NYC Restaurant Week: New York City’s food scene starting from July 19

NYC Restaurant Week, the almost 30-year-old institution, is back after a pandemic break—and this time around it will be five weeks long! More than 500 restaurants across the city will be taking part in New York City Restaurant Week, which despite the name will run for longer than a month, from July 19 to August 22.

NYC Restaurant Week, a time-honored tradition of the city’s food scene, makes its grand return this month in style, offering five weeks of dining and new layered pricing options for hungry visitors.

Beginning on Monday, July 19th, and through August 22nd, diners can discover $21 or $39 lunch and dinner deals at almost 530 restaurants in 75 neighborhoods across the city. Costs incorporate one entrée and somewhere around one side and are “aligned to the individual restaurant price points.”

This highly-anticipated semi-annual event, intended to praise the city’s culinary scene and urge individuals to eat out, highlights fixed-priced meals at partaking restaurants. The event has been take-out just since the pandemic started yet presently diners will have both indoor and outdoor in-person options too.

The semiannual event returned Monday with in-person dining for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic struck, hitting the city’s restaurant industry particularly hard. The current year’s first emphasis of NYC Restaurant Week was takeout just, yet at the same time bragged one the biggest events in its history.

“It’s extraordinary, the greatest restaurants in the world—an opportunity for you and me to go out there and experience them… even if you don’t have a lot of money, great, great, deals,” Mayor Bill de Blasio hyped on Monday. “We know the restaurant community went through so much during the pandemic, but people fought back. The restaurant owners, the employees, they fought back, they kept their businesses going, and now Restaurant Week is going to give them more customers, and a whole lot more energy.”

The mayor additionally called attention to that a large number of the restaurants—which span 50+ foods—are likewise offering the $21 or $39 deals for take-out and delivery, not simply dining in. There are additionally $125 “signature” experiences at select high-end restaurants, including The Fulton for the South Street Seaport.

Fulton chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten joined de Blasio at the press briefing virtually, and the world-renown restaurateur, standing among the produce at the Union Square Greenmarket, referenced how the “first place” he went, when he first showed up in NYC back in 1986, was Fulton Fish Market (R.I.P.), so it’s a been a dream for him to have a seafood restaurant in that area now.

NYC Restaurant Week started in 1992 as a way for New York City to promote restaurants during the 1992 Democratic National Convention. As per the NY Times, “The program was conceived as a favor to the delegates and media representatives who came to town for” the DNC.

Diners thought they’d lose cash on the deals—which were lunch-just at the time—however, it turned out to be extraordinary for business (however a few pundits protest that clients are “amateur” diners who tip poorly), and the Times detailed in 2017 that “restaurants now plead to be included.”

The city, under Mayor Rudy Giuliani, extended Restaurant Week to winter too. During one press conference about Winter Restaurant Week, Giuliani got a 50-pound chocolate bust of himself.

Queens Bully is one of more than 500 restaurants in 75 different neighborhoods offering takeout and/or a dine-in experience. The Restaurant Week special incorporates an entrée and no less than one side, in addition to dessert at specific spots.

Lunch and dinner alternatives, including a dish and a-side, will be set at $21 or $39 relying upon the restaurant; clients can likewise partake in Signature Dining Experiences at certain restaurants, which have somewhere around three courses at a fixed cost of $125.

In Bushwick, Ridgewood, and East Williamsburg, seven restaurants will be partaking in NYC Restaurant Week. Mission, an Asian fusion restaurant with Sichuan-inspired dishes, will offer a starter and main for $21, with a side of rice. Bushwick’s Sea Wolf, a seafood restaurant with a particular surf culture theme, will offer a $21 lunch and $39 meal.

Also, Queen Bar and Restaurant, which serves Mediterranean food, will have a $21 fixed price menu, including delivery and take-out. There’s a vegetarian and non-vegetarian meal option, the two of which incorporate pistachio baklava for dessert. Furthermore, Dromedary Urban Tiki Bar, a Bushwick restaurant and bar with a Hawaiian spin where you can order burgers and tropical drinks, will have $21 dinners.

Ridgewood’s Craft Culture, which has various local beers on tap, will offer $21 meals, for example, cheeseburgers and chicken sandwiches, intended to match well with their variety of ales and lagers.

For the individuals who prefer cocktails with their burgers, the warm and friendly Ridgewood eatery Cream will serve fixed-cost lunches for $21 and dinners for $39.

Over in East Williamsburg, Mexican restaurant Paloma’s BK will serve $39 dinners with a take-out option.

For those hoping to binge spend or possibly celebrate something, there’s additionally a $125 Signature Dining experience, which incorporates somewhere around three courses. At times, there might be a bottle of wine or a chef’s table experience.

“The program will take place for five weeks, which is the longest period of in-person dining in Restaurant Week’s 29-year history,” said Alyssa Schmid, spokesperson for NYC & Company.

Also, make a step back on schedule and eat in for Restaurant Week at Sac’s on 35th Avenue in Astoria, situated on the perimeter of the Kaufman Astoria Studios.

“There’s a lot of history here. There’s a lot of history from Kaufman, Rudolph Valentino, Wall, the silent stars ate here and this was part of their whole experience,” Sac’s co-owner Domenico Sacramone said.

Inside there are relics, similar to a fan from the 1920s, something you can take in while you sit and, obviously appreciate, the food.

Recipes like the ravioli, with the sauce, made new on-site, return generations to the Sacramone’s family in Italy.

“I love the participation because we all need the help. Little by little, people are having more courage to come out,” Sacramone said.

As the restaurant community actually attempts to recuperate from revenue losses, the city’s tourism arm, NYC and Company, postponed registration fees for restaurants. The venture is what businesses expect will be part of the rebuilding recipe to yield new and bringing customers back.

It’s prescribed to go on the Restaurant Week website, filter by location or cuisine, and browse through the 500 or more restaurants. You can book through there also.