*** Welcome to piglix ***

Smith & Wollensky

Smith & Wollensky
Private
Industry Restaurants
Founded 1977
Headquarters Boston
Number of locations
9
Parent Patina Restaurant Group LLC
Website smithandwollensky.com

Smith & Wollensky is the name of several high-end American steakhouses, with locations in New York, two in Boston, Chicago, Columbus, Houston, Miami Beach, Las Vegas and most recently opened in London. The first Smith and Wollensky steakhouse was founded in 1977 by Alan Stillman, best known for creating T.G.I. Friday's, and Ben Benson, in a distinctive building on 49th Street and 3rd Avenue (once occupied by Manny Wolf's Steakhouse). Many of the restaurants have a wooden exterior with its trademark green and white colors. The individual Smith and Wollensky restaurants operate using slightly varied menus. In 1997, Ruth Reichl, then-restaurant reviewer for the New York Times, called Smith & Wollensky "A steakhouse to end all arguments.".

In 2007, Nick Valenti, CEO of the Patina Restaurant Group and his partner Joachim Splichal, together with the Boston-based private equity firm Bunker Hill Capital, purchased The Smith & Wollensky Restaurant Group.

According to Stillman, there was never a Mr. Smith or a Mr. Wollensky involved. He opened the Manhattan phone book twice and randomly pulled out two names, Smith and Wollensky. The announcements for the opening, however, carried the names Charlie Smith and Ralph Wollensky. Stillman later admitted that Charlie and Ralph were the names of his dogs.

Located in midtown Manhattan, the first S&W steakhouse occupies a stand-alone building whose wooden exterior bears the trademark green and white colors (which actually were inherited from Manny Wolf's, which operated between 1897 and 1977, when it became Smith & Wollensky, they simply changed the sign to "Since 1977" but otherwise kept the type of lettering used on the outside of Manny Wolf's the same). Also included is Wollensky's Grill, a bar room within the restaurant that has a more bar-type atmosphere and food, and is open later than the dining room. The New York location was used for a scene as a meeting place for Christian Bale and Willem Dafoe's characters in the 2000 Film American Psycho. It and its kitchen were also used for scenes in the 2006 film The Devil Wears Prada. It was also used for the famous 2008 $2.11 million and 2007 $650,100 "Power Lunch with Warren Buffett" charity auction on eBay, with Zhao Danyang and Mohnish Pabrai & Guy Spier, respectively.


...
Wikipedia

...