york location type private industry restaurants founded 1977 headquarters boston 1 number of locations 9 parent patina restaurant group llc slogan a steakhouse to end all arguments 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 . 2 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 . . 3 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 . 4 contents 1 name 2 locations 2.1 new york 2.2 chicago 2.3 miami beach 2.4 las vegas 2.5 columbus 2.6 houston 2.7 boston 3 advertising 4 see also 5 references 6 external links name edit 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 . 5 locations edit new york edit 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 6 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 . 7 8 when mr. stillman sold the smith & wollensky restaurant group he retained ownership of the new york restaurant although all locations share promotional and marketing efforts . chicago edit bearing the same green and white painted exterior the new york location has this steakhouse overlooks the chicago river and the loop . it played a role in the revival of chicago s river north area and is neighbored by marina city and the house of blues . this location was featured in the 2006 film the break up . miami beach edit in a two story building on the waterfront the s & w s miami is technically located at the extreme southern end of miami beach and offers views of the miami skyline and ships passing through government cut into and out of the port of miami . it takes advantage of its waterfront location with an outdoor patio for diners to enjoy the outdoors . las vegas edit the restaurant has three floors and is across from the city center on the las vegas strip . columbus edit the restaurant opened in 2002 and is in the easton town center lifestyle community . houston edit the restaurant which has two stories and features a view deck overlooking one of the nicer areas in the city in highland village is similar to the columbus location in that it was built as part of a lifestyle community . boston edit two smith & wollensky restaurants exist in boston . one restaurant occupies the armory of the first corps of cadets a castle built in 1891 originally intended as a military building and is the only smith & wollensky location on the national register of historic places . the other boston location is located on the fort point channel near south station . london opened in june 2015 as the brand s first restaurant outside of the us . located in the landmark adelphi building off of the strand . advertising edit capitalizing on the restaurant s new york city roots showmanship and creative risk have been perennial hallmarks of smith & wollensky s promotion from day one . an early tv commercial by agency angotti thomas hedge showed waiters botching famous theatrical soliloquies to be or not to be because they wanted to be waiters not actors . more recently the steakhouse promoted itself with the theme if steak were a religion this would be its cathedral . 9 johann sebastian bach s uplifting mass in b minor backgrounds a rapid paced montage of patrons food waiters and wine . this commercial by seiter & miller advertising was seen throughout new york city and most memorably featured on newly installed taxi television screens . see also edit list of restaurants in new york city list of steakhouses references edit smith & wollensky makes boston its base . boston.com . retrieved 25 september 2014 . alan stillman restaurateur making things happen a steakhouse to end all arguments patina group buys smith & wollensky for 79.6 m s & w founder stillman to get nyc units alan stillman restaurateur making things happen http macaulay.cuny.edu eportfolios brooks12 food stops . missing or empty title help uk.reuters.com warren buffett lunch sells for record 2.11 mln cnbc.com warren buffett charity lunch auction ends with high bid of 2 110 100 seiter & miller s smith & wollensky cathedral commercial external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to smith & wollensky . official website gifts to end all arguments seiter & miller s smith & wollenksy comercial cathedral coordinates 40 45 18.61 n 73 58 15.01 w 40.7551694 n 73.9708361 w 40.7551694 ; 73.9708361 retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title smith % 26 wollensky & oldid 743294341 categories restaurants established in 1977restaurants in bostonhidden categories pages with citations lacking titlespages with citations having bare urlspages using infobox company with unsupported parameterscommons category with page title same as on wikidatacoordinates not on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent 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