Reservations are now being accepted at over 300 participating elite eateries around the city for NYC Restaurant Week. Foodies from all five boroughs have come to look forward to the misnomered 14-day event — where some of the city’s top kitchens serve prix-fixe lunch and dinner for $24.07 and $35 respectively —?but they’re not the only ones.
“It brings in so much traffic in the winter days,” says Avtar Walia, owner of Tamarind in the Flatiron District, and the new Tamarind Tribeca. “It drives the business.”
Walia first started participating in Restaurant Week (which this year runs from Jan. 24 to Feb. 6) when it began 19 years ago, back when only a handful of restaurants signed up. He says the initiative has continuously grown in popularity to the point where it now accounts for as much 50 percent of his business during what has traditionally been a slow time for New York’s hospitality industry.
“It’s really a great way to introduce what we do to people who otherwise wouldn’t come,” says celebrity chef and owner of two participating hasheries, David Burke. Tourists also look forward to Restaurant Week, often scheduling visits to coincide with the event, according to George Fertitta, CEO of NYC & Company.
Last year the city had a record-breaking 48.7 million visitors. Fertitta hopes to boost that number with the inception of Broadway Week, which also kicks off on Jan. 24 and offer theatergoers the chance to buy two tickets for the price of one for 18 popular shows.
