Chowhound publishes Times Square restaurant guide

Chowhound published a guide to restaurants near Times Square on May 22, adding to a crowded field of Midtown dining roundups with a more tightly edited list of five places within reach of Broadway theaters. The article was written by Amber Sutherland-Namako, a New York-based food writer and editor, and framed as a local’s answer to the question visitors usually ask after deciding they have to pass through Times Square at least once. The piece argues that diners do not have to settle for chain-heavy or convenience-first meals in the area. Instead, it points readers toward a short list of restaurants spread across nearby Midtown blocks and Rockefeller Center. ### Which restaurants did Chowhound single out? Chowhound’s May 22 guide named five restaurants: Le Rock, Valerie, Don Don, Keens and Szechuan Mountain House. The article described them as restaurants near Times Square that readers would “actually want to eat at,” a line used in the headline and repeated in the story’s framing. Le Rock, at 45 Rockefeller Plaza, was presented as the easternmost stop on the list and as a more polished option near another tourist-heavy corridor. Valerie, a few blocks south of Rockefeller Center, was included as a Midtown cocktail-and-dining option between Times Square and Grand Central Terminal, according to the Chowhound article. ### How close are these places to the theater district? (chowhound.com) Times Square was the guide’s anchor, but the restaurants it chose sit just outside the center of the district rather than directly on its busiest blocks. Chowhound positioned the list as a walking-distance set of alternatives for people headed to Broadway or staying nearby. The article’s geography matters because it treats “near Times Square” broadly, extending the search east toward Rockefeller Center and south toward Midtown addresses that locals might consider adjacent rather than squarely inside Times Square itself. (chowhound.com) That gives the guide room to recommend established dining rooms instead of relying on the most visible storefronts around Broadway and Seventh Avenue. That framing is based on the locations and descriptions in the Chowhound story. ### What kind of meal is Chowhound steering readers toward? Chowhound’s selections mixed sit-down restaurants with different price points and cuisines. The search snippet for the article highlighted Le Rock’s French-leaning menu, while the full list also included Keens, the long-running Midtown steakhouse, and Szechuan Mountain House, known for Chinese cuisine. Don Don added a more casual option to the mix. (chowhound.com) The tone of the guide was practical rather than exhaustive. Instead of trying to map every pre-theater possibility, the article narrowed the field to a handful of places that a local writer said were worth the money and the short walk away from Times Square’s most crowded blocks. ### Why does this stand out from the usual Times Square lists? Times Square already has official dining directories and commercial booking lists. (chowhound.com) The Times Square Alliance maintains a dining guide for the district, and reservation platforms such as OpenTable publish current restaurant listings near the area. Chowhound’s entry stands out because it is presented as an authored local guide rather than a directory or reservation feed. (chowhound.com) Sutherland-Namako wrote in the piece that each restaurant feels “considerably more transported” from the LED-heavy core of Times Square than the short distance might suggest. That line captures the article’s premise: stay close enough for theater logistics, but eat somewhere with a stronger neighborhood identity. (timessquarenyc.org) ### Where can readers find the full recommendations? Chowhound published the guide on May 22, 2026, under the headline “A Local’s Guide To Restaurants Near Times Square That You’ll Actually Want To Eat At.” The article is available on Chowhound’s website and includes the five named restaurants and their addresses. (chowhound.com)