The Oldest Steakhouse In America Is A New York City Staple

In New York City, historic eating and drinking establishments and steakhouses are each formidable cuisine categories in their own right. Plenty of members of the dining public — locals and tourists alike — seek not only to sink their teeth into porterhouse, sirloin, and other chef-perfected cuts of steak, but they also crave a taste of the classics. And eating and drinking around the five boroughs' earliest restaurants can feel like traveling in a culinary time machine, if you know where to go. Some of these spots date back a hard to fathom one, two, or even almost three hundred years.

First opened in 1868, Old Homestead Steakhouse falls in the center of that range, making it middle-aged among local hospitality's elders. But that birthday also makes Old Homestead the oldest of its ilk in the United States. Now, some New Yorkers, beef devotees, or just dedicated internet busybodies, might be what-abouting the also great Delmonico's right about now. But remember, Delmonico's got its 1837 start as a kind of cafe devoted to pastries before it claimed the title of America's oldest fine dining restaurant in the years to follow, eventually becoming the upscale steakhouse we know today. Although it was originally titled Tidewater Trading Post, Old Homestead began, as it endures at its Manhattan address, as a steakhouse.

You can spot the glowing neon sign affixed to a vintage brick facade on the cusp of Chelsea and the Meatpacking District from halfway down the block. A dining room cloaked in dark wood. Big, tufted, red leather banquettes you can sink into. Teeming seafood towers topping tables all around. Classic steakhouse sides like baked potatoes, creamed spinach, and onion rings. And the promise of prime rib on the bone. Doesn't it all just heighten your desire for an ice-cold, dry martini and a hunk of red meat?

While it seems to get harder and harder to nab reservations all over town, Old Homestead Steakhouse is the rare Gotham icon where you can reliably get a table, including for larger parties. (Reservations are still always encouraged to slake those boozy, bloody yearnings.) And, unlike some of its aged kin, Old Homestead still delivers on delicious food, ranking among NYC's best steakhouses more than a century and a half after its premiere.