In New York, restaurants tend to cluster in zones, and they all exist for a reason. In the Upper East Side, you have your smaller family Italian fare or Japanese jewel; in midtown, power lunch steakhouses are the main attractions; villages and Soho feature a more eclectic crowd, so the restaurants are more unique and quirky; Chelsea and meat packing district features exceptional night life for the yuppies, and therefore you have the trendiest of restaurants.
The financial crisis has hit NYC hard. Bankers with the massive bonuses and expense accounts sudden vanished. Then the Madoff ponzi scheme hit, and many wealthy and older New Yorkers were impacted. With such a drastic change to the NY ecosystem, how do the restaurants fare?
In the month of January 09, over 40 restaurants in the city went out of business. While the famous restaurants still have not sank into full crisis mode, business has definitely slowed. People are more conscious about prices, turn down the second bottle, and tip less. Midtown steakhouses are perhaps hit worst, since the Lehman crowd has completely disbanded into other areas. While on weekend dinners good restaurants are still full, you no longer see the 3 sitting per evening that took place almost nightly during the better years.
From the point of view of the consumer, things are good. Personally I always felt that services in any industry improves in a recession, even when visiting McDonald’s. If you are lucky and still has disposable income, or can draw upon Bank of Mom, take advantage of this opportunity to enjoy some real bargains. Restaurant week keeps getting extended, and many specials are here to stay. Some high end establishments have special discounts as well, such as Del Posto’s tasting menu at $50 off (still slightly pricey), and the Frugal Friday at Craft. Making reservations are a breeze (finally….)
Apologies for the recent lack of updates, I luckily still have a job, and will continue to report on some great restaurants in the coming weeks!
