Keens Steakhouse
Keens Steakhouse is a steakhouse restaurant located at 72 West 36th Street (between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue) in the Garment District in Manhattan, New York City.[1] The restaurant houses more than 50,000 clay smoking pipes, making it one of the largest collections in the world.[2] Also famous for their mutton chops.
Keens Steakhouse | |
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Front entrance | |
Restaurant information | |
Established | 1885 (approx) |
Street address | 72 West 36th Street (between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue), in the Garment District in Manhattan |
City | New York City |
State | New York |
Postal/ZIP Code | 10018 |
Country | United States |
Coordinates | 40.750854°N 73.986537°W |
History
The restaurant was founded in 1885 by Albert Keen in Herald Square, what was then the Theater District.[3]
Patrons were given the opportunity to store fragile clay pipes at the restaurant so as to not risk breakage during transportation. The membership roster of the Pipe Club contained over ninety thousand names. Today some of the more well-known patrons’ pipes are on display including:
- Babe Ruth
- Theodore Roosevelt
- Dr. Ruth Westheimer - honorary
- Dr. Renee Richards - honorary
- Liza Minnelli - honorary
- Stephen King - honorary
- Will Rogers
- Billy Rose
- Grace Moore
- Albert Einstein
- George M. Cohan
- J.P. Morgan
- Stanford White
- John Barrymore
- David Belasco
- Adlai Stevenson
- General Douglas MacArthur
- “Buffalo Bill” Cody
In 2013, Zagats gave it a food rating of 26, and rated it the # 2 restaurant in the Garment District, and the 7th-best steakhouse in New York City.[4]
Keens is the second oldest steakhouse in New York City after the Old Homestead Steakhouse. Keens briefly closed down in 1979.[5]
See also
References
- "Keens Steakhouse". Retrieved September 25, 2014.
- Frank Bruni (December 14, 2005). "Where the Lore Is Part of the Lure". New York Times. Retrieved November 26, 2012.
Look to the ceilings of various dining rooms, which are spread over two floors of three connected townhouses, and behold row upon row of clay pipes. There are more than 50,000 of them, the property of Keens customers who, in tobacco-friendlier times, stowed and used them in the restaurant.
- Bill Schulz. "A Pipe Dream Comes to Life". New York Times. Retrieved November 26, 2012.
Starting in 1885, when Albert Keen opened his restaurant and saloon, now known as Keens Steakhouse, the destination has provided post-dinner pipes to the likes of Babe Ruth, Theodore Roosevelt and Buffalo Bill Cody. Keen, who managed the acting and literary society called the Lamb's Club, on West 36th Street, in what was then the theater district, opened up his self-named restaurant next door.
- "Keens Steakhouse". Retrieved September 25, 2014.
- Kral, Georgia; Levy, Nicole (July 6, 2018). "NYC's oldest restaurants will take you back in time". am New York. Retrieved November 27, 2018.