Times Square Hosts Restaurant Week to Counter Midtown Restaurant Slump

Times Square’s restaurant celebration returns today

With Broadway remaining shut through May 2021, and many Midtown office workers continuing to work from home, the Times Square Alliance is putting on a restaurant week starting today, to support Midtown restaurants that continue to struggle due to the pandemic.

Taste of Times Square Week runs through Friday, October 30, and features 20 local restaurants including Italian restaurant Tony’s Di Napoli, Ellen’s Stardust Diner, and Gallaghers Steakhouse. The restaurants are serving up a three-course $35 prix fixe menu that includes an appetizer, a main, and a dessert. The prix fixe will be available at the restaurants, of course, but they’re also being offered for delivery and takeout service.

Tony’s has converted the plaza at West 43rd Street and Broadway into an outdoor dining area replete with checkered tablecloths, though this area requires a reservation by phone. The Times Square restaurant week now marks the third restaurant week announced in recent days including ones in Harlem and Sunnyside, which both kicked off this week as well. As restaurants brace for another potential downturn in business during winter months with limited indoor dining, local community groups are stepping up with events like restaurant week to drive more business to these establishments.

In other news

— Coffee purveyor Brooklyn Roasting Company has filed for bankruptcy protection and is shutting its remaining two shops in the Flatiron District and Dumbo. The coffee company is looking to keep its wholesale business alive, though.

— FiDi Japanese restaurant Chikarashi Isso is doing a pop-up on the second floor outdoor terrace of Hotel 50 Bowery. The limited engagement features a 13-course yakitori omakase that costs $150 per person, and is prepared by Atsushi Kono, formerly of Tori Shin. The pop-up runs Tuesdays through Sundays with two seatings offered at 5:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. respectively.

— The East Village has a new taco destination. Los Tacos NYC (not to be confused with Los Tacos No. 1) is located at 117 East Seventh Street between Avenue A and First Avenue, and opens today.

— Popular Greenwich Village pop-up Dame — known for its summery English fare and hosting a top-notch guest chef series on Sundays — is shutting down on October 31. Don’t fret, though, the restaurant is coming in a permanent way in the spring.

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