Commencing today, New Urban Eats: like Twenty-Five for $25, but Twenty, Newish, for $30.

“…twenty of our hottest new, local restaurants… special $30 prix fixe dinner menu…. valid Sunday through Thursday (excluding Mothers [sic] Day, May 13)… your choice of appetizer, entrée and dessert…. a taste of our local, world-class talent…. the best NEW URBAN EATS.”

“New” is defined as having opened in the last three years (so, new like Janet Jackson’s top at the XXXVIII Super Bowl). Included are some Stranger favorites (Beàto, Crémant, Crush, 94 Stewart, Ibiza, Dinette, Moxie, Crow); a place where I had a severely disappointing dinner and politely restricted my commentary to an also severely disappointing happy hour; a place of extreme décor and, reportedly, many high-profile political lunches; some places as yet unvisited (Steelhead Diner, which looks promising, what with having the former chef of Oceanaire as well as something called caviar pie; Cucina De-Ra, which looks expensive and, per hearsay, is not worth it); and some places no one’s ever heard of (hello, Issaquah!).

A thought: With the prices at many of these restaurants, $30 for three courses is basically like getting a free dessert (while being limited to dining on certain days from a “special” menu). If you’re not a big fan of punctuating your meal with a sugar fix, N.U.E. isn’t that great of a deal.