The 2018 edition of Charleston Restaurant Week, starting Monday, Jan 29th and concluding Saturday, Feb 3rd, provides guests with a 3-course meal for just $30. Twenty-one Charleston restaurants are participating this year, with Bricks & Barrels again among the most-sought destinations for its unique ambience and delicious entrées. We’re coming upon our 3rd year anniversary, and we’re happy we’ve participated in Restaurant Week all three years. We introduce the 2018 Restaurant Week menu below, but first let’s recap Restaurant Week 2016 and 2017 for those that may have missed out. (The highlights of previous years’ are still available – even during this coming Restaurant Week.)
Restaurant Week 2016: Bricks & Barrels introduces Shrimp & Grits
Bricks & Barrels set the bar high in its inaugural year by introducing southern-style Shrimp & Grits to the Charleston, WV area during Restaurant Week 2016. Many enjoyed the dish that week as it quickly became the talk of the town amongst food critics, bloggers and tweeters. Many folks that thought they didn’t like grits reluctantly tried it, and walked away surprised, delighted and with their minds forever changed. More than one guest was quoted as saying, “I didn’t think I liked grits, but I love your Shrimp & Grits.” Due to its popularity, the restaurant decided to add the dish to its everyday dinner menu and it has done well ever since. Many other local eateries now offer a similar version of this dish, but none are as good as the original.
Our Shrimp & Grits consists of sautéed shrimp with peppers, onions, tasso ham and gravy served over South Carolina heirloom grits. As previously mentioned, the Shrimp & Grits is on our current menu for $29 and yes, it’s also available during this year’s Restaurant Week.
Restaurant Week 2017: Seafood Fettuccine – Cajun Style!
The highlight of last year’s menu was our Cajun Seafood Fettuccine. Although our Seafood Fettuccine had been a menu staple for quite some time, cooking it in a Cajun seasoning sauce took it to another level by exemplifying the taste of both the seafood and the pasta. The dish consists of sautéed shrimp, scallops, and mahi mahi in a perfectly-blended Cajun spice cream sauce served over a bed of fettuccine and topped with seared onions and peppers. For the past year, we’ve had many regulars order this dish consistently. Although the Cajun Seafood Fettuccine is not listed on our current menu, the Seafood Fettuccine certainly is. And if you’d like it Cajun style, simply let your server know and we’d be happy to oblige. After all, we all need a little more spice in our lives.
Restaurant Week 2018: Mediterranean Chicken & Pork Schnitzel
This year’s menu includes your choice from two appetizer options, two entrée options, and two dessert options. Start with a apertivo with either a Caesar salad or Italian Wedding Soup. Our Caesar salad starts with a heart of Romaine lettuce, drizzled with a creamy Caesar dressing and topped with Parmesan cheese and our crunchy, house-made croutons. Our Italian Wedding Soup consists of tender meatballs and green leafy vegetables in a hearty chicken broth. You can’t go wrong with choosing either and really comes down to a preference on whether one enjoys a soup or a salad before an entrée.
Our featured entrée for Restaurant Week is our Pork Schnitzel. Many in West Virginia, especially if you’ve never been to Germany, may not know what a schnitzel is, so allow us to explain. To make our schnitzel, we pound a pork cutlet until it’s thin and tender. We then lightly coat the cutlet with breadcrumbs, herbs, spices, and Parmesan cheese. We then pan-fry the schnitzel until it’s golden brown. We’re serving our Pork Schnitzel with a German-style Parmesan dumpling known as Spätzle. This is the type of dish we recommend eating both the schnitzel and the spätzle with a bit of each on every bite. The whole grain mustard cream sauce on the spätzle complements the rich and flavorful Schnitzel, creating a flavor combo that unique and satisfying. Yes, we’ll consider adding this to our permanent menu.
Joyce Farms all-natural chicken breast, braised in capers, figs, and olives, served with Israeli couscous and sautéed vegetables
Our second entrée option for Restaurant Week is our Mediterranean Chicken. We have a habit of always including one new dish for Restaurant Week and one from our current menu, but with a slight twist. This year, we decided the Mediterranean Chicken didn’t really need anything else to make it stand out. One recent customer complimented, “a mouth full of flavors with a comforting texture and a heavenly smell.” The dish consists of capers, figs, olives, Israeli couscous and a medley of sautéed vegetables surrounding Joyce Farms all-natural chicken breast, so we can understand the praise.
And of course we have not forgotten about our vegetarian guests. Our Eggplant Mediterranean is as described above, except with eggplant. The eggplant provides the texture to accompany the gamut of flavors provided by the capers, figs and olives. If you have additional questions regarding your vegetarian (or other) options, please ask your server. If he or she cannot answer, our chef certainly can. He enjoys discussing options for those more in-depth questions regarding unique diets. We sincerely want everyone to enjoy our food options.
We hope you’ll join us at Bricks & Barrels during this special week. The $30 price does not include drinks, tax or gratuity. For those that have wanted to try Bricks & Barrels, but just haven’t yet had the opportunity, this is your chance to try us at a reduced price. Tickets may be pre-purchased online or guests can pay normally after dinner. Sellouts are expected, especially later in the week. We encourage reservations early to guarantee your spot.
We understand these are tough decisions and many may have a tough time choosing. To help in your decision-making process, we present our full three-course menu below. (We wanted to include the vegetarian option in our menu, but we’re limited to two options per course by the event organizers.)
