A frazzled man clutching a piece of paper stood before Nelson Ramirez, manager of the West End Cafe in Carle Place. "I know the prix-fixe ended 15 minutes ago," he said, "but could you extend it for me? I just got this speeding ticket trying to make it."
He showed the ticket to Ramirez, who smiled as he bent the rules and handed over the three-course menu.
Whether called "twilight," "sunset" or "early-bird" dinners, whether they're available all evenings or only weeknights, prix-fixe (pronounced pree feeks) dinners are giving Long Islanders a chance to dine for less and chefs to cook creatively for a broader audience. This means that instead of shelling out $36 for three courses ($6 on a Caesar salad, $23 on a grilled hanger steak entree and $7 on molten chocolate cake), diners at Snaps in Wantagh, for example, can opt for the same three dishes at a weeknight prix-fixe of $24.95.
At CoolFish in Syosset, the value-oriented multi-course meal has proven so successful that chef and co-owner Tom Schaudel recently added an early evening prix-fixe to another one of his restaurants, the new Jedediah's in Jamesport. There, a meal includes tuna tartare followed by sesame-crusted Hawaiian opah with coconut risotto and pineapple chutney and, finally, almond pound cake with figs, Armangnac and sweetened mascarpone, all for $29.
Last month, Schaudel took the concept one step further by consulting on a restaurant that just opened in Rockville Centre, Gabrielle's Brasserie & Wine Bar, whose $25 three-course bill of fare is not a time-limited feature but rather the restaurant's daily offering.
"If you want to succeed on Long Island, I think you have to have some kind of value angle, where the food is compelling and not crazy overpriced," Schaudel said recently.
That logic appeals to inveterate restaurant-goer Sharon Wallach of Hempstead. "I'm a single person and fortunate to have many friends," said Wallach, whose chums regularly eat out on their birthdays. "To keep the price down, we go to as many prix-fixe restaurants as we can. Let's see, we've been to CoolFish, Ivy Cottage (in Williston Park), Nicholas James (in Merrick) and Cafe Testarossa (in Syosset), to name a few. Last week,
in Hicksville, we went to La Primavera. The dinner was $25.95, and the service was very elegant."
Filling seats on weeknights
William Holden, chef-owner of West End Cafe, one of the first to come out with a prix-fixe menu 14 years ago, sees early evening as a time when dining spots are in top form. "It's the first wave of the night, so we have our staff on and nobody's fatigued," said Holden, whose restaurant starts to fill as early as 5 on a weeknight.
Who goes out to eat at such an hour?
"A crowd that is not working -- an older crowd," said restaurant consultant Michael Whiteman of the Manhattan-based Joseph Baum & Michael Whiteman Co. "Young people who come from work later are not able to take advantage of early menus. Restaurants are able to provide that level of choice because they've already paid for all the labor, so they can cover their costs and make a little bit of money," he said.
Because prix-fixe customers aren't ordering just a salad and a diet Coke, restaurateurs are also fairly sure of a minimum per-person check. "They'll make the rest when the later people come out," Whiteman said.
The trouble on Long Island is that not that many of them are coming out early during the week, said Schaudel, who estimated that 50 to 60 percent of a restaurant's business takes place on Friday and Saturday nights. "What do you think the biggest expense of running a restaurant is?" he asked. "The answer is empty chairs. We're all trying to fill the chairs between 5 and 6:30 p.m."
Ideally, a prix-fixe customer can turn into a full-price Saturday night adventure-seeker. Remy Von Driel, general manager of Aix en-Provence in Huntington, sees the early weeknight specials his restaurants offer as enticement to return on weekends. "It's a great introduction to all the other things we feature," Von Driel said. "To get the full scope, we encourage people to come back for the a la carte menu."
Sometimes, a prime-time customer can become a prix-fixe regular. Anita Kasman of Rockville Centre first discovered West End Cafe on a busy Saturday night. It wasn't until later that she learned of the prix-fixe, which she takes advantage of on Sundays, when it's offered throughout the evening.
A mostly happy lot
Of course, the value-oriented prix-fixe option may not be for everyone. Either the time constraints don't work or the diner may want only one or two courses. And then, there are those who love a bargain but on their own terms.
Diane Flynn, a waitress and assistant manager at CoolFish, said she occasionally has to contend with the manipulative customer who wants to pay prix-fixe prices but get more costly off-menu specials. Mostly, however, she finds the prix-fixe crowd a happy lot.
Gabriel Friedman, an 84-year-old accountant, is a regular customer who works in the same building as the restaurant. Although he finishes work at 4 p.m., he often waits the extra hour for CoolFish to open. "I'm not going for a cheap menu," he said, "but for food that's excellent."
North Shore
