Best Steakhouses in New York City

June 7, 2017 0 0

It’s no exaggeration to say that New York City has the best steakhouses in the world. But going out for steak when visiting the town involves a very important choice as a diner. When deciding where to go, you have to ask yourself: Do you prefer your vibe, and cooking style, to be old-school or new? Because while the town all but invented the steakhouse, it’s also spent the last 20 years reinventing it. Whatever atmospheric choice or dining option you prefer, here are some of your top bets when it comes to the best steakhouses in New York City.

  

                 Keen’s                                 Peter Luger                               Gallagher’s                           American Cut

Name	Location	Description
Keen’s	72 W. 36th St.	Keen’s is a true New York City original, with its warren of rooms, cozy décor, and epic array of antique pipes (some 90,000 in all all) dating from when it was a members-only club. The cuts of meat here are legendary, and with good reason; the bone-in prime rib looks like it could feed half of Queens; and don’t get us started on the mutton chop (a staff favorite). From cocktails to dessert, you simply can’t go wrong.
Peter Luger	178 Broadway, Brooklyn	Believe the hype: Luger’s really is that good. Rest assured that your trek to Williamsburg will be well worth it (just so long as you have a reservation). You’ll find a relatively stripped-down menu here that still manages to hit all the steakhouse essentials. If it’s your first time, be advised: you’re getting the porterhouse. Thank us later.
Wolfgang’s	16 E. 46th St.	Wolfgang Zweiner spent 40 years working at Peter Luger before opening up his own joint in the mid-2000s. Hit the original Park Avenue location with its sunken dining room and mosaic-tile ceiling. It’s one of the most unique and convivial rooms in the city with a killer wine list, great cocktails, and a not-to-be-missed thick-cut bacon appetizer.
Sparks	210 E. 46th St.	You’ll find excellent seafood here along with the requisite red meat, all surrounded by wise-guy-friendly decor that wouldn’t look out of place in a Martin Scorsese picture. It’s not a coincidence that Paul Castellano was gunned down out front on John Gotti’s orders. The New York Strip is the specialty here, along with lamb and veal chops and simply massive lobsters. You’ll get as much out of people watching on-site as you will looking at what’s on your plate to boot.
Delmonico’s	56 Beaver St.	No tour of New York City’s best steakhouses is complete without a visit to Delmonico’s. When it first opened, Delmonico’s was one of the city’s first sit-down restaurants, starting as a pastry shop, and evolving into a full-fledged French Restaurant (though the founding brothers were Swiss). Over the year’s it’s hosted an impossibly broad panoply of famous patrons, from Mark Twain and Charles Dickens to Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses Grant, and Teddy Roosevelt. Though management has changed over the years, the restaurant is still in the “Citadel” space the brothers opened in 1837.
Gallagher’s	228 W. 52nd St.	Housed in a former speakeasy, this theater district meat palace is both the essence of New York and the essence of how steak dinners are supposed to feel. You’ll find the walls lined with thousands of portraits of notable patrons, and the cooler up front area lined with side after side of beef, slowly aging in temperature-controlled quiescence. With one of the city’s best wine lists and portions that you may find yourself eating into next week, this is a splurge to remember.
St. Anselm	355 Metropolitan Ave., Brooklyn	St. Anselm may not bill itself as a steakhouse per se, but it’s not fooling anyone. Or maybe it’s just a callback to a time when meat-forward restaurants didn’t wrap themselves in the mantle of leather and wood and $60 steaks. Not only is the food here diverse and excellent, the atmosphere is casual and you could walk out for about half the haircut you might at a place where the wait staff dress like penguins.
Bowery Meat Company	9 E. 1st St.	This downtown upstart features a little bit of everything, with options to satisfy even the staunchest vegetarian or most adventurous foodie. But make no mistake, the focus here are the variety of killer cuts of beef (try the Bowery Steak) served alongside other inventive dishes such as duck lasagna or Korean pork ribeye in a thoroughly modern (but still highly exclusive) take on the classic steakhouse.
American Cut	363 Greenwich St.	When this Atlantic City institution opened up in Tribeca it was cause for celebration for New York’s beef lovers. You’ll find piles of seafood on offer here alongside tomahawk steaks and beef fat fries. Now there’s another location in midtown to spread the yum around. Best of all, the gigantic room makes it relatively easy to snag a table.
Quality Eats	19 Greenwich Ave.	If you’re looking for an antidote to the “just chop the cow in half and put it on a plate” places, you’ll find the restrained approach on display at Quality Eats a welcome respite. You won’t find a white tablecloth in sight here, and you might even get away with an entree that costs less than $30. Don’t take that as a referendum on the food, however, which is uniformly excellent. A trip here is great for a low-key, but high-quality evening with a special someone.

CHEAT SHEET

Still hunting for information about the best steakhouses in New York City’s five boroughs? Find out more here:

• Time Out – The Best Steak Restaurants in New York
• Thrillist – The Best Steakhouses In NYC
• Grubstreet – NYC’s Best Steak

Tags: Food and Drink, Top 10 Guides, Travel Categories: Food + Drink, Top 10 Guides, Travel