The Eighty Six

At 86 Bedford Street, The Eighty Six trades on an address that already carries weight. The townhouse once housed Chumley’s, a Prohibition era bar often credited with popularising the term “86,” and that sense of coded New York lingers in the room. The dining space is deliberately compact, around 35 seats, with velvet banquettes, marble floors and Art Deco accents that lean toward private club rather than modern steakhouse.

Chef Michael Vignola builds the menu around beef with a collector’s mindset. Cuts are sourced from small ranches and aged in house beneath the original bar, then presented with a level of specificity that feels closer to wine than steak. A Wagyu New York strip from Texas, a dry aged rib cap from South Dakota, even a cheesesteak built on a 72 hour Australian ribeye. It borders on obsessive, yet lands as quietly persuasive.

There is oysters with gin celery mignonette, a classic filet Rossini with foie gras and truffle butter, and a room that fills with people who clearly chose this place, not stumbled into it. The Eighty Six understands that dinner in New York can still feel like access to something slightly hidden, with just enough history to give it depth.