Restaurant Week @ Locanda Verde - Wow I get to choose my own menu!

So one of my major pet peeves about NYC Restaurant Week is that most restaurants give you a very standardized "special menu" with limited selections that frankly the restaurant doesn't even usually make.

You get your standard steak, fish or chicken offering and it kind of tastes like the type of food you would get at a conference dinner or what I commonly have referred to as "wedding fare."

Today I went to Locanda Verde with a friend for restaurant week lunch.  Upon receiving the lunch menu, I wondered if I was mistaken and they were not in fact doing restaurant week.

To my great surprise and delight - Locanda Verde's restaurant week meant getting to choose any of the antipastis, either a pasta or a "secondi" and a dessert.  Wow!  I get to choose from anything off the regular menu?!?!?  Cause for celebration.  This NEVER happens!

Off to a great start.  The only trouble was, now I had too many options to choose from.  Frankly everything looked appealing.

I ended up going with the Wood Fired King Prawns with garlic, lemon and sweet pepper and my friend went with a simple yet interesting salad with figs and speck.

Good choices - the prawns were presented beautifully and the aroma definitely whetted my appetite.

Cooked and seasoned perfectly with a slightly sweet after taste it was a great start to the meal.

My only complaint would be that the dish looks so big and mighty, but you can only really eat half of the shrimp.  Well I am not adventurous enough to eat the heads, but I applaud those who do!

Onto the main courses. 

I had a really tough time deciding between the diver scallops and one of the pasta dishes.

I ended up going with "My Grandmother's Ravioli," mainly because, well it was "My Grandmother's Ravioli!"

Made with veal, beef and pork, this one is for meatlovers only.

Not too heavy at all, the ravioli were small delicate pieces - again only complaint being that I was left wanting more.

My friend ordered the roasted chicken - and here the portion seemed to be no problem at all. 

The chicken was served with roasted vegetables including squash and zucchini.

In fact it was very generous, requiring a doggy bag for later.

Finally for dessert the only choices were gelati and sorbet.

I went with the lemon mint, but really tasted more lemon than mint.

For me, the dessert was just average - I mean sorbet is sorbet, right?  And to me, nothing beats Ciao Bella.

Paired with a waiter that, as my friend said "reminds me a lot of Smith from Sex and the City," my lunch at Locanda Verde was fantastic - definitely a teaser leaving me wanting more.

I will be sure to be back for dinner soon.

Locanda Verde
379 Greenwich St. (at North Moore)
212-925-3797