A Short History and Description of Keens Chophouse

While standing in the shadow of the Empire State If a member died, the stem of his pipe was broken and the Building you can discover the spirit and flavor of turn-of- pipe restored to its customary place. These pipes still rest the-century New York. Keens Chophouse, the New York in their honored places above the tables or in the glass City landmark, was established in 1885 and is famous for case above the fireplace near the restaurant’s entrance. its mutton chops, steaks, single malt Scotches, and the world’s largest clay smoking pipe collection. Ladies were not allowed in Keens Chophouse until Lillie Langtry, the infamous British actress and close friend of Prior to 1885, Keens Chophouse was a part of King Edward VII, ignored the “men-only” notice and Club, a famous theater and literary group founded in entered the restaurant in 1901. Dressed London. Its manager was Albert Keen. In 1885 Keens in a satin gown and a feather boa, the Chophouse opened independently under the ownership beautiful Lillie asked to be served of Mr. Keen, who by then was a noted figure in the a mutton chop. The waiter refused. Theater District. Keens soon Lillie sued and won. Keens took its became a lively and accepted rendezvous of the defeat graciously and exhibited the well known. Actors in full stage make-up following sign: “Ladies are in luck, hurried through the rear door to they can dine at Keens.” “fortify” themselves between acts at the neighboring Garrick Theater. Today Keens Chophouse offers four private rooms, the You could glance into the Pipe Room to see the jovial Bullmoose Room, the Lambs Room, the Lincoln Room congregation of producers, playwrights, publishers, and and the Lillie Langtry Room. The Bullmoose Room, newspapermen who frequented Keens. named in honor of President , is a cozy room with a working fireplace and is ideal for executive Today, Keens Chophouse is the only survivor of the or private parties. It is the quintessential American Herald Square Theater District. In an age that tears down room. The Lincoln Room contains the original theater so much of its past, it is comforting to find one landmark program of “Our American Cousin” which President which endures. Lincoln was holding when he was shot by John Wilkes Booth. A large painting by Alexander Pope dominates The tradition of checking one’s pipe had its origins in the largest of the private party rooms, the Lambs Room. 17th century Merrie Old England, where a customer Numerous photographs of the Shakespearean actors who would keep his clay at his favorite inn-the thin stemmed form the original Lambs Club in London are on display. pipe being too fragile to be carried in purse or saddlebag. A pianist is available for the rooms Mason & Hamilton Pipe smoking had been known since the Elizabethan grand piano. The Lillie Langtry Room displays the most times to aid in dissipation of “evil humors of the brain.” feminine touch at Keens. The The Keens Chophouse Pipe Club originated with Albert walls and furnishings Keen at the Men’s are of 19th century Grill of the Lambs carved oak. One wall Club, when a lifetime of the room is lined membership could be with the original poster for the secured for five dollars. A pipe warden was employed to show “Peck’s a Bad Boy”, one of the largest catalogue the growing collection and several pipe boys and earliest surviving American color woodcuts. delivered the numbered pipes to the members after their meals. Keens Chophouse has rightly become famous for its collection of Single Malt Scotches. With over a hundred Our Pipe Club Register includes the signatures of Teddy and fifty single malts, Keens has one of the largest Roosevelt, Albert Einstein, J.P. Morgan, , collections in . , Babe Ruth, Billy Rose, John Drew, General Douglas MacArthur, Adlai Stevenson, George Much of the elegance and sophistication of 1885 New M. Cohan, David Belasco and “Buffalo Bill” Cody as York may be gone forever. At Keens, however, you can well as contemporary celebrities such as Ted Turner, still dine in its former splendor. Glenda Jackson, and Issac Asimov.

Keens Steakhouse 72 West 36 Street, New York, NY 10018 212-947-3636 Dining Out Regina Schrambling Wednesday, October 17, 2001 The Great Escape, at Vintage Tables

ATIONAL GUARDSMEN were pacing know how to dress a salad, not with some austere But only the jacket is here 20 years. I am here one the waiting room at Grand Central drizzle but with rich, creamy vinaigrettes, almost month.”) Terminal. A zipper in a newsstand was thick enough to stand a spoon in. These are places And the classical entrees, many dating from reeling out an update from the F.B.l. that could pass for theme restaurants, but they cater Edna Lewis’s tenure in the kitchen in 1989, were a thatN read like an inscription on a Barbara KrugerKeens, to three New Yorkers. blocks No from wonder the all Empire of them are State bustling. Building,world away from what any cutting-edge restaurant photograph: “Terror could come at any time.” Some of them, like Peter Luger, studiously in , or Brooklyn, was serving that night. And down on the concourse, time seemedis to the ignoreTaj Mahal every trend by of comparison.the last 30 or 40 years.The Others, sleek, darkThe crabmeat Virginia, which I expected to be as have stopped at the Oyster Bar. Sitting at one of the like Keens, blend just enough up-to-date touches creamy and crudely satisfying as the Oyster Bar’s horseshoe-shaped counters, tucking into an oysterdining intoroom, the menu virtually to make every it seem inch almost of sprightly. its ceiling But hungpan roast, was at least half a pound of good lump pan roast with enough cream to stun a cardiologist,with l claymost pipes,are like thealmost Oyster reeksBar, where of historythe pepper (although on crab in a round tower over sautéed spinach on a light could have been lunching in 1928 or 1985 or 1952 - the counter is ground McCormick but the salt is potato galette, with just a glaze of sauce to get all the or on any one of those halcyon days before Sept.not 11. as frommuch the assea; thewhere pub, the bread where is warm steak biscuits, aromas not can’telements to harmonize. Shrimp creole comprised six Strands of white Christmas lights outlining sourdough; and where the daily seafood offerings - seriously seasoned grilled shrimp on spicy sauce, all the arches of the dark Guastavino-tile ceilingcancel only 30out kinds 116 of oysters, years and of about smokers that many exhaling). kinds of fish It’sarranged so around a pyramid of white rice that looked accentuated the patina of age in the restaurant, whichbusy that- reflect it would an age neverof anything-is-possible be mistaken air forfreight. a museum,as if it had been molded in one of Madonna’s bras. opened with the terminal 88 years ago and survived At the Oyster Bar, the magic is also in the By the time the owner stood in the middle of a huge fire just four years ago. The exposed kitchenyet it hascounters, the ahigh design gloss for dining of thata Rockefeller has vanished like room the atroom and ostentatiously cued the piano player in had the retro look of a New Jersey diner. The crudely the Automat and Woolworth’s. Communal tables are the corner into the first of two renditions of “Happy lettered signs listing the day’s oysters had obviouslythe Metropolitan.a contemporary conceptStepping that can’tin from compare. 36th There’s Street Birthday,” on fear and anthrax seemed a very long way not been spewed from a computer printer. SomethingThursday an intimacy night to was having like a waitress time-traveling, only inches away not away. to a about the place made me think of my mother, who helping you decide among the classics like pan roasts On the night I trekked to the Bridge cafe, on grew up in the East 20’s and could have eaten atmore the perfectand Maryland world she-crab (Lillie soup Langtry and newer famously additions suedWater Street near the Fulton Fish Market, forgetting same counter. And she’s been gone from Manhattanthe place like inpompano 1905 with for nan excluding and chutney. women) But there’s but also at leastwhat had happened to the city and the world was since World War II and from this world for 21 years. an anonymity once she serves your food and goes a little more difficult. The subway station smelled The notion that she and I walked the to same a moreaway. stable era. smoky; the sky to the north looked unnaturally streets in a parallel city is part of the reason I have Peter Luger, in Brooklyn, has developed cult bright. And I felt more than a little trepidation. The a weakness for vintage restaurants here. where soThe status restaurant for a reason is beyondalmost its a time-warp timeline décor: for its HeraldBridge has never been a beautiful place; it looks like much history has been overwritten by franchisesSquare, insistence hanging on, as on the as waiter the put theater it, “steak, district steak or movedwhat it is, a modest cafe in a gritty neighborhood that could be at home anywhere. But the last few steak.” With bare wooden tables on bare wooden that has not buffed all its rough edges even as weeks have made holdouts like Keens Steakhousenorth andfloors, department and lighting stores so succumbed over-bright you to thewant to south.sleeker restaurants like Mark Joseph steakhouse and (established 1885) and the Bridge Cate (built in confess, it has the aura of a roadhouse miles from Quartino have moved in. 1794, a tavern since 1829) seem even more vitalAnd to it anyappears city, not to just have over thedone Williamsburg so by staying Bridge from true to itsBut the Bridge Cafe has history, its own and the cityscape. roots. EvenManhattan. in There’sthe last also 10 a Quentin boom Crisp years aspect it tocontinued it: mine. This is the restaurant where my consort and Chasing the next new thing - another high- it’s ancient and defies anyone to criticize. I were so excited to spot James Beard, ensconced flying chef, one more designer doingto back serve flips, its signatureGage & Tollnermutton in downtownchop, a Brooklyndish long in ago his hugeness and his green greatcoat at a corner even in the bathroom - will always be part of supplantedNew was just by as dainty alluring lamb on Saturday chops night. everywhere It has a else.table. It’s where I career-counseled with Leslie York life. That explains why so many restaurants are rockier history than Keens - it was run down and on Revsin, then one of the city’s notable chefs, when rebounding these days: the reincarnation of Jo TheJo is hugethe verge slab of is foreclosure meaty butby 1995 not - gamy,but a new and owner, so richlyI was thinking of giving up journalism for cooking. already jammed, and every table was occupied at Joe Chirico, and a meticulous restoration have given It’s where we always went – by cab, never subway – Lesplnasse on Saturday night when I stopped intoflavored the it real lusterthat that the is all themint more surprisingsauce whenserved you onlong beforethe side, there was a South Street Seaport. neighboring King Cole Bar for a nightcap. But withthere freshcome upongreen it next leaves to a Wiz suspended store on the seedy in jelly,Fulton seems It always feels more like San Francisco than New is just something about a survivor that resonates and Mall. York, and that was especially true last Wednesday reassures. It’s why l sought out the bar, in thesuperfiuous. St. I had expected a ghost restaurant, but my consort night, which made it seem such a refuge. The red Regis hotel. It has been dispensing drinks for longer and I were unceremoniously ushered into the narrow, neon bridge in the window cast a warm glow that than I have been alive. Thecrowded rest ofdining the room menu at 7 and reads given likeone of a the steakhouse few fell on the young and the old who filled the room. The city has dozens of restaurants withstandard, an free tables, with a tiny sirloin one next and to the porterhouse bar, under gaslights (for Traffic one, on the Brooklyn Bridge seemed almost close extended back story. Theres Bayard‘s, just blocks but also the air-conditioning vent. The place had the enough to hear. Like so many vintage restaurants, it from the smoldering World Trade Center wreckage,two-or high three), anxiety withof a Matthew creamed Kermey spinach scene restaurant and bakedwas quiet enough for conversation even when Louis where you can’t help feeling a chill on beingpotatoes, of five but years there ago, are with also a small specials throng likewaiting at Armstrong filet was belting away on a CD player. Only reminded that the building was erected 150 years the bar and a hostess who acted as if she had better the paintings and, old photographs of New York ago. There’s DeImonico’s, from 1835, and mignon P. J. things with to doscallops than play on host. bok choy. And the creamyon the walls, above the white wainscoting, were a Clarke’s, from 1904, and Peter Luger. from 1887. Over the next two hours, though, I had to warm reminder of where we actually were eating. And every one of them looks more valuable today,dressing to the on room, the as “three all the gorgeous leaf” detailshouse sank salad, in, along like theAnd even though the menu seemed to have been when the city seems so vulnerable. polishedwith room an awareness itself, that made Gage me & Tollner realize had whyopened classics written back when the Bush in the White House had The live I ate in during the last week are not four years before the Brooklyn Bridge, in 1879. The two middle initials, that was not such a bad thing. We musty old relics serving tired food in smoke-scarredbecome woodwork classics. is mahogany, the tall mirrors around the were in no condition to be challenged, only sated. rooms. For the mist part, they wear their decades room are in crystalline condition. the waiters wear Corn fritters and grilled trout with mango salsa proudly. The service staffs generally have a tag-team vintage uniforms. (When we asked one, a young one, would do the trick. All that mattered was that if this smoothness that is rare in so many restaurants where what the yellow stripe on his sleeve symbolized, he venerable restaurant could keep going, maybe we service is a way station, not a profession. The chefs said: “It’s supposed to be how long I work here. could, too. 72 West 36 Street, New York, NY 10018 212-947-3636 The History and Stories of the Best Bars of New York Written by Jef Klein

In 1977, historic Keens Steakhouse, a Herald leg o’mutton sleeves and eat . . . mutton. They Lincoln was holding when he was shot. There Square landmark, was on the brink of demolition. seemed happy enough, and as the years went on. are brown stains on the playbill, supposedly Locals and regulars, as well as longtime customers of both sexes continued to patronize Lincoln’s blood. A newspaper clipping from the employees, were truly depressed. Keens wasn’t the place. ln 1935. the one millionth mutton chop era is framed on the wall and tells the story of how just a restaurant. It had a history, a real history was sold, amid fanfare and mint sauce. the playbill was retrieved from under Lincoln’s But Keens was dead, or about to be. The last seat after the assassination, and how it ended up chop was flame-broiled and served, the last pipe Albert Keen opened a Pipe Club as part of Lambs at Keens. The Smithsonian may be very interested was smoked, and though no priest came to read and continued the club when he opened Keens. to examine this playbill closely, but for now, it’s the Last Rites, a reporter from the New York With a lifetime membership for five dollars. a on display in Keens’s Lincoln Room. Times wrote about its passing. For it must pass. member would keep his pipe (or hers) at the How could it be saved? Who could take on the club. The reason for the club stems as much There’s a huge painting by Alexander Pope and hundred-year-old building, and its business, and from tradition as it does Keens Modeled a lithograph billboard for Peck’s Bad Boy. There repair it and make a go of it, during one of the from practicality. In are nineteenth century political cartoons from itself on this old worst economic crises New York has ever known? England, clay pipes. Puck and Punch in the Lincoln Room. There tradition, and had or “churchwardens” as are photos of the Shakespearean actors who When all else fails, call in the artists. They are the a pipe warden, they were called. were formed the original Lambs Club in London and only ones with the imagination and vision, along preferred. These pipes who catalogued a Mason & Hamlin grand piano. There is a room with the practical skills, to pull it off It doesn’t were too fragile to carry devoted to Keens regular Teddy Roosevelt, that the collection, and hurt if it’s an artist with some money, either. from place to place. and old Knickerbocker, with Bull Moose Party and pipe boys who so the custom of leaving Rough Rider memorabilia. There’s an authentic A doctor and restaurateur, George Schwarz, and delivered the pipes them at one’s tavern or British Royal Coat of Arms, carved in oak, that his wife, the late artist Kiki Kogelnik, fresh from club became popular tableside. came from Hearst Castle. There are pipes, lots their success at One Fifth in the Village, entered practice. Keens modeled and lots of pipes, everywhere you look. The ones to save the day. Kogelnik and Schwarz, rushing itself on this old tradition. and had a pipe warden, owned by famous people are kept in display cases in where no sensible angel has any business, took who catalogued the collection. and pipe boys in the foyer. Buffalo Bill, Herbert Hoover, Babe on the challenge. They bought the old place and who delivered the pipes tableside, Numbered and Ruth, General MacArthur, Adlai Stevenson, Will lovingly refurbished it, retaining every nook and stored hanging from the rafters. the pipes today. Rogers, Florenz Ziegfeld, Albert Einstein, and cranny and everything in them. Thanks to these some 50.000 of them. started out their lives made practically every mayor since the turn of the last folks, New York still has one of its most unique of white porous clay. but are now brown with age century are represented. bars, restored and bustling for more than 20 years. and smoke, The ones with broken stems are those belonging to the faithful departed. The food at Keens has remained true to its history. Keens was founded in 1885 by one Albert Keen, a Now a chop and steak house, Keens continues to well-known theatrical producer in what was then But back to Kiki and George, who came on the enjoy a loyal following. The theaters may have the Theater District in New York, Herald Square. scene relatively late in Keens’s life. Initially told moved uptown long ago, but Madison Square The second floor of the restaurant housed the that it would cost about $30,000 to renovate the Garden and midtown are just a couple of blocks Lambs Club, a branch of the original theatrical place, they forged ahead. Ahead into a restoration and literary club in London. Keens Chophouse (as that ended up taking more than three years and away. The pipe smokers are gone, though once it was called at that time) soon became a favorite costing more than $1.4 million. When you have in a while someone comes in to claim a pipe. with actors and players in New York theater, and 50,000 pipes to take down gingerly before you Manager Bonnie Jenkins, who’s been with it was common to see actors in full makeup and can install an updated air conditioning system, Schwarz for fifteen years, says that recently costumes dash in from the Garrick Theater, which it costs money. Nobody could stand in the cellar, a woman came in for her grandfather’s pipe. It abutted Keens back-to-back, for a quick drink so the ceiling needed to be raised. The bar was took a bit of doing to track it down. (There are between acts. Producers, playwrights, publishers, too short and it needed lengthening, and during 90,000 of them, after all.) “We were on chairs and journalists (the New York Herald was on the its removal, the floor was discovered to be with the liashlights, peering at numbers,” says Square) all crowded into the men-only bar and dangerously sagging. In Jenkins good-naturedly. They found it, and the There are pipe room for a pewter mug of ale or a smoke, the end it was worth every inheritor brought it home to proudly display. Is or both. This, plus the favored offering of two brown stains penny. Every artifact was it hard keeping watch over so many objects, so pound mutton chops. made Keens a Victorian on the playbill, cleaned and restored. much history? Jenkins smiles. She clearly loves her job. “There are times when I ask Kiki (who man’s dream. supposedly There are a lot of artifacts died in 1997) for help,” she says. Kogelnik put so Lincoln’s blood This dream was shattered, of course, by a here. Drinking at Keens is much creative and hands-on energy into Keens, it Victorian woman. none less than actress Lillie like drinking in a museum, only you can go up became a labor of love for the artist, and her mark Langtry. who swept into Keens in 1901 and had to close to the exhibits. There are more than 500 is still there more than 20 years later. Thanks to sue the restaurant to get her mutton chop. Keens pieces of theatrical memorabilia, postcards and her, an Austrian-born citizen, and Schwarz, who recovered gracefully. mounting a sign that read, playbills from more than a hundred years ago. was born in Frankfurt and escaped the Nazis “Ladies are in luck, they can dine at Keens.” Most precious among these is a playbill from Our as a child, New York has preserved some key Now women were free to don their dresses with American Cousin that is purportedly the one that moments in its own, and the nation’s, history.

Keens Steakhouse 72 West 36 Street, New York, NY 10018 212-947-3636 Restaurants Frank Bruni Wednesday, December 14, 2005 Where the Lore Is Part of the Lure

here’s a secret to the sur- signatures in a glass case beside the ones I tried were instantly forget- prising mellowness of the main entrance. table. “legendary mutton chop” Keens is a trove not only of The service was usually a at Keens Steakhouse, a res- protein but also of memorabilia. Its graceful departure from the studied taurantT long synonymous with that dark-paneled walls display vintage gruffness of some other traditional gargantuan slab of meat. (The menu photographs, vintage political car- steakhouses. Keens paid attention to announces it with a verbal trumpet toons and vintage playbills. details. blast.) On a poignant note, in a room A glass of iced tea arrived with There’s a simple reason it has often used for private dining, Keen a fresh mint leaf floating on its sur- none of the gaminess that diners ex- has what it identifies as the theatrical face. A refill wasn’t a refill: it was pect of mutton, which is sheep, and program that Abraham Lincoln was a new glass with a new leaf. Water instead reminds them of lamb, the holding when he was shot. was poured from a pewter pitcher. In younger version they know and trust. On a humorous note, in the main deference to the holiday season, a big Nix the trumpet and commence vestibule, it has what it identifies as stuffed moose head wore a little red a drum roll: it is lamb. The mutton “dinosaur sirloin,” supposedly a fos- Santa cap. sil from the Red Rocks area of Utah. lore is a mutton lie. For at least two Keens is mischievous like that. decades and perhaps many more, the It looks like reddish-brown marble, legendary mutton chop has indeed and a sign with it says that in the Cue the mutton. been a matter of legend. The follow- opinion of Keens, it has not yet been Because Keens changed owner- ing sentence is inevitable, as is the aged long enough to be cooked. ship in the late 1970’s, a definitive one on its tail. Diners have had the Keens expertly dry-ages its beef, comprehensive mutton history seems wool pulled over their eyes. which it serves in an array of cuts, to be out of reach. But the restau- But they haven’t been fleeced. all of them memorable and almost all rant’s current manager, Bonnie Jen- The mutton chop at Keens, a of them mammoth: sirloin, filet mi- kins, investigated the matter at my 26-ounce saddle of lamb, skirted gnon, prime rib, porterhouse for two, request. with fat and nearly two inches tall, porterhouse for three. Keens began with real mutton, can wear whatever label it pleases, On my visits the restaurant put which is often defined in this country because it provides about as much a nice char on any and every cut as sheep of about a year or more in pleasure as a carnivore could want. that was supposed to have it, and it age. In 1935, the restaurant reached So, for that matter, does Keens, cooked everything to its requested and publicly celebrated a milestone: a meaty Mecca since 1885, artery- temperature. It proved itself to be not one million mutton chops served. clogging proof that not all good only one of the city’s most charming Apparently, Keens was an early, up- things must come to pass, though and diverting theaters for testoster- scale McDonald’s of mutton. they may indeed have to adapt to one cuisine but also one of its most World War Il came. Deprived new times by toying with certain tra- reliable. Americans ate more mutton than ditions. And it presented a few surpris- they wanted, and as it later fell far- ln the case of Keens, those tra- ingly effective cameos, most notably ther and farther out of fashion, get- ditions include true-blue mutton a fried chicken salad available only ting fresh mutton of reliable quality chops, which it once served. lt kept at lunch. Morsels of tender breast became iffy. At some point Keens the name even after it lost the sheep. kept company with hunks of Stilton had to turn to lamb, choosing a cut lt’s nostalgic like that. cheese, several kinds of lettuces and with a winged shape that mimicked No restaurant in a sparingly applied vinaigrette. the mutton chop of yore. pays the kind of lavish, often kooky, Keens doesn’t consign a diner Keens was using lamb in place sometimes even touching tribute to to iceberg with blue cheese, though of mutton when its current owner the past that Keens does. that’s a very happy fate. It also serves reopened it in 1981 following sev- a salad of arugula, bibb lettuce, basil Look to the ceilings of vari- eral years of extensive renovations. ous dining rooms, which are spread and watercress, and both times I had It was using lamb when subsequent over two floors of three connected it, the greens and herbs were springy townhouses, and behold row upon and fresh. newspaper and magazine articles row of clay pipes. There are more Other digressions from the beefy, about Keens appeared under head- than 50,000 of them, the property of lamby norm proved perilous. A half lines like “Mutton Place” and “Of Keens customers who, in tobacco- chicken had been left on the rotis- Mutton and Men.” friendlier times, stowed and used serie at least 10 minutes too long. A And it is using lamb now, al- them in the restaurant. gigantic wedge of salmon had an im- though it tries to get lamb around 10 Keens had what it called a pipe pressively silken texture but a muf- months in age, which is older than club, with members including Babe fled flavor. (Was it really wild, as the most of the lamb we eat, including Ruth and Theodore Roosevelt. Even menu claimed?) Fried calamari were the thickcut rack at Keens. after smoking in restaurants went a rubbery wreck. That doesn’t make it mutton, but the way of absinthe, Keens inducted It could be argued that a person it does seem to give it a more robust honorary members into the club, who orders these dishes in a steak- taste, like lamb with an exponent, famous customers as diverse as Dr. house gets what he or she deserves. lamb on steroids. Call it near-mutton. Ruth Westheimer and Dr. Renee But a steakhouse should come Call it extreme lamb. Go ahead and Richards, Liza Minnelli and Stephen through with a stronger lineup of call it legendary. In more ways than King. There are pipes bearing their desserts than Keens did. Most of the one, it warrants that tag. Keens Steakhouse 72 West 36 Street, New York, NY 10018 212-947-3636 By Marguerite Richards June, 2009 Keens on Brown Spirits

nter Keens and you may understand the definition of time warp. Step through the polished brass entryway into 1885 and you’ll hear more tales about the place than there are cuts of USDA prime on the menu. Decorating the various dining rooms are such collectibles as Lincoln’s own playbill from the night of his assassination, and a giant moose head, a gift from Teddy Roosevelt. But it isn’t until you stumble upon a framed piece of filet mignon, “dry-aged for over 75 million years,” that you stop trying to figure out what’s true and what’s myth; it’s just too much fun to go along for the ride. Originally a smoking club, the restaurant boasts more than 50,000 pipes, registered to celebrated members such as Babe Ruth and Will Rogers, covering the dining room ceilings. The wait staff is all New used ‘to be able to tell where a whisky came from by the way York character and charm, and no plain Jane has ever survived it tasted: smoky and peaty from Islay; honey and heather, that crew. A thousand touches make this place unique-and to often Speyside; Lowlands, always oily. But now, “people are top the list, an incredible whisk(e)y menu with which only a pushing the envelope everywhere,” McBride advises, like with few Manhattan bars can compete. Benriach’s Curiositas. It hits you with an initial sweetness Tim McBride, whisk(e)y expert and spirits buyer for Keens, characteristic of Speyside, but it’s peated. Why are they met with THE TASTING PANEL to share his favorites. changing it up? ”They saw a way to distinguish themselves Scotch Stop from the other Speyside distillers, which all pretty much have There’s no doubt that because of the 250-single malt the same flavor profile,” McBride opines. selection, many people actually come to Keens just for the House Favorites scotch. While single malt drinkers tend to be more mature–and Today, the popularity of Jameson Irish whiskey is willing to pay for what they like–curious 20-somethings are phenomenal, making it a top-seller at Keens. “It’s smooth, eager for an education as well. “A scotch novice will start with it’s sweet, it’s easy to drink, but it’s not a whiskey you sit and The Glenlivet, and eventually want to start tasting more complex contemplate things over, like The Glenlivet. The Glenlivet whiskies, like Laphroaig, Lagavulin and Talisker,” McBride is a lot of things that Jameson is-sleek and smooth, but with notes. “For people who really enjoy single malt, it becomes an flavors you’re never going to get with Jameson. It’s something obsession,” In 1905, actress Lillie Langtry was refused service you savor and enjoy on a deeper level.” McBride offers Keens in the gentlemen-only club, so she took Keens to court to gain access for all women, and won her case. According to McBride, bar patrons the cask-strength Nadurra, his favorite Glenlivet, “Women that come into Keens are pretty knowledgeable about claiming that back in 1850, “this was how it tasted; non-chill- spirits and tend to choose more accessible whiskies with a lot til-tered, it’s The Glenlivet in its most natural state.” of complexity like Cragganmore and Glenmorangie.” McBride’s most recent single malt crush, Glenmorangie Astan has “the sweetness you would expect from a bourbon, Taste Trends The rebirth of the cocktail wasn’t just about gin replacing but all the subtlety and nuance you find in a single malt.” As vodka; it was also about rye replacing bourbon. McBride with any connoisseur; McBride likes to be surprised, as he was brought rye back to the Manhattan at Keens. “Rye brings a with Longrow Campbeltown malt, a peated whisky unusual spice to the drink that bourbon doesn’t, adding complexity to for the Springbank distillery where it’s made. “You get the the Manhattan,” he says. Old Overholt rye is the well choice characteristic oiliness, and that maritime influence you don’t at Keens because “a bourbon drinker wouldn’t object to it; it usually get with Springbank.” bridges the gap between bourbon and rye with a nice kick of McBride is on a mission to bring the Keens whiskey list to spicy oak. It’s easy to work with,” says McBride. 300, and with 260 and counting, there are several dozen more Over the last decade, distillers have also been experimenting discoveries to be made-certainly enough to keep the Keens bar with the flavors people have come to expect. A single malt lover in the spotlight for another hundred years.

Keens Steakhouse 72 West 36 Street, New York, NY 10018 212-947-3636 Weekend in New York Seth Kugel Sunday, January 28, 2007 Lift a Wee Dram All Over Town

F your knowledge of Scotch be- three-Scotch flight for the reasonable gins with Johnnie Walker and price of $15. ends at “on the rocks,” a week- One place where the old-school end spent tasting expensive décor oozes Scotch. (alas, not liter- singleI malts at whiskey bars around ally) is the bar at Keens Steakhouse the city might seem pointless, even near Herald Square, the perfect place intimidating. for your post-Macy’s single malt. A But you would be underestimat- crowd diverse in age and dress helps ing the evangelical fervor of the New diffuse any stuffiness, as do the trivia York City Scotch enthusiast. Unlike questions posed on the chalkboard. the wine world, where sophisticates Even if you insist on Japanese whis- frown upon bumpkins who cannot key over all others, Keens can still ac- distinguish a muscadine from a super- commodate you. Tuscan, the inability to tell a High- lands from an Islay (or even a single EENS even posts a list of malt from a blend) will hardly cause whiskey’s positive proper- you grief. Be it a bartender, a waitress ties. It was written in the or the guy grinning on the next stool 16th century, so the medi- over, there is always somebody ready Kcal science behind it might be bit out- to give advice (this is New York, after dated. Among the curative properties? all), hoping to bring another drinker It helps digestion, eliminates lisping, into the figurative folds of the Scotch- prevents the heart from swelling and, lover’s collective kilt most important, keeps the mouth from No one may do it better than snafflying. (Snafflying? The Scotch Ethan Kelley, the (kiltless) spirit som- Whisky Association in Edinburgh melier at the Brandy Library in TriBe- says the document is probably sug- Ca. The nightspot is warmly lighted, gesting that whiskey is good for clear- practically sepia-toned, and the male- ing the throat.) female ratio is balanced beyond all ex- Still, if you ask John Hansell, pectations, given that it’s a place that publisher and editor of Malt Advocate, has 10 pages of singlemalt Scotches Lisa Gutting Pours a drink at the Brandy Library in TriBeCa a quarterly magazine for whiskey en- on the menu, including the 20-year husiasts that’s based in Pennsylvania, Bruichladdich, the 12-year Craggan- what his favorite Scotch spot in New mor and the very rare 25-year Talisker. York City is, you won’t get one of Brandy Library 25 North Moore Keens Steakhouse 72 West 36th And Mr. Kelley is a down-to- these places with leather seating, an Street (Hudson and Varick Streets), Street (Fifth and Sixth Avenues; sign earth guy with a knack for sensing air of sophistication or an upscale cli- (212) 226-5545. reads “Keen’s Chophouse”) , your (pitiful) knowledge and tailor- entele. (212) 947-3636. ing his advice to your needs (and not Club Macanudo 26 East 63rd Street He goes for d.b.a, an ‘East Village pushing expensive whiskeys on those (Madison and Park Avenues), (212) Lexington Bar & Books 1020 bar that is just a step above being a who would not appreciate them). He 752-8200. (73rd Street), (212) dive and is probably better known for runs a free tasting every Saturday d.b.a. 41 First Avenue (Second and 717-3902. its mind-boggling, if not mind-alter- from 5 to 8 p.m. The rest of the night, Third Streets), (212) 475-5097. ing, beer selection. But its Scotch col- St. Andrews Pub 120 West 44th he appears to be connected to an alarm Hudson Bar & Books 636 Hudson lection is no slouch, and Mr. Hansell Street (Broadway and ), that sounds when a patron opens to Street (Horatio and Jane streets), recommends testing d.b.a.’s stock of (212) 840-8413. the single-malt section of the menu. (212) 229-2642. well-regarded whiskeys from defunct You can’t smoke inside the Brandy distilleries like Port Ellen’ while you Library, though it will sell you a cigar. Macanudo has just relaxedpits might not work for those participating still have a chance. The only disad- But those for whom Scotch and ci- nojeans dress code (still no sneakers), in a Scotch hop. vantage is that on weekends it might gars go together like beer and pretzels but other places can be more annoy- Those interested in the full Scot- become too hectic to get sound Scotch need not fear New York City’s smok- ing. Lexington Bar & Books, also tish experience should head to St. advice. ing ban: several places were grandfa- on the Upper East Side, sticks’ to its Andrews Pub in Midtown, where the Those who catch the Scotch bug thered in and specialize in just such a blue-blood neighborhood pedigree by bartenders wear kilts. Saturdays from have nine months to tune their palates lung~and-liver-damage combination. sticking hard to the dress code posted 9 p.m. to midnight the pub has live before the 10th annual Whisky-Fest At Club Macanudo on the Upper at the entrance. (Dress shirts tucked in, Celtic music in the bar area. The menu New York, at the Marriott Marquis East Side, you can puff on a long list no sneakers, jacket preferred.) What’s has some Scottish flair, with items like on Oct. 30. There will be about 200 of cigars and choose from about 50 it like inside? Um, couldn’t tell you. haggis - ground sheep organs served kinds of whiskey available to test your single malts. Smoking a cigar with At least at its sister location, you at St. Andrews with mashed potatoes expertise, including plenty of single- your Scotch does come with a risk: don’t have to dress up. Hudson Bar and turnips. (Don’t worry, there are malt and blended Scotch. If it turns out the ash of your cigar falling into your & Books is worthy of the West Vil- plenty of non-Scottish items, too.) that you still can’t tell Cutty Sark from Scotch glass might add a few new lage, and its 50 or so single-malt op- The waiters and waitresses are trained Glenlivet, no problem: Halloween is (and unwanted) smoky notes to your tions worthy of a visit. But there is a in Scotch awareness, and your server the next day, and you can at least mas- 12-year Laphroaig. two drink minimum on weekends that would be happy to put together a querade as a Scotch connoisseur.

Keens Steakhouse 72 West 36 Street, New York, NY 10018 212-947-3636 Food Steve Cuozzo Wednesday, October 9, 2002 Mutton Place AYOR Mike, interviewed 1995, it changed its name from and sharp enough for a mojito. by the BBC last year, “chophouse” to “steakhouse,” The rest of the menu is offered this advice for a but hedged its bet by keeping predictable - like shrimp cocktail long life: “If you want “chophouse” on the awning. ($14), hard to tell from the ice it’s toM stay healthy, stay out of the The wood paneling and leather served with, and nicely-marbled sun, don’t eat red meat and don’t banquettes and booths, although T-bone steaks ($37.50) bigger smoke.” not quite as old as the room itself, than some neighborhoods. Prime Keens Steakhouse delivers cast you back in time. So do rib (in $23 or $35 cuts), like prime on one-third of Dr. Bloomberg’s vintage theatrical and vaudeville rib everywhere, recalls your last prescription: It definitely keeps posters; we can only wonder what hotel wedding. Fresh limeade you out of the sun. It’s hard to we missed not being around for ($3.50) at lunch is a rare treat. find a restaurant that feels more The Turkish Harem or Kelly & You can have steak anywhere, subterranean, thanks to dark Leon’s Minstrels. although the intense-flavored, wood, low ceilings and windows The act to catch today is the Certified Angus Beef recently frosted to near-opacity. mutton chop ($35 at lunch or introduced at Bull & Bear in the But the 50,000 clay smoking dinner), the four-star king of Waldorf-Astoria throws down the pipeshung from the ceiling carnivorous joy. The meat of gauntlet to other steakhouses. commemorate lung abuse down mature sheep (at least 2 years old) But only Keens has mutton on the generations. And Keens’ is a singular pleasure - as superior the menu all the time. And the awesome mutton chop, the to lamb as a textured older cold nights are coming. house special, ranks as Public Bordeaux is to a promising but Artery Killer No. 1. It’s the best unrealized younger bottle from reason I know to look forward to the same chateaux. autumn’s shortened days, when Keens likes to serve it medium; the quickening chill calls for the let them. After 117 years, they’ve richest red meat your system can got the hang of it. The specimen, take. an inch and a half deep, arrives in “At Neiman Marcus,” the a pool of its juice. If you worry lady at the next table said over about gaminess, don’t: Mutton a working lunch, “they have a is mustier than lamb, but it isn’t saying - not that the customer is organ meat. Nor does it have always right, but the customer is the moldy quality dry-aged beef never wrong.” At Keens, mutton- acquires if it’s hung a day too eaters have not been wrong since long. 1885, when the place opened as Of course, it isn’t chicken, a hangout for the theater district either. Expect deep, fat-sweetened then concentrated around Herald flavor and surprisingly pliant Square. texture. It doesn’t need mint jelly, In 1935, it sold its one- but Keens’ is the best anywhere - Fifty thousand clay pipes hang from the ceiling millionth order of mutton. In freshly made, not green but amber and the mutton chop is awesome at Keens

Keens Steakhouse 72 West 36 Street, New York, NY 10018 212-947-3636 Restaurant Review: New York James Beard February, 1950 Of Mutton and Men

Keens Steakhouse 72 West 36 Street, New York, NY 10018 212-947-3636 By Rita Reif Thursday, January 28, 1982

Keens Steakhouse 72 West 36 Street, New York, NY 10018 212-947-3636 By Clementine Paddleford Saturday, December 10, 1949

Keens Steakhouse 72 West 36 Street, New York, NY 10018 212-947-3636 By Edna Ferguson Sunday, February 3, 1957

Keens Steakhouse 72 West 36 Street, New York, NY 10018 212-947-3636 Wednesday, October 30, 1935

Keen’s Serves It With Procession and Blowing of Bugle.

Keen’s English Chop House, at 72 of a century, with royal service, West Thirty-sixth Street, served which included a procession and its 1,000,000th mutton chop last the blowing of an ancient English “night with a colorful ceremony. bugle, said to have been use in the War of the Roses, by a beefeater in Many old-timers were present, the traditional bright red costume. some old enough to have vivid Tommy Wright, the waiter, recollections of the days of the old dressed in the costume of the playbills and theatrical programs seventies, carried the platter and that decorate the walls of the T. Catherall, the manager, made a chop house. The dinner hour had brief presentation speech. progressed to 7:45 P. M. before the 1,000,000th chop was served and With Mr. Godfroy were Mrs. it went to Warren T. Godfroy, who Godfroy, his brother-in-law, Dr. is in the insurance business at 30 Thompson T. Sweeney of Forest Broad Street. Hills, Queens, who has eaten at Keen’s for thirty-eight years, and Enthroned on a huge platter the Mrs. Sweeney. When Mr. Godfroy chop was served to Mr. Godfroy, called for his check he was told a patron of the house for a quarter that the meal was “on the house.”

Keens Steakhouse 72 West 36 Street, New York, NY 10018 212-947-3636 September, 2009 Must-visit classic restaurants

Keens Steakhouse 72 West 36 Street, New York, NY 10018 212-947-3636