Smith & Wollensky • 1977

When TGI Friday's founder Alan Stillman opened his steakhouse on Third Avenue in 1977, he plucked the name from a phone book—Smith and Wollensky were two random strangers who unknowingly lent their surnames to what would become a New York institution. The USDA Prime dry-aged steaks, hand-butchered on-site, set a standard that has made this the benchmark against which other steakhouses measure themselves. Step inside the iconic green-and-white building and find Wollensky's Grill, the more casual barroom where the same legendary beef meets a livelier atmosphere.