Some American dining rooms have outlasted the people who first sat down in them. From colonial taverns to Gilded Age steakhouses, these places have fed generations of customers and are still serving meals today. Here are ten historic taverns and restaurants, with a note on what each one says about its own past.
1. White Horse Tavern (Newport, Rhode Island): A 1652 house turned tavern in 1673
The White Horse Tavern was built in 1652 as a two-story, two-room home for Francis Brinley, according to the tavern, and William Mayes Sr. converted it into a tavern in 1673.
The tavern calls itself America’s oldest tavern and the oldest operating restaurant in the United States, and says it ranks as the tenth oldest in the world. It stands at 26 Marlborough Street in Newport, Rhode Island, and still serves meals in the colonial building. Those distinctions are the tavern’s own claims.
2. Fraunces Tavern: Where Washington said farewell to his officers
Samuel Fraunces bought 54 Pearl Street in New York in 1762 and opened it as a tavern, according to the Fraunces Tavern Museum.
On December 4, 1783, George Washington bade farewell to his officers in the tavern’s Long Room. Today the museum occupies the second and third floors of the building, which the Sons of the Revolution in the State of New York owns, while the street level continues to operate as a restaurant and bar. The building is a rare survivor from the colonial era in Lower Manhattan.
3. Union Oyster House: Boston’s oyster bar since 1826
Union Oyster House has served diners since 1826, when Atwood and Bacon took over the building at 41 Union Street in Boston, according to the restaurant.
The restaurant calls itself the oldest in Boston and the oldest in continuous service in the United States, and the building has stood on Union Street for more than 250 years. Daniel Webster was a regular, often ordering at least six plates of oysters with brandy and water at the Oyster Bar. The restaurant sits one block from Faneuil Hall on the Freedom Trail.
4. Antoine’s: A French Quarter family restaurant since 1840
Antoine Alciatore started Antoine’s in 1840 at age 18 on St. Louis Street in New Orleans, according to the restaurant.
Antoine’s describes itself as the country’s oldest family-run restaurant, still operated by the Alciatore family and descendants at 713 Saint Louis Street in the French Quarter. Jules Alciatore created Oysters Rockefeller there in 1899 and named the dish for the richness of its sauce. The restaurant says the family and its descendants have run it ever since, and the dining rooms sit inside a building in the heart of the French Quarter.
5. Tadich Grill: California’s oldest running restaurant
Tadich Grill began in 1849 as a coffee stand on Clay Street in San Francisco, founded by Croatian immigrants Nikola Budrovich, Frano Kosta and Antonio Gasparich, according to Wikipedia, and it is the oldest running restaurant in California.
John Tadich bought it in 1887 and renamed it after himself, and the Buich family acquired it in 1928. It moved to 240 California Street in 1967 after Wells Fargo bought the Clay Street site, and the Buiches recreated the Art Deco interior. Its best-known dish is cioppino, a seafood soup created in San Francisco.
6. Old Ebbitt Grill: Washington’s oldest saloon, by its own account
Old Ebbitt Grill traces to 1856, according to legend, when innkeeper William E. Ebbitt bought a boarding house, the restaurant says.
The grill now stands at 675 15th Street NW in Washington, D.C., and the original boarding house was likely on the edge of present-day Chinatown. The restaurant says William McKinley lived there during his time in Congress and that Ulysses Grant, Andrew Johnson, Grover Cleveland, Theodore Roosevelt and Warren Harding supposedly visited its bar, which it calls Washington’s oldest saloon.
7. Keens Steakhouse: A Theatre District chophouse with a pipe collection
Albert Keen opened Keens Chophouse as an independent restaurant in 1885, according to the restaurant, at 72 West 36th Street in New York.
It was a gathering spot for actors, producers and writers in the Herald Square theater district and is now the district’s only surviving landmark. Keens holds the world’s largest collection of churchwarden pipes, and its signature mutton chop has earned praise from critics over the decades. The restaurant sits in the Herald Square area of Manhattan, where the theater trade once drew a steady crowd of regulars.
8. Peter Luger Steak House: A Brooklyn billiards cafe that became a steakhouse
Peter Luger opened in 1887 as Carl Luger’s Cafe, Billiards and Bowling Alley in the largely German Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, according to the restaurant, with Peter Luger as owner and his nephew Carl running the kitchen.
After Peter Luger died, the restaurant fell into disrepair, and Sol Forman bought it in 1950. His wife, Marsha, handled the meat selection. The restaurant describes dry aging USDA Prime short loins on site, a practice that remains central to its reputation.
9. Galatoire’s: Five generations on Bourbon Street
Galatoire’s was founded in 1905 by Jean Galatoire, who emigrated from the small French village of Pardies, according to the restaurant.
The restaurant sits on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, and five generations of the family have since kept its founding traditions and recipes alive. Its own history stresses continuity, with the same family, the same street and the same recipes handed down over more than a century. Its long history makes it one of the older family businesses on this list.
10. Café du Monde: A French Market coffee stand since 1862
Café du Monde opened in 1862 as a simple coffee stand at the upriver end of the French Market in New Orleans, according to Wikipedia, and it now stands at 800 Decatur Street in the French Quarter.
It is known for café au lait and beignets, squared pieces of dough covered in powdered sugar and sold in orders of three. The coffee is dark roasted and blended with chicory, a practice that developed during the Civil War coffee shortage. The shop closed on August 27, 2005, for Hurricane Katrina and reopened in the French Quarter on October 19, 2005.
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
