Did you know that NYC Restaurant Week first came into existence in 1992, the year of Bill Clinton’s election, in order to provide a culinary welcome to the delegates to the Democratic National Convention (DNC). Participating restaurants offered three course meals for $19.92.

Of course, that was way back in 1992. Since then, NYC Restaurant Week has grown into an elaborate festival, with a grand rollout and a media blitz from NYC & Company, New York City’s tourism and marketing organization. The number of restaurants participating has also gone up, along with the culinary fare on offer, with three course prix-fixe meals for both lunch and dinner. And it has been expanded to include two weeks each in summer and winter.

The one we’re concerned with now is NYC Restaurant Week Winter 2009, which  runs from Jan 18-23 and Jan 25-30, 2009. Over 250 restaurants are participating, incuding old-timers Cafe de Artistes, Gramercy Tavern, La Goulue, Bar Boulud, Apiary, and Nobu. New entrants this year include Lever House Restaurant, The Palm Tribeca, Union Prime, Fishtail by David Burke, Dovetail, and Country.

What’s more, over 100 of them have kept the program for Sundays (Jan 18 and Jan 25), for the first time ever. Even more delicious, prices remain unchanged, with three-course prix-fixe lunches for $24.07 and three-course prix-fixe dinners for $35.00 (excluding beverage, tax and gratuity). You can make a reservation at your choice of establishment starting Jan 5 on www.nycgo.com/.

Since we’re talking about winter attractions in New York, there’s a nice article from Easier.com which serves as a neat primer for New Year’s Eve celebrations in the Big Apple, including the new 12-foot-high, 11,875-pound New Year’s Ball, viewing spots along Broadway, events and shows on Dec 31st.

Articel also includes some New Year packages and ‘party included’ stay offers put out by New York hotels including the five W hotels, the Mandarin Oriental, SoHo Grand and Tribeca Grand Hotels, the Millenium Hilton and the iconic Algonquin.

And if you found that interesting, you might want to checkout this resource from NYCGo.com, which lists all the ‘holiday pop-up shops’. If you’ve ever done some last-minute Christmas shopping on Fifth Ave, and then entered Bryant Park and checked out the Holiday shops at the Pond, you’ll know what holiday pop-ups in NYC mean.

Posted on December 19th, 2008 by Thomas
Filed under: NYC, Restaurants