New York’s Times Square is renowned for its tourists, its theatre, its neon. What it is rarely known for is food.
Yet now, the razzle-dazzle food swamp is in the midst of a dining revolution.
Exhibit A is Gui, the swanky two-storey steakhouse opening on Eighth Avenue last month that has repurposed a former office supply store. The gilded space will feature fancy cuts of Wagyu beef, roving trolleys of caviar and pristine seafood, and a deluxe cocktail programme.
“We saw an opportunity to bring something different to this high-energy neighbourhood: a refined-yet-approachable American steakhouse experience,” says chef Sungchul Shim, who also operates the Michelin-star Mari and Kochi restaurants.
Another hospitality expert who sees opportunity in Times Square is Danny Meyer. The famed restaurateur and his Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG) have just reopened the View, transforming the tired, rotating tourist-filled bar into a David Rockwell-designed masterpiece complete with seafood towers and bone-in chops.
“It’s impossible to imagine Times Square without thinking of two eminently powerful business drivers in that neighbourhood: Broadway theatre and tourism. All by themselves, those two engines can fill a restaurant,” says the USHG founder.