Following nearly a year and a half of dining restrictions and the permanent closure of more than 1,000 New York City restaurants, NYC & Company’s five-week-long Restaurant Week celebrates the diverse and delicious New York food scene. Diners can take advantage of Restaurant Week advantages from nearly 530 restaurants until August 22, 2021.

Restaurant Week premiered 29 years ago as a way to welcome the Democratic National Convention to New York City. Creator of the Zagat Survey, Tim Zagat, and restaurateur Joe Baum wanted to entice visitors to visit local restaurants. As delegates and journalists roamed 1992 New York City, 95 restaurants opened their doors with dining deals. As long-time New York City residents joined the festivities, Zagat and Baum decided to continue Restaurant Week as a tradition. Other cities have followed suit with their own version of Restaurant Week.

“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 said 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.”

Today, Restaurant Week occurs semiannually and encourages New Yorkers to push past their comfort zones by trying new cuisines and exploring the five boroughs. During NYC Restaurant Week To Go which occurred early 2021, more than 800 restaurants participated to try to recover from COVID-19-induced economic issues.