How New York City restaurants are pulling off Restaurant Week at a time of record inflation

Against all odds, a record 650 restaurants across New York City are offering discounted pre-fixe menus until the end of July.

Against all odds, a record 650 restaurants across New York City are offering discounted pre-fixe menus for Restaurant Week.

The marketing scheme that runs until July 31 was conjured by the famed restaurateur Joe Baum and restaurant critic Tim Zagat 30 years ago, when thousands of journalists and delegates flocked to Manhattan for the 1992 Democratic National Convention. That first year, several top restaurants offered a special lunch menu for $19.92, hoping to get some residual publicity from the political spectacle. Since then, the program has ballooned into a biannual event that runs over the course of several weeks in New York City, and has been copied across the US. Several cities around the world, from Paris, to Cape Town, to Manila, have also adopted similar programs.

Union Square Cafe is among the 650 establishments participating in New York City Restaurant Week.

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