounces each) of the excellent house punch (or sangria) for $8.

Deal or No Deal: DEAL.

Deal or No Deal: Elettaria’s Three-Course Prix Fixe