HILL COUNTRY

SCENETRACKER

In today’s world, a girl expects a lot out of the first date- it has to be fun but not extreme, intimate but not sexual, and it has to wow her in some kind of way (even if it's just the excitement she feels in seeing a great smile). We know these can be pretty high demands for a bachelor on a budget, especially one in his prime dating phase. And even if you’ve been together for years, date nights are a staple for a fresh “young” couple. So here are a few of our favorite (cheap) dates.

Chelsea Piers

FIRST COURSE

He may be the one casting judgement on Top Chef, but Tom Colicchio is about to let the spotlight fall on his own performance.

Chef Tom will perform at Hill Country tonight in honor of Restaurant Industry Night. The event will donate 20 percent of all food and beverage profits to C-Cap, an organization that helps underprivileged youths begin careers in the food industry. The evening will also feature of the musical stylings of the equally smooth-scalped restaurateur, Joe Bastianich. Doors will open at 7pm and more information is available here.

FIRST COURSE

Well here's about the best news we've received all week: the comfort food kings over at Hill Country are now serving breakfast! The fried chicken specialists have expanded their menu to include early-moring, rib-sticking classics so that no New Yorker will have to worry about where their next meal of Chicken and Waffles is coming from.

Open Monday- Friday from 7:00am-10:30am, the Flatiron locale will offer Southern standards like Egg and Cheese Biscuits ($5), Cheese Grits ($3) and Egg Pie (which, in these parts, we here call "quiche," $5). And while the filling fare is an affordable weekday option, it's available for dine-in or take-out service only. So, no, you can't Seamless it to your office.

FIRST COURSE

Hill Country Beer and Barbecue Dinner & Tasting
When: Wednesday, April 28th, 2010
Time: 6pm-8pm
Where: Hill Country Barbeque Market
30 West 26th Street
(Btw. 6th Ave & Broadway)
New York, NY 10010
(212) 255-4544
Cost: $45 per person
www.hillcountryny.com
**Call for reservations (ext. 13)**

Fill next week's hump day with a heaping serving of barbecue and beer. Next Wednesday, join Hill Country as they host a barbecue dinner and beer tasting, sponsored by the Ithaca Beer Co.

FIRST COURSE

NYC BBQ Tour
Every Monday at @ 6pm
Meet at Madison Square Park
in front of Chester Alan Arthur statue
(E. 26th Street & Madison Avenue)
$88.88 (includes all BBQ, sides, & soft drinks)
www.nycbbqtour.com

Barbeque, a staple of the South, is blowing a great trail of smoke right through New York City. So much in fact, that foodies have organized a barbeque tour of four of the best BBQ restaurants in NYC - Blue Smoke: Jazz Standard, Rodeo Bar & Grill, The Hog Pit, and Hill Country. The tour gives you behind-the-scenes access to these restaurants to meet the talented chefs and pitmasters who are behind the finger-licking succulence.

FIRST COURSE

This week you can enjoy three-course prix fix meals from some of the city’s most popular restaurants delivered right to your door. Usually reserved for in-house dining, Seamlessweb.com will offer prix fix delivery specials from Tao, Molyvos, Ethos, Serafina, Hill Country, and many others.

FIRST COURSE

I've got some news for all New Yorkers toiling away on the daily grind. Deliveryweek.com is offering a deal for the weeks of Oct. 19th-31st.

A ridiculously long list of over 100 restaurants will deliver a three-course meal for lunch or dinner at $12.09 or $20.09 plus tax, respectively. To get the deal you have to order through the Delivery Week or Seamless Web websites.

They even made this helpful map for locating the participating restaurants closest to you.

A welcome change to the sometimes chaotic restaurant week affairs, I know three plates of food for lunch would look real nice cluttered on my desk right now… [GrubStreet]

FIRST COURSE

Monday may not be the most popular night to go out in NYC, but some restaurants around the city are promoting some tempting deals to lure you out of the apartment.

At Vero Wine Bar ordering a glass of wine, beer, or cocktail entitles you to a free panini. Prosciutto, spinach, and sopressata are among the little flat sandwich choices. Doubt a panini will stave off those hunger pains? Head over to Tre to take advantage of bottomless spaghetti, lamb meatballs and all-you-can-drink sangria for only $19, or bring your own bottle of wine with no fee. Bar Blanc Bistro is promoting Moules Frites Monday (aka a bowl of mussels, frites, and a draft beer for $18) while over on Gansevoort Street Macelleria is serving bottomless gnocchi for $12.99.