Formerly: Delmonico & Brother (1827–1831) · Oscar's Delmonico (after 1926 revival)
New York, New York · Founded 1827 · Building: 1890–1891
A revived Lower Manhattan restaurant carrying the legacy of the influential Delmonico family enterprise founded in 1827.
Giovanni and Pietro Delmonico opened a café and pastry shop at 23 William Street in 1827, and their later Beaver Street restaurant became one of the formative names in American fine dining. The original Delmonico family business closed in 1923, and the present 56 Beaver Street restaurant operates in a 1890–91 landmark building that replaced the brothers' 1837 structure. Its history is a succession of influential dining eras, shutdowns, and revivals rather than an unbroken restaurant run.
Giovanni and Pietro Delmonico opened a café and pastry shop at 23 William Street in Lower Manhattan.
Source: Resy, 'Delmonico's Returns Again, With an Extra Helping of History'; Delmonico's official history
The original William Street Delmonico establishment was destroyed in the Great Fire of New York.
Source: 56 Beaver Street historical summary; Delmonico's historical accounts
The Delmonico brothers opened a new restaurant at the Beaver, South William, and William Street intersection.
Source: 56 Beaver Street historical summary; Resy, 2023
Charles Crist Delmonico filed plans for a new James Brown Lord-designed building at 56 Beaver Street, replacing the earlier 1837 structure.
Source: New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, Delmonico's Building Designation Report; The New York Times, April 14, 1996
The present Renaissance Revival Delmonico's Building opened at 56 Beaver Street.
Source: New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, Delmonico's Building Designation Report
The 56 Beaver Street building was sold, the Delmonico restaurant there closed, and the building became an office structure known as Merchant Marine House.
Source: 56 Beaver Street historical summary
The Delmonico family closed its remaining restaurant operations during Prohibition.
Source: Delmonico's historical summary; Delmonico's official history
Oscar Tucci began operating a speakeasy in the basement of 56 Beaver Street, beginning the building's post-Delmonico-family hospitality revival.
Source: 56 Beaver Street historical summary
The Delmonico's Building at 56 Beaver Street was designated a New York City individual landmark.
Source: The New York Times, April 14, 1996; New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
After a closure beginning in 2020 and a later lease and ownership dispute, Delmonico's reopened at 56 Beaver Street under Dennis Turcinovic and Joseph Licul's operating partnership.
Source: Resy, September 2023; FSR, July 2023; Eater New York, January 2023
Every claim gets rated. A business's own website can never earn "documented."
Culinary and restaurant-history accounts commonly describe Delmonico's as America's first fine-dining restaurant or as one of the earliest establishments to establish that style of service. Its importance to nineteenth-century American restaurant culture is clear, but this audit did not identify primary comparative evidence sufficient to prove an uncontested national 'first.'
Delmonico's is frequently credited with introducing or popularizing more formal individual-choice restaurant service in the United States. The sources reviewed for this audit did not establish the candidate's precise national priority claim or verify that the cited archives document it.
Delmonico's has a long-running attribution involving Mrs. LeGrand Benedict, while other accounts place the dish's origin at the Waldorf. Charles Ranhofer's 1894 cookbook cannot document a later 1890s origin story, and this audit found no primary evidence that resolves the competing claims.
The present building was erected in 1890–91 to designs by James Brown Lord. It replaced the earlier 1837 Delmonico structure and is identified by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission as the only surviving building associated with the historic restaurant.
The original Delmonico family business closed in 1923. The name and Beaver Street restaurant were later revived by non-family operators, and the location also experienced later closures, including a 2020–2023 shutdown.
Contemporary reporting describes a closure beginning in 2020, a lease and ownership conflict, and the restaurant's September 2023 reopening under Dennis Turcinovic and Joseph Licul.
The current Delmonico's has operated continuously under the Delmonico family since 1827.
The original Delmonico family restaurant enterprise closed in 1923. Later operators revived the Delmonico's name at 56 Beaver Street, and the present restaurant also closed from 2020 until reopening in 2023.
Source: Delmonico's historical summary; Resy, 2023; Restaurant Business, 2026
The building at 56 Beaver Street is Delmonico's original 1837 building.
The original 1837 structure was replaced by the current James Brown Lord-designed Renaissance Revival building, erected in 1890–91.
Source: New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, Delmonico's Building Designation Report
Delmonico's definitively invented Eggs Benedict.
Delmonico's has a disputed Eggs Benedict origin story involving Mrs. LeGrand Benedict, but competing Waldorf accounts exist and this audit found no primary evidence that conclusively resolves the attribution.
Source: Charles Ranhofer, The Epicurean, 1894; documented accounts of competing Eggs Benedict origin stories
Delmonico's endures because later operators have repeatedly revived a name with unusual cultural force in New York dining. The original family business did not survive Prohibition, and the Beaver Street restaurant has experienced later closures, including a three-year pandemic-and-litigation hiatus. Its current survival depends on treating the restaurant as a historic brand and destination while preserving the location's connection to the Delmonico story.
Delmonico's began in New York in 1827, when Giovanni and Pietro Delmonico opened a café and pastry shop at 23 William Street. The brothers opened a major restaurant at the Beaver Street intersection in 1837 after the original site burned, but the original family business closed in 1923. The restaurant name was later revived by other operators, and the current Delmonico's reopened at 56 Beaver Street in September 2023 after a three-year closure.
No. Delmonico's is one of New York's most historically important restaurant names and traces its original family enterprise to 1827, but it is not a continuously operating restaurant from that date. The Delmonico family closed its business in 1923, later operators revived the name, and the present restaurant also closed from 2020 until its 2023 reopening.
No. The Delmonico brothers operated at the Beaver Street intersection beginning in 1837, but that original structure was later replaced. The present 56 Beaver Street building was erected in 1890–91 and was designated a New York City landmark in 1995.
Current reporting identifies Dennis Turcinovic, owner and operator of Delmonico's Restaurant Group, as the current operator of the reopened 56 Beaver Street restaurant, with Joseph Licul as his business partner in the lease and reopening arrangement. This identifies the restaurant operation, not the ownership of the landmark building itself.
56 Beaver Street, New York, NY 10004
(212) 381-1237
The restaurant is in Manhattan's Financial District in the 1890–91 landmark Delmonico's Building.