Formerly: Keen's English Chop House
New York, New York · Founded 1885
Founded in 1885 and restored after a 1977 closure, Keens is known for its mutton chop and ceiling of clay pipes.
Keens Steakhouse began as Keen's English Chop House in 1885, when Albert Keen opened it in Manhattan's Herald Square theater district. The restaurant is known for its mutton chop, dark wood rooms, and thousands of long-stemmed clay pipes displayed throughout the interior. Its original business lineage was interrupted by a 1977 closure before George Schwarz and Kiki Kogelnik restored and reopened it in 1981.
Albert Keen opens Keen's English Chop House in Manhattan's Herald Square theater district.
Source: James Beard Foundation, 'America's Classic: Keens Steakhouse,' 2016
Keens and later historical accounts describe actress Lillie Langtry as challenging the restaurant's men-only policy; independent court documentation was not established in this review.
Source: Keens Steakhouse, 'History of Keens'; Edible Manhattan, 'Keens Steakhouse: Citadel of Mutton and Memory,' 2011
Keens closes after proprietor David Zuch says the family could no longer afford to maintain the restaurant to patrons' expectations.
Source: The New York Times, 'After Century of Ale And Mutton Chops, Keens Closes,' April 29, 1977
Radiologist and restaurateur George Schwarz and artist Kiki Kogelnik acquire the closed restaurant and begin a major restoration.
Source: Edible Manhattan, 'Keens Steakhouse: Citadel of Mutton and Memory,' 2011; WestView News, 'George Schwarz – Doctor and Restaurateur with Strong Village Ties,' 2017
Keens reopens after a restoration that took more than three years.
Source: Clio, 'Keens Steakhouse (1885-Present),' 2025; The New York Times restaurant coverage, May 8, 1981
Tilman Fertitta purchases Keens Steakhouse and its longtime West 36th Street location; management says the existing team will continue operating the restaurant.
Source: Crain's New York Business, November 21, 2024; Eater NY, November 21, 2024
Every claim gets rated. A business's own website can never earn "documented."
Independent profiles consistently describe a collection of more than 50,000 clay pipes, while other accounts cite about 90,000. The scale of the collection is well supported, but this review did not locate a comparative museum or scholarly survey sufficient to prove the absolute claim that it is the world's largest.
The James Beard Foundation identifies Theodore Roosevelt and Albert Einstein among celebrated customers connected with the pipes. This review did not independently verify Pipe Club ledgers, individual pipe numbers, or the candidate's specific assertion that Babe Ruth had a documented registered pipe.
Keens displays a playbill from the night of Lincoln's assassination, and accounts at the restaurant tell a chain-of-custody story connecting it to Lincoln's theater box. Reporting describes the artifact as supposedly or allegedly held by Lincoln; this review found no independent archival authentication or forensic provenance establishing that claim.
The restaurant traces its origin to 1885, but The New York Times reported that Keens closed in 1977. George Schwarz and Kiki Kogelnik then restored the property, and sources place the reopening in 1981. The venue has an 1885 lineage, not uninterrupted operation from that year.
Keens Steakhouse has operated continuously without interruption since 1885.
Keens originated in 1885 but closed in 1977. George Schwarz and Kiki Kogelnik acquired and restored the restaurant, which reopened in 1981.
Source: The New York Times, 'After Century of Ale And Mutton Chops, Keens Closes,' April 29, 1977; Clio, 'Keens Steakhouse (1885-Present),' 2025
Keens reopened under George Schwarz in 1979.
Sources describing the multiyear restoration place the reopening in 1981, not 1979.
Source: Clio, 'Keens Steakhouse (1885-Present),' 2025; WestView News, 'George Schwarz – Doctor and Restaurateur with Strong Village Ties,' 2017
George Schwarz is Keens Steakhouse's current owner.
Schwarz died in 2016. Reporting in November 2024 identified Tilman Fertitta as the buyer of Keens Steakhouse and its longtime Midtown location.
Source: Eater NY, 'Keens, New York's Most Famous Steakhouse, Has Sold to a New Owner,' November 21, 2024; Bloomberg Law, November 21, 2024
Keens survived not through unbroken operation but through a costly revival of a distinctive restaurant identity. After the original business closed in 1977, George Schwarz and Kiki Kogelnik spent more than three years restoring the interiors, preserving the pipes and period character that distinguish Keens from a typical Midtown steakhouse. The restaurant changed ownership again in 2024, when Tilman Fertitta bought the business and its West 36th Street location while the existing operating team remained in place.
Keens Steakhouse opened in Manhattan in 1885 as Keen's English Chop House under theater producer Albert Keen. It became associated with the old Herald Square theater district and its clay-pipe tradition, but the original restaurant closed in 1977. George Schwarz and Kiki Kogelnik bought and restored the property, and Keens reopened in 1981; the James Beard Foundation and contemporary New York reporting document its 1885 origin and later revival.
No defensible record supports calling Keens Steakhouse the oldest operating steakhouse in New York State or New York City. Keens began in 1885, but it closed in 1977 and reopened in 1981 after restoration. It is one of Manhattan's historic steakhouses, but its 1885 founding does not establish uninterrupted operation.
Keens preserves a pipe tradition associated with customers who stored long-stemmed clay pipes at the restaurant for later use. The James Beard Foundation reports that more than 50,000 pipes decorate its walls and ceilings, and the restaurant links the collection to prominent past patrons. Exact counts vary among published accounts, but the collection is central to Keens's identity.
Keens and several later accounts say actress Lillie Langtry challenged the restaurant's men-only policy in 1905 and that the Lillie Langtry Room commemorates the episode. This review did not locate an independent court record confirming the litigation or its result, so the story should be treated as a widely repeated part of the restaurant's lore rather than a fully documented legal history.
72 W 36th St, New York, NY 10018
(212) 947-3636
Located between Fifth and Sixth Avenues near Herald Square; reservations are advisable.