This Weekend Under $100: Nando's Peri Peri

If the prospect of rainy days has your mind wandering off to more exotic climes, than allow me to offer up a remedy. This weekend I recommend that you start your evening off by heading to Chinatown, specifically the intersection of 7th and Eye, where you will find Nando’s Peri Peri. To put it as simply as possible, Nando’s is a Portuguese-style restaurant that serves up a mean flame-grilled chicken. As opposed to being waited on, you order up at a counter in the middle of the restaurant, and while grilled chicken may sound a tad simplistic, you’d be surprised. Selecting from a wide array of different cuts, spices and sides you get to personalize your meal in any way you see fit, and all of the food is fantastic so you can do your own thing without the fear of fouling up the flavors. I personally enjoy the half chicken with the “hot” spice, but the real fun here lies in building your meal exactly how you want so like LeVar Burton says, “don’t take my word for it”. That being said the butternut squash and grilled corn is pretty damn good too.

After dinner is it’s not raining, take a nice leisurely stroll on over to the E Street Cinema for their 9:35 showing of Tokyo!, a unique portrayal of the famous city done in three distinct segments, each part of the triptych being directed by a different individual. In this case Michael Gondry, Leos Carax and Bong Joon-Ho respectively.

Nando’s Peri Peri is about $20 a head, and figure $10 for each of the tickets, so all said and done your looking at about $60-$70 evening.

Sure, it might not be the same as hopping on the next flight to St. Barths, but I’m pretty sure you’ll have a fine time nonetheless. Hell, you might even learn a thing or two.