Delmonico's

The story

The columns flanking the entrance at 56 Beaver Street were said to have been imported from the ruins of Pompeii. That detail alone tells you what the Delmonico brothers were after. Giovanni and Pietro, Swiss-Italian immigrants, opened their first spot in a rented pastry shop on William Street in 1827. Their nephew Lorenzo joined them in 1831, taking charge of the wine list and menu. After the Great Fire of New York, they reopened grandly in August 1837, and the restaurant became one of the most famous in the city. The family shuttered every location by 1923. It reopened under new ownership in 1926 and remains at Beaver Street today.