Sammy's Roumanian Steakhouse

Sammy's Roumanian Steakhouse is a Romanian-Jewish restaurant on Lower East Side of Manhattan that closed in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, but has reopened in a new location nearby in Spring 2024.[1][2][3] The original Sammy's was considered a New York foodie institution.[4] Sammy's opened in 1975, in a location occupied previously by another Romanian restaurant on Chrystie Street.[5]

Sammy's occupied a basement retail space on the Lower East Side for 47 years where it served Romanian-style steak and offered entertainment by lounge performer Dani Luv, who also does Borscht Belt-style stand-up comedy replete with Yiddish.[6][7][8][9] The entertainer, whose legal name is Dani Lubnitski, has returned to the keyboard at the restaurant, which is also known for its vodka-fueled nightlife scene (with bottles served frozen in blocks of ice) and garlicky beef.[10][11]

Sammy's is known for fried kreplach, chopped liver, sweetbreads, latkes, ice block-encased vodka bottle service, and syrup jars filled with schmaltz or rendered chicken fat, at the tables as a condiment.[12][13][14][15] The owner is David Zimmerman.[16] Chris Frantz refers to the original Sammy's as a restaurant frequented by music business executives during Talking Heads' time in the CBGB scene.[17]

See also

• List of Ashkenazi Jewish restaurants